The Long Goodbye From Brussels, deluded SNP MP Alyn Smith tries to fire up the party faithful, that rejoining EU would 'put rocket boosters' on Scotland's Covid recovery, the EU aren't interested in their own poorer members so why would they be interested in Scotland, surely the only recovery that Smith possibly craves is a return to Brussels as an MEP, but he will never be an MEP again, he is stuck in Stirling with a negative trajectory career path as an MP, Brexit is over, Brussels is gone, there is no turning back

Dear All 

Have you ever watched a youtube video of people who build rockets, take them out to a field, fire them up, and watch them explode, misfire, head off at a tangent or cause them to run and duck for cover? Let me get you in the mood for this blog post with a video to show what I mean, in this youtube video, it graphically shows where hope turns to disaster. And today, I want to run back and forward on the timeline to look at Alyn Smith SNP MP, a man with a downward future in Scotland. Smith is a misguided rocket, aiming in the wrong direction, and not enough fuel for the journey. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g_N6ocquSY 

If you think back 5 years, I was a guest of the radio show of Gordon Brewer's Big Debate, unlike the rest of the panel which included Lord Ming Campbell, Alyn Smith MEP and Brian Monteith, former MSP, I was the only ordinary member of the public on the panel. I was asked at short notice to stand in, at the time of the call, I was putting up posters for a Brexit event starring Jim Sillars. I went hope, got changed and headed to the BBC down in Govan. I literally walked in the door, was ushered into the studio and the programme got underway a few moments later. The audience was selected based on whether they were for or against Brexit rather than a normal run of the mill group of people, so people had very fixed positions. I enjoyed the event but I had to be fair seen the Gordon Brewer radio show up close many times as an audience member. 

It became quite clear early on, at least to me, the 'Remain' camp of Ming Campbell and Alyn Smith were floundering, because when it came to facts, there were questions they couldn't answer. One topic which I brought up was the issue of EU trade deals with Africa, because it was important to show the harm the EU was causing poorer nations by not being fair. I likened the EU trade deals to the practices of a cartel, and cited that even a German MEP had spoken out about the harm caused. 

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jan/16/kenya-flower-trade-eu-pressure. 

The 'Remain' camp once I blurted out this story of how the EU had created a poverty trap in Africa kind of blew apart the narrative of the EU being benevolent good guys. And here was Ming Campbell and Alyn Smith trying to defeat their faltering position which even they knew was wiped out. At the end of the programme, I went around shaking the hands of the audience, some of whom I knew, but the faces of the remainers told me everything I needed to know about who won that debate. In the aftermath of the programme, you could see a look of anger in the face of Alyn Smith who was absolutely livid. No one likes to lose, and no one likes to lose badly, he had lost badly. I even did a parody of David Steel's Conference speech of 1982's where he said, 'go back to your constituencies and prepare for government'. I said to SNP MEP Alyn Smith, 'go back to your office and prepare for unemployment', and I said it with certainty. 

In 2019, with Brexit won three years previously, the UK had to go through the process of the 2019 Euro Election, in Scotland, the SNP secured 3 seats, the Conservatives and Lib Dems, secured one seat and, the Brexit Party who I was headhunted to campaign for won a seat as well. Scottish  Labour lost both of its MEPs in Scotland, including David Martin who was the UK's longest serving elected EU politician. Given the enhanced role I played in the Brexit Party campaign in Scotland, I played a major part in ending his Brussels career. Scottish Labour in the 3 years post Brexit vote had and still are a 'remainer' party, they are incapable of moving on. Although the Labour Party don't talk about rejoining, they couch their remainer credentials in talking about customs union and 'freedom of movement', Labour would use these devices to later push for a fuller membership if they became the government of Westminster. The right wing of the Labour Party has never accepted Brexit, but they want a gradualist approach to get back in. Everyone knows what the agenda of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer is, it is to disrespect the 2016 vote. Brexit is gone, there is no going back! 

Having been dragged out of Brussels against his will, SNP MEP Alyn Smith needed to look for a new meal ticket, he found it by getting elected as the SNP MP for Stirling. But I am not convinced his heart is in it, after all, Brussels was a cushy gig. If you want to know just how cushy it is, then the Brexit movie documentary is an eye opener for you. Plus, you don't have to do pesky constituents' surgeries in the way an MP has too. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44YTTyQKyJQ 

I urge you to watch this documentary about how the inner workings of the EU actually work, MEPs, after even after the withdrawal by the UK number 705. These 705 people don't control the EU, they are a window dressing to give the illusion of nation states having exercised sovereignty. They have very little power, the real power lies with the bureaucrats. I came across a story which kind of flagged up to me, two things in my opinion, 'remainer' denial in the SNP and self serving careerism. After losing is meal ticket, and seriously cushy life, SNP MP Alyn Smith boasts rejoining EU would 'put rocket boosters' on Scotland's Covid recovery. I suppose the obvious question is how? In the 47 years of EU membership, the EU never brought wealth and prosperity to Scotland, in fact, the EU destroyed Scotland's fishing industry. The EU took the wealth of Scottish fishing stocks and lined their own pockets, and here we are in 2021, Alyn Smith wants to hand more of our wealth to be under their control. 

I would ask you to pause for a moment and consider this, there are many poor countries in the EU, all independent and supposedly sovereign, so here is a link of the 14 poorest. So, take that list, and go do a youtube search, their type of poverty is grim. Why didn't the EU change around their fortunes? The short answer is they have no interest, the poorer countries are what I would term 'feeder' countries, countries were cheap labour is an asset to be exploited. Just as I wrote about how the EU exploits cheap Labour in Africa by way of trade deals, there is an internal cheap labour market called 'freedom of movement'. So, what is Alyn Smith's big USB to convince you, well judging by what he said it appears to be shortages within the labour market and empty supermarket shelves across the country. I know what you are thinking is that it? Firstly, after leaving the EU, poorer people are experiencing better job opportunities and better pay and conditions, which wouldn't not happen with EU membership. We should also remember that it is the members of the EU who are holding up delivers of food to supermarket shelves, the EU isn't a friend of the UK. Why is Alyn Smith apparently so against the people at the bottom of Scottish society getting better access to jobs and better pay. Why isn't he pressing for Nicola Sturgeon to create training programmes so Scots of all ages can get their fair share of the jobs boom? 

My guess is, he doesn't care about you, your family or Scotland. 

Smith said: 

"Getting back into the European Union would put rocket boosters on our recovery from Covid. We can do better than we are doing right now. Independence in Europe is the answer to the problems that Scotland has."

No it, won't, they haven't helped existing EU members in any real sense, why should they help Scotland? 

Smith added: 

"it has been a slow-motion trauma, for me personally". 

I refer you back to the privileges which MEPs get for being the 'face of democracy' whilst at the same time, the store front of a complete sham. Imagine having 11,493.81 rolling in each month, not forgetting the daily attendance allowance of  £272.53, plus travel allowance, personal travel allowance and of course pension scheme. So much more than an MP in the UK, you can see the attraction. Part of Smith's pitch is a nonsense, 'independence in Europe', well there is no independence in Europe at least not those functions controlled by the bureaucrats, so that piece of sloganeering is for gullible people. The UK tried 72 times to change various aspects of the UK under different colours of UK government, none were successful. But Alyn Smith and his ilk can deliver 'independence in Europe'? He must think everyone is a mug, because I struggled to find a rationale that explains his verbal pollution. 

Finally, he says "that reality is moving so many people from scepticism about independence to enthusiasm for independence in Europe. Because in the UK - and I see it at Westminster on a daily basis - everybody knows the ship is sinking, everybody knows the captain lies. And we're just expected to go along with it." Sadly for Alyn Smith, his delusion doesn't match reality, the UK is pushing forward with Global UK, that is the big picture, there are more jobs becoming available to ordinary people, that is the 'wee picture', but whether big or wee, there is no place for Alyn Smith, Nicola Sturgeon or the SNP in the Global UK, they are simply extras on the sidelines, and aren't shaping Scotland's real destiny, they are just holding it back!

Yours sincerely 

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University