I could post this on another thread but I have sworn not to, so must start another.

I keep reading a lot of stuff about the SNP and what it offers, and after my last thread about Independence I have been doing a lot of thinking.

The arguments go this way and that over Scottish independence, but a lot of it is not all that relevant to the actual principle of the thing.

Scotland could go it alone.

There is no doubt on that score.

There would be adjustments, but it’s clear that a lot of Scottish prosperity, should they wish to continue with the same services they enjoy now, would depend on oil.

Howsoever, that is not the point either.

I have been born and brought up in a country called the UK.

As a citizen of the UK and of largely Scots descent, I’d be happier about this whole thing if the Scottish Nationalist Party changed its name.

Why?

Because it gives the wrong sense of what they are about.

Firstly, it is ‘Scottish’ only in that it based in Scotland. To qualify to vote in its referendum you only have to be resident in Scotland. So it’s a polyglot and multi-cultural organization, and not based on ‘nationality’ in any ethnic sense. Yet it taps into this ethnicity as well, appealing to an historic sense of grievance going back hundreds of years (despite the fact that it appears that many of its members do not have roots in Scotland that far back.)

So it tries to be both Scottish and ‘Nationalist’ – yet cannot define itself in the sense of nationality because many native born Scots living outside Scotland will have no say in the upcoming referendum.

Secondly, it is ‘Nationalist’ only in the sense of residency, and not of race. If it were of race, then it would run the danger of being tagged as being right wing and obsessed with ethnicity as its defining characteristic.

Yet among its most vocal supporters are people who are not of Scots descent; which is amazingly PC but leads to an examination of what they are about.

The thesis seems to be that “Scots” (by which they mean residents of Scotland) are currently living in some sort of condition which would be improved, of Scotland were independent. A Utopian vision of how things might be is dangled in front of people who are invited to don rosy specs and accept this offering as unquestionable truth. Recent posts on the Org have spoken of redistribution of wealth and land which are straight out of Marx. I wonder what the right wing of the SNP make of that?

It seems that the SNP offer something to everyone – and they might well deliver, if the oil price holds up.

Thirdly, is the SNP a party- or is it really two?

It is hard to deny the gut appeal of genuine Scottish Nationalists- for they have a case. The yearning to be a nation once again, running one’s own affairs from Edinburgh, sovereign and independent – I can relate to that and as a native born Scot then it would have a lot of romantic and emotional appeal to me. Geographically the case is not so good. Inverness might be 600 miles from ‘Westminster’ but Los Angeles is 3000 miles from Washington and it does not seem to bother them all that much.

But that’s not the main thrust of the case being made by the SNP. The main thrust is economic and that’s not a Nationalist argument – it’s a Secessionist one.

The main thrust invites people to vote for a better future, better roads (which must have been much better before 1707) etc etc etc.

In other words, for economic advantage.

Economic advantage over the rest of us UK citizens and over what exists now in Scotland... maybe.

The message seems to be ‘We don’t like things as they are, so we want to build a nice new estate with gates to keep out the hoi-polloi and do things our way. The current elite are not doing it right – so let’s have our own elite.


So – “Scottish Nationalist Party” seems a misnomer to me. If economics are the main reason for breaking up the UK, for a section of Britain to gain advantage at the expense of others, then that is not quite so laudable as appears.

It could even be seen as divisive, elitist and parochial.

Or selfish.


I would like to see what the SNP wants, rolled out across the whole of the UK. We all want better services, roads, schools etc but for a group to set up to break away from Britain on economic grounds implies that Cornwall, Yorkshire and other areas of the UK which might be economically viable, could do the same- and to me that makes little sense. Cornwall has its own flag, language and culture so it’s not impossible.

These things have nothing to do with Nationality.

They have to do with Class. The Haves and the Have -nots.

And it is not solely a Scottish concern but affects the whole UK. Not a reason to break up the UK, but to change the UK.


Which is why, for the first time in my life, I will be voting Labour next time round- because the UK deserves a better future than the Lib-Dems or the Tories can offer.

And I would rather not see my country, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, broken up.