Starmer promises a ‘Great British Energy’ company headquartered in Aberdeen while Sunak wants more of our oil and gas to be extracted.
It’s a step forward for the UK political leaders to acknowledge Scotland’s role as an energy producer after decades of pretending our vast resources were worthless. The hypocrisy goes unremarked upon by the MSM, of course, since they’ve been largely complicit in the half century long deception.
Starmer and Sunak can make any number of pledges to Scottish voters but the only people with the power to make these effective are the English electorate. If they choose Sunak that’s who we’ll get and if they choose Starmer it will be him.
We might want an energy company in Aberdeen or we might not but if you live in Stonehaven or Selkirk your votes will always be worth less than folk living in Sunderland and Salisbury. That’s why we’re not in the EU any longer. That’s why our economy is worth billions less, that’s why our young folk are stuck on this island and can’t even access the inter-rail deals their fellows in the EU can. We didn’t want this and we didn’t vote for it. But we got it and no one on the unionist side can ever explain why.
No wonder when the Tory and Labour leaders address a UK audience – like they did in ITV’s recent ‘leadership’ debate – they don’t even mention Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Why would they? We are completely irrelevant to this election.
Politics in the UK is highly volatile, that’s its main characteristic right now. There can be swings in all directions and often they’re highly unpredictable. Unionist political commentator, Andrew Marr, claims that the election may be ‘pivotal’ and he may be right. But he’s wrong when he posits ten years of Labour rule. Nothing in the past twenty years suggests any such thing. Quite the reverse. England is unstable and its politics will reflect that.
In the meantime we are bystanders. Living in a parallel political and social universe. Recently released census figures show an ongoing shift to an exclusively Scottish identity. Scots are increasingly secular in their outlook and we take universal provision of services for granted.
This election may see a slight downturn in the fortunes of the main independence party but the long term trends are in our favour. Expect some surprises and a lower than usual turnout across the country. On 5 July, the UK will be the same as it was on the 3rd. Nothing about that is bad for those of us who back independence.