Over\nrecent years more and more questions have been raised about whether\nor not there is a future for the UK. Never mind questions about\nquality of life, earnings, employment prospects housing, or\neducation etc. The simple question has been can the UK survive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\nmost, that question has been centred around politics here in Scotland\nand especially with the success of the SNP in Government. Our party\nhas undoubtedly gone from being a \u201cmovement\u201d to the natural party\nof Government. However, I suspect that there may well be major\nchanges afoot in some of the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s\nnot widely appreciated that the \u201cUnionist\u201d bit of the Scottish\nConservative and Unionist Party title does not in fact refer to\nScotland. It\u2019s about Northern Ireland. Indeed even the\narch-unionist John\nBuchan said\n“I believe every Scotsman should be a Scottish nationalist”.\n (Wee history lesson there for Colonel Davidson while she is still in\noffice.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nwhat if one of the consequences of the insanity that is Brexit is a\nshattering of the Unionist base in Northern Ireland? There is much\nspeculation that the prospect of a no-deal Brexit and the consequent\ndamage done to the Good Friday Agreement is softening the opposition\nto a possible Border Poll. The prospect of real economic damage being\ndone seems to be making people think what was previously thought of\nas the unthinkable. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recent\nconstitutional changes in the Republic and the realisation that the\nTories don\u2019t really care if the price of Brexit is to throw them\n(and indeed Scotland) under the proverbial Clapham Omnibus, have\ncombined to make the space for a fundamental reappraisal of\nconstitutional options. Add to this the utter failure of the Assembly\nto sort out some kind of deal to keep sharing power and the looming\npossibility of not only restoration of Direct Rule but also the\nrecently voted on changes to same sex marriage and abortion coming\ninto effect. (It seems that the DUP demand to be treated the same as\nthe rest of the UK only applies when they like it.) Just try and\nimagine the frothing at the mouth of our media if the Scottish\nParliament were to fail to sit for 30 months. Yet our so-called\npolitical journalists are either unable (e.g. through editorial\ncensorship) or unwilling to cover this abject failure of Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nshort a real existential threat to the union, ironically brought\nabout because of the obscene deal done between the Tories and the\nDUP. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where,\nI wonder will that lead our very own Tory backwoodsmen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can\nthe Orange Order here continue to prop up the party which brings a\nUnited Ireland into being again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\nwhat point do they wake up and smell the coffee and understand that\nfar from being partners in a fantasy \u201cprecious union\u201d we are also\ndisposable in pursuit of Brexit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\nnew Secretary of State for Landowners seems to imagine that simply\nbranding every project with a Union Flag will be sufficient to save\nthe day. Perhaps he might like to reflect on the number of projects\nwhich bore the EU\u2019s flag across huge swathes on N E England and\nWales. What value will that flag still have if N Ireland votes to\nreunite and consequently stay in the European Union and leave the\nUnited Kingdom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically\nanother of the strange conundrums Brexit has thrown up could well\nundermine another of the unionist scare stories. We know that the\nprospect of a hard border between Scotland and England was an\neffective tool for the unionists in 2014 and post Brexit was likely\nto be a feature of their next indyref campaign. However as they\nstruggle to explain why there would be no need for a border in\nIreland they undermine their own arguments for why there must be one\nin Scotland. If the technology exists, as they claim, then where\u2019s\nthe problem? If, on the other hand, there is no magic mushroom\nsolution and trade and movement of people continue, despite any\nborder, to flow then, once again, where\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nis more than a theoretical possibility that the Union might well\nfounder, not here in Scotland but, across the Irish Sea. Whichever\nway things work themselves out in the next few months two things seem\ncertain; unionism will continue to tie itself in knots and that the\nmedia in Scotland will refuse to ask them the hard questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over recent years more and more questions have been raised about whether or not there is a future for the UK. Never mind questions about quality of life, earnings, employment prospects housing, or education etc. The simple question has been can the UK survive? For most, that question has been centred around politics here in Scotland and especially with the success of the SNP in Government. Our party has undoubtedly gone from being a \u201cmovement\u201d to the natural party of Government. However, I suspect that there may well be major changes afoot in some of the narrative. It\u2019s not widely appreciated that the \u201cUnionist\u201d bitRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2571,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}