Pretty much all General Elections are described as\n\u201chistoric\u201d and \u201cthe most important of our lives\u201d etc at various points in their\nindividual campaigns. Every once in a while, it\u2019s actually true! December 12\n2019 will undoubtedly be one of them for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, it will undoubtedly lead to the UK leaving the\nEuropean Union for a number of years. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson\nand his tories will pass the Withdrawal Act within weeks and we will \u201cget\nBrexit done\u201d by January 31. Whatever that most vacuous of phrases actually\nmeans. The hard work of trade deals etc lies ahead but sadly that was a fact\nthat millions did not wish to acknowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, it was perhaps the election where climate and the\ndamage we are doing to the planet actually started to matter. The very fact\nthat a Leaders Debate even took place, albeit without the Prime Minster, was\nsignificant in moving the way people thought about the issue or even made them\nstart to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, because we saw a level of commitment and passion from\nthe youth across the UK to not only take part by voting but to try and change\nthe agenda. For generations we have watched politicians pay no more than lip\nservice to the new generation of voters, casually assuming that they would simply\nfollow their parents lead. This time we saw the parents begin to follow their\nchildren instead and this is a trend which will I expect continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fourthly, it was the election which finally saw the London\nmedia actually realise that Scotland is indeed a very different country from\nEngland and we want to travel in a different way to a very different\ndestination. The Unionists are finally being asked how a \u201cUnion of 4 equal\ncountries\u201d can see one told that it cannot decide its own future by another. That\nis the classic case of why the Union will end, not because of what we in the\nIndependence movement do or say but because those who claim to be the biggest\nsupporters of the union are intellectually incapable of seeing the inherent\nflaws. Strangely enough, it may well be that the threat from across the Irish\nSea could well bring them to see that the current set up is unsustainable. You\ncannot have a future when Scotland and N Ireland are pulling away and England\nfeels increasingly resentful of what is seen as constant carping from people\nwho the English feel that they subsidise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fifthly, follows on from that point. There is an opportunity\nto use these results to try and force Unionist MPs in England to explain why\nthey are not willing to listen to the voices in England who feel that they are\nbeing used as a cash cow to provide services such as free prescriptions, free\nuniversity places and free care to an ungrateful lot. In Scotland especially.\nIf Scotland is indeed such an economic basket case, why are they so desperate\nto hang on to us? Why are they not campaigning to have all that extra money\navailable to provide free prescriptions etc for the hard-pressed constituents\nthey are supposed to represent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, it is, I believe, historic in the very truest sense\nin that it will be recorded as the last General Election of the United Kingdom\nof Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I do not believe that the Union will\nsurvive the lifetime of this Parliament (assuming it runs for the full 5-year\nterm). If Johnson and the tories have a\nmandate because they won the majority of seats in the House of Commons how can\nthey deny that the SNP have a mandate on the exact same basis. 365 seats out of\n650 giving them 56% of the seats against the SNP 47 out of 59 giving 79%. If\ntheir mandate is based on the popular vote, well again they won 44% of the vote\nand the SNP won 45% of the vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A house, as the bible teaches us, cannot stand if it is\ndivided against itself and the Union most certainly fits that description.\nHistory teaches us that all Empires collapse because of the failure to adapt to changing circumstances and as we\nlisten to the Unions staunchest defenders deny the people the opportunity to\nchoose their own destiny we are reminded that they have lost this argument each\nand every time across the centuries from the America to Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pretty much all General Elections are described as \u201chistoric\u201d and \u201cthe most important of our lives\u201d etc at various points in their individual campaigns. Every once in a while, it\u2019s actually true! December 12 2019 will undoubtedly be one of them for a number of reasons. Firstly, it will undoubtedly lead to the UK leaving the European Union for a number of years. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson and his tories will pass the Withdrawal Act within weeks and we will \u201cget Brexit done\u201d by January 31. Whatever that most vacuous of phrases actually means. The hard work of trade dealsRead 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":[132,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660"}],"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=2660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2662,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions\/2662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}