THE politicians who campaigned for the Union during the 2014 referendum campaign said a lot of things that have turned out to be untrue.
For example, then Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said it was “hard political fact” that there would not be a UK-wide referendum on EU membership.
He told a crowd of Scottish farmers during an independence debate in March 2014 that there was “no question” of there being an EU referendum and stressed that there was “no mechanism” to hold one.
Of course, that wasn’t true.
Unfortunately for those Scottish farmers that wasn’t the only dubious assertion the Better Together crowd made during that first indyref campaign. We’re not even counting the time-worn: “If you walk from the UK, you walk from Europe.”
The Better Together promises were also posted directly through people’s front doors.
“Staying in the UK is best for Scotland’s farming and rural communities,” one flyer claimed on its front (above).
Unfortunately for Scottish farmers, the UK Government has ideas all of its own.
So wrapped up in chasing a dream of Global Brexit Britain is Trade Secretary Liz Truss that she is planning a deal with Australia “which undermines our farmers, destroys our reputation as a nation, and sees our rural communities turned into glorified holiday resorts”, according to Ruth Watson, the founder of the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign.
READ MORE: Why Tories' post-Brexit Australian trade deal is grave threat to Scottish farms
Although other top Tories like Michael Gove have apparently warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Truss’s deal will undermine the Union by adversely impacting so heavily on Scots and Welsh agriculture, he reportedly backs it anyway.
The worry is that Australia’s lower standards, combined with the tariff-free deal Johnson favours, will price Scotland’s farmers out of the market altogether.
Jim Fairlie, who was there in March 2014 arguing against Alistair Carmichael and is now an SNP MSP, says that this proposed deal “will be crippling” for Scottish agriculture.
.@TogetherDarling powerfully illustrating the advantages our rural & farming communities have as part of UK #indyref pic.twitter.com/AsBarwcX8H
— Better Together (@UK_Together) June 21, 2013
So much for the Union being better for Scottish farming, as Alistair Darling told us so “powerfully” ahead of the 2014 vote.
We can add that to the still-growing list of broken Better Together promises.
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