Michael Russell: British politics is broken beyond repair

The appalling spectacle that is the Tory leadership contest – in which Scotland is not even a bit player despite what is at stake – hasn’t, however, made Unionism throw in the towel. Indeed, at first sight it appears to have made it even more rabid.

Yet, in reality, the cleverer Unionists (there are some) already know that this is the end game, and that the impossibility of continuing along a declining, rocky pathway to irrelevance as part of the UK will dawn on more and more Scottish voters as the cost of Brexit goes on biting.

That went up another £10 billion this week, just in terms of monies due to the EU to get out whilst the “freedom” it has bought is illustrated by ever longer queues of lorries at the channel ports and travellers stranded there and at airports (without their luggage) for hours.

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It is often said that opposition parties don’t so much win elections as take advantage of governments losing them. However, it would be foolish to rely on the current chaos to attain independence in a referendum or an election.

The job of those who support Yes is not just to take advantage of our opponent’s political self-immolation but also – much more importantly – to lay out an inspiring case for the fresh start that independence brings, as well as play a role in resolving issues that will never be properly tackled by any of the individuals aspiring to govern at Westminster.

We know that Brexit is one such issue, given the stated intention of all the UK parties to “make it work”, even though that is an impossibility.

Another is the climate crisis and the environmental emergency we are so clearly now experiencing.

When the London fire brigade has its busiest day since the Second World War, and the cause is the climate, then it behoves everyone to treat such a threat to life and livelihood with the utmost seriousness and act accordingly.

But asking Tory politicians to do that is like asking King Herod to look after the kids for an hour or two.

The result is not going to be good.

As the temperature rose, one Conservative MP was in the media, foaming at the mouth, not with heat but with contempt for what he called “cowards and snowflakes” who wouldn’t go out in the midday sun. Another – the so called “moderate” aspirant to lead his party Tom Tugendhat – attacked “socialists, separatists and sandal wearers”

for daring to suggest that urgent action was needed to change the direction of the UK on this and similar vital matters.

Others in that contest were arguing that net zero targets – now at the very least needing reviewed and intensified – could and should be abandoned and new opportunities found to extract oil and gas. In fact, more than one right-wing commentator has spent the week not damping down the flames but calling for all restrictions to be junked – and just two days ago, Michael Gove’s department issued an exploratory gas drilling licence for a site in Surrey, despite near-unanimous local opposition.

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Climate change and the immediate threat it poses should transcend normal politics. The Tynwald – the Isle of Man Parliament, which is hardly a supreme soviet – this week resolved to suspend all fossil fuel drilling pending a review, and it is clear that business has as much at stake in this as the rest of us, namely the very future of the planet.

However – such is the extreme nature of the Tory party now, and such is the emulation of that positron by a Labour Party electorally scared of standing on principle – that the act of taking urgent steps collectively and encouraging the same by individuals is seen not as essential but as risky.

For them, the safe option is to play down the danger, put action on the long finger, claim that war in Ukraine justifies shelving even modest goals (even though the reverse is true, as the Secretary General of the UN has so cogently argued) and return to really vital issues like how how to find benevolent unicorns hiding in the thickets of Brexit.

Given the escalation of the environmental crisis that was evident this week, more will need to be done in Scotland even without independence – and I suspect that such a view is shared across the current SNP-Green Scottish Government. One area that would be productive would be distributing to every citizen a clear statement of what individuals can do and what government is doing to ensure that we are all facing the same direction and know what we can contribute personally, as members of local communities and as voters.

Getting involved and active on the issue is an imperative for all of us.

However, national independence is required for full control of energy and taxation, which are key levers in ensuring government action and public engagement. Speaking out in international fora and co-operation in international action are also vital aspects of what we need to do – yet those steps are closed off to us by a UK Government that is reluctant to match words with deeds.

The case for independence is strengthened every day by what we see at Westminster. But independence isn’t the response to a particular moment or solely the solution to every day problems, grave as they are.

It is the context in which we can start afresh, contribute to, and take from, the wider world.

Given the global climate crisis we are all facing, taking part is not optional. We have to participate fully in finding and implementing urgent solutions.

Consequently it has to be at the very heart of the indy debate.