WILL there be a change of policy towards Scotland from the Truss government? I believe there will be, and in some ways it will be an improvement on what has been
the relationship in the past. When the Scottish Government tried to deal with the Cameron government on the independence issue we got fair words, and an “agreement” in 2014, but underneath we got deceit and deception.
We got our referendum in 2014, but only when they had totally distorted the issues and vowed to give the Scottish people “Devo Max” if they voted No, when they had no intention of delivering that. They deceived the electorate on Brexit, and the official figures prove that the postal ballot for the 2014 vote was rigged – they show that there were more people who voted than the possible number of electors who could have voted.
READ MORE: Alister Jack denies plans to 'gerrymander' Scottish independence referendum
Half of the polling authorities in Scotland had a postal ballot return of 95% or over. Such a return figure is unheard of in democratic elections, even in countries where voting is compulsory, because if you take off the people who can’t vote, never mind those who don’t, you will not be able to get a figure above 95%. If you do not believe me, look for a single example anywhere in the democratic world which proves me wrong.
Johnson’s government tried to undermine the Scottish position on independence by undermining the powers of the Scottish Government while claiming to be doing the opposite, and of course the production of the GERS annual publication which attempts to “prove” to the Scottish people that the UK is subsidising Scotland, while as Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp has shown in his publication Scotland the Brief, in 2018 Scotland had a trade balance surplus of £4.94bn. Wales had a small deficit of £1.15bn, while England had a massive £134.98bn in international trade deficit. It is clear in the real world who is doing the subsidising.
WATCH: Penny Mordaunt grilled by SNP's Deidre Brock over indyref2 'rigging' plot
Now Liz Truss has started her turn as Prime Minster by making it clear that she intends to gerrymander any future independence referendum for Scotland. Well, that’s not good; but at least it is open and above board, and everyone can see, in Scotland and elsewhere in the world, that the Tories are afraid of on honest election and want to rig it openly.
The Scottish people are not likely to be intimidated by these open threats, their history shows that they never have been, whereas they have been shown to be open to underhand deception in the past, so this is progress.
Andy Anderson
Ardrossan
FIRSTLY, know this: the tie between Scotland and England is legal, not sociological or democratic. It is quite improper for the people of Scotland to be asked if they want a proper pursuit of the law or not.
The Tories are delighted that their ploy of making this Supreme Court legal case appear to be primarily one of democracy (so strongly taken up by the Scottish public in general), due mainly to media-fed misinformation.
Scotland has absolute rights. It may legally secede from the treaty which currently binds us, without discussion! If our government really believes in the democratic principle of using referenda to ask the population if they think the law should be pursued then so be it, but it is our absolute right to do that, under both Scots and international law, completely ignoring the English electoral rules and regulations. That needs to be done now, not late next year!
READ MORE: David Pratt: Liz Truss’s approach to diplomacy is a problem in this volatile world
Seeking permission for either of these courses of action is a sure sign that the Tory politics of deflection have won.
It cannot be the case that a standing law can only be applied by permission of 50% or more of our population. If ever decisive action by our government was required, surely it must be now!
If we are to have a referendum, and England – tilting the odds in its favour of course – insists that 51% of those on the Scottish electoral register would be needed to win the referendum, agree to that! Then frame the question thus: “Should Scotland continue to be governed from England?”
Our MPs, being a vestige of our original government, can secede from the treaty today! They can demand that they want it renegotiated.
And when England says, “Let’s start that renegotiation!”, Scotland can reply, “Now is not the time!”
Christopher Bruce
Taynuilt
THE Unionists are so afraid of indyref2 that they are going to try and change the rules: 60% of Scots would have to want an new indyref and 50% of the electorate would have to vote Yes.
This is called gerrymandering – no government in history would have been elected on this basis and there would have been no Brexit.
I do love, however, all the Tories celebrating 75 years of independence for Pakistan – what percentage of population voted?
READ MORE:
If independence so bad, why are all the countries who have got independence from UK not wanting back? Not one single one has ever wanted to come back.
Hypocrisy on stilts from those celebrating Pakistan’s independence but wanting to deny Scotland the chance.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
OH dear. Given the new Tory insistence that the winner must achieve 50% support from the total electorate, are we going to have to go through the whole leadership (sic) election again, as the “winner” only got just over 47%? I’m not sure which would be worse – Liz or a rerun!
Carl Irvine
Inverurie
WITH only 81,326 votes out of a possible 172,437, Liz Truss has failed her own test for legitimacy.
Ian Richmond
Dumfries and Galloway
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