AT First Minister’s Questions this week, the Scottish Labour branch manager, Anas Sarwar, asked Humza Yousaf: Which is better for Scotland: A Labour government or a Tory government?
It seems like there is an obvious answer but upon closer inspection the answer is arguably that there is little difference between them.
Both want Brexit; both want to curb the right to protest; both want to clamp down on immigration; both believe in tuition fees; and both want to deny Scotland the right to decide its own future. The First Minister was correct when he fired back to Sarwar – “what is best for Scotland is independence.”
Whoever takes the reins at Number 10 after the next UK General Election, it means very little for our prosperity here in Scotland.
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The reality is we are in a really dangerous place with the Labour Party, not because of any gains in any polls, but because of their policy positions as a political party in 2023. This is not a Labour Party that stands up for socialism or for our workers’ rights. It is not a Labour Party that is prioritising tackling poverty or improving equality.
This cheap attempt at being a Blair-years tribute act is nothing more than Conservatism with a red rosette on.
The Conservatives have become so unelectable that it means Keir Starmer’s Labour are getting away with murder on many policy positions. They do not have to pretend to be defenders of the working class or sell you a picture of a fairer, more equal standard of living under a Labour government.
No, they believe they can squeak the next election by not committing to much and essentially maintaining the same position as the Conservatives in many policy areas.#
They have already U-turned on Brexit, freedom of movement, free tuition, progressive taxation, electoral reform and the nationalisation of energy and water to name just a few Labour policies.
They sit on their hands abstaining while the Tories fritter taxpayers’ money away to their pals and quietly nod along while they pass abhorrent bill after abhorrent bill.
Labour then refuse to say whether they will repeal any of this Tory legislation – just this week Labour’s shadow foreign secretary refused to say whether Labour would scrap the Tories’ anti-protest laws.
It’s a dark place for our democracy. The Labour Party will treat Scotland as a target at the next General Election. They will tell people that voting SNP will get you another Tory government. They will tell you that things can be different even though many of their policy positions exactly the same as the Tories.
They will tell you that Scotland can lead the way as part of a prosperous United Kingdom with Labour at the helm but we have decades of history to show how hollow that promise is.
Labour will tell Scotland that we will be key to deciding the next UK government when in reality the City of London alone has more democratic sway than the second-largest nation in this so-called Union of Equals.
Polling has shown that the SNP could hold the ace up their sleeve at the next General Election as we head towards a hung parliament.
Sending SNP MPs to Westminster will indeed hold a UK Labour government’s feet to the fire. They certainly would drag a Labour government to the left but, most importantly, what a team of SNP MPs will do is demand a Scottish independence referendum from a Labour UK government.
We are crystal clear that the SNP will never work with the Conservatives.
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However, if Labour do indeed win the next General Election, then an independence referendum would be the starting point. It becomes a line in the sand for Labour and the SNP. Last weekend, millions across the world watched the UK waste millions of pounds on the coronation of King Charles, complete with jewelled swords, holy jugs, and golden thrones.
Meanwhile in Glasgow, thousands took to the streets to show support for Scottish independence.
The movement is very much alive and not a day goes by that independence does not become more appetising to people in Scotland.
It’s been a bumpy road as of late, but we need to keep going and we need to show people why Humza Yousaf was right. It does not matter whether we have a Labour or a Tory government, independence would rid us of out-of-touch Labour and Tory governments forever.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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