IS anyone naive enough to believe that Anas Sarwar would have voted in favour of the SNP motion for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza if he were currently a shadow minister at Westminster?
While BBC Scotland follows the direction of the Tory party in Scotland, diverting from the trials and tribulations of PM Sunak and finding repeated ways to focus headlines on Scottish Government WhatsApp messages and the Health Secretary’s data roaming charges, the real news for Scotland is that while all hope is lost for genuine Tory compassion, even in Scotland, there remain some politicians with principles in the Labour Party – but none of them are Scottish.
READ MORE: Ex-Labour MP slams 'grovelling' Anas Sarwar as MPs vote against ceasefire
Of course no-one would have expected Ian Murray to act otherwise, but Michael Shanks was only recently elected on the promise of resolutely representing the views of his constituents and on being prepared to stand up for his personal principles even when they might conflict with the directives of his boss, Sir Starmer.
As long as he remains in charge of the “branch office” in Scotland, Sarwar, aided and abetted by his loyal lieutenant Dame Baillie, will disingenuously reflect the apparent wishes of the Scottish people by duplicitously espousing socialist principles. This is as much of a sham as the claiming of such principles by his leader who is aiming to be the next Prime Minister.
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
IAN Murray abstained during Wednesday evening’s House of Commons debate on an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which was the height of cowardice and should preclude Labour from ever assuming power. Why? Because by abstaining both he and Keir Starmer are refusing to honour the UK’s legal obligation to uphold the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the rules of war, known as international humanitarian law.
The fourth Convention outlines protections of civilian populations during war. Attacking civilians and destroying things essential to their survival – water, food, fuel, electricity, hospitals and schools – as Israel is doing in Gaza, is a war crime. The irony is that this law was written by the World War Two victors – the US and UK.
READ MORE: Lisa Nandy questions 'how far' international law applies in Gaza
But the fourth Convention didn’t cover the state obligations to its own civilians. This oversight was corrected in 1977 by two additional Protocols, prohibiting attacks on civilians and their infrastructure within a state engaged in armed conflict within its own borders. This also applies to a state that has effective control, without the consent of the controlled, of a territory over which it has no sovereign title, such as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
Wednesday night’s Commons vote again shows that Scotland’s voice will always be ignored because we are outnumbered ten to one in the so-called United Kingdom Parliament, the de facto English parliament. Scottish MPs should long ago have abandoned this English institution to re-establish Scottish national sovereignty.
Scottish Labour will never represent Scotland because it is beholden to its English bosses and will always dance to their tune.
It’s quite simple. For Scotland to restore its international voice, it must end the Union.
Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh
THE moral depravity of the British Unionist Labour Party and their Tory allies has truly laid bare. The decision to vote down a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is cowardly, weak, morally repugnant and completely indefensible.
The vast majority of the public (some 75%) want a ceasefire now. It is only the corrupt politicians, the servile oligarch-owned media and certain academics who want the Gaza slaughter to continue.
READ MORE: Pair who racially abused Humza Yousaf dodge jail
Since the Gaza massacre started, Starmer and his Labour goons have defended collective punishment including cutting off water, food and electricity. Also they actually tried to justify the bombing of hospitals where babies were taken off incubators. As well as calling the mass-murder of a largely unarmed population “self-defence”.
Imagine if this were one of Putin’s spokesmen trying to justify this happening in Ukraine? They would be met with ridicule and contempt.The Tories have tried to create an atmosphere where those protesting should be harassed, smeared and criminalised. Dissent is being crushed.
If there were to be a lasting peace in the Middle East, this would reduce the profits that the arms lobby makes from selling weapons to all sides. It would make the neocons obsolete. This is hardly a good outcome for the Washington security state and its well-paid vassals at Westminster.
From the Balfour declaration, the Sykes-Picoult agreement, the overthrow of Mossadeq, the Suez Crisis, the first and second Gulf Wars, and many other crises,
British meddling in the Middle East never goes well and Britain is always on the wrong side of history. The current support for Israel is yet another sordid chapter that shames all those involved.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee
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