This is not the time for Scotland’s MPs to walk off the global stage

JAMES Walker’s article in The National on Wednesday shows that there is no need to search through the small print in the Budget to anticipate how Scotland is going to fare; the scene is being set for the longest and largest all-out attack ever on the Scottish Government by Westminster in the lead-up to the next election.

If all of the SNP’s MPs walked out of Westminster between now and the General Election, after the Treasury has announced that the Scottish Government is currently receiving the lowest block grant from the UK Government since devolution, they would disappear from the media other than for headline news and in-depth analysis of how they had run away because the case for independence had collapsed.

As always, every possible opportunity would be taken to expose the so-called failures of the SNP government in Scotland, compared to the achievements of the UK Government in the rest of the UK, but with no presence to rebut them in Westminster.

The monthly Scottish Questions would be devoted to examples of individual suffering from poor-quality services in Scotland, backed up by letters to MPs, with personal case histories of incidents that would bring a tear to the eye of Maggie Thatcher’s statue.

Questions would be raised on how far the UK Government could allow the situation in Scotland to deteriorate before imposing direct rule from Westminster.

North of the Border, media interviews and panels would predominantly feature MPs and opposition party supporters who were dealing with matters affecting Scotland in Westminster.

Scottish MPs must hear the pleas made before the 2014 referendum “to stay and lead us”, as they have done so clearly and convincingly on the situation in Gaza.

Scotland does not seek global influence through aircraft carriers bringing the lethality of its armed forces near to other countries.

As a result of Scotland’s humanitarian stance on Gaza, the world is listening to our MPs in Westminster like never before. Make no mistake, the UK Government is facing the greatest ever threat to its sought-after position of global influence and dominance of its precious Union.

This is not the time for Scotland’s MPs to walk off the global stage and let the Unionists run the curtain down behind them.

John Jamieson
South Queensferry

DOESN’T it seem that correspondents Jamieson and Easton articulating against Scottish indy-supporting MPs withdrawing from Westminster show they’ve completely missed the point and value of such action (Letters, Mar 6)?

And the futility of Mill Irving’s proposal for them to remain but act like bairns to disrupt proceedings? It’s about picking up your ball and leaving your pals unable to play footie in the public park, game over.

And it would be game over for Westminster’s democracy illusion if such a large contingent of democratically elected MPs were not in the chamber, not sitting on the select committees, not taking part in the game; the world would know the game was over and Britain had reached the constitutional crisis we’d have created.

The UK’s move would be to seek to impose direct rule, it’s what they’ve always done. How acceptable would that be for Scots? Of course, we would resist it through the Scottish Parliament and various campaigns would be mounted.

With a Scottish budget through the Barnett formula dropping to 3.5%, way below that based on population size and need, and bearing scant relationship to fiscal input, perhaps Scots will now see precisely what indy supporters have long been saying, that Scotland is being short-changed.

With the chasm caused by MPs’ withdrawal, Westminster would be functionally crippled and the entire world would see its embarrassment and democratic deficit.

So, let’s not just think of it as the picking up of our ball like a petulant child, let’s rather give them the constitutional crisis for which only Scotland’s independence can possibly provide the solution.

Jim Taylor
Edinburgh

I NEARLY choked on my cornflakes when I heard failed PM Gordon Brown claim that the World Health Organisation’s treaty to prepare the world for the next pandemic is being put at risk by fake news campaigns! Well he should bloody know – with his involvement in the first Scottish independence referendum and his backing for the infamous Vow, which fooled some people into believing Scotland had a future in the UK. His lies over the Vow show that Mr Brown is just another failed politician who lies to get what he wants – so I suppose the WHO should be grateful that they have got someone with experience of spreading fake news on their side to complain about others doing what Brown has done for years!

Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley

IF ever there was a message that urgently needs to get out there on billboards it is Wednesday’s front-page headline in The National: “Scotland’s share of UK Government spending? 3.5%”.

I know the answer can be complicated, but it would surely provoke the question of what happens to our tax money, thereby being probably the most effective billboard ever seen. These simple messages get into people’s heads in a way that endless weighty white papers and a “rebuttal unit” never will. They are desperately needed here in the east, which can be less friendly territory for Yes than other parts of the country.

It’s often difficult to get a National, and further south if you manage to get one it often comes with a barbed comment.

Noirin Blackie
Haddington

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