Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP sees a swing towards Labour as their biggest threat in the forthcoming General Election. This would undermine or postpone and prolong their ultimate ambition for devolution. This is why Sturgeon is trying to convince Scottish voters that she is closer to Labour than she and her party actually is in order to nullify any swing towards a national level political Party that can actually help Scotland defeat Brexit. It is obvious that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are more fearful of Labour than they are of the Tories: Labour gains in Scotland would undermine the SNP’s control of Scotland and might jeopardise or prolong Scottish Devolution. Conversely Sturgeon and the SNP have nothing to fear from the Tories. Defeat of Brexit is not a real concern for the SNP because Brexit is actually maintaining a stronger case for devolution in Scotland. Sturgeon and the SNP are really not interested in stopping Brexit nor are they in a position strong enough to do so but I believe there is an element of duplicity going on by the SNP by attempting to convince Scottish voters otherwise.
The Scottish are not the innocent victims of Brexit that they make themselves out to be
Yes the Scottish are not the innocent victims of Brexit that they are making themselves out to be. In fact their contribution to the success of the Brexit vote is more considerable than they themselves may be aware of or willing to admit to. I will explore this in more detail in a moment. What I wish to focus on firstly is the exploitation of this victim stance and the version of events by the SNP. We should be under no illusion at all that Brexit suits the SNP more than they would like to admit. Brexit plays into the hands of their cause and case for devolution of Scotland. This position suits the SNP because it both gives credibility to their cause and at the same time it lends credibility to the case of the Scottish victim status at the hands of an English focused Parliament. No matter how much the SNP repeat that they are opposed to and are fighting Brexit tooth and nail it will always be a false claim because Brexit has actually gifted them the opportunity of a universal dislike of what they claim is an injustice brought about by an essentially English government which is not representative of the interests of Scotland. This dissatisfaction has given new momentum to the case for devolution which Sturgeon and her SNP failed to achieve in the last referendum. Despite all her protestations Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP really could not be happier about Brexit Sturgeon and her SNP can exploit the Scottish unhappiness about the imposition of an unfair Brexit which they claim has been imposed by a purely English Government. The debate or debacle of Brexit has played right into the hands of Scottish Nationalism and actually both helped speed up devolution and given credibility to it’s cause. The SNP have a great deal here to actually thank the ‘English’ (as they see it) British Government for.
If Scottish Voters wanted to avoid Brexit they should have taken advantage of the 2 previous General Elections to end Tory Rule and defeat Brexit
It is true that proportionally Brexit was not popular in Scotland and the imposition of Brexit over a regional area where it was proportionally not wanted does seem unfair. However Scotland should bear in mind that it is at least for the time being a part of a Union and cannot always receive outcomes that a singularly favourable to itself. The double edged sword is that it actually does have and can have a say in matters of the Union by primarily selecting who it chooses to rule over and administrate this Union. In my opinion this is where it has all gone wrong for Scotland and the Scottish people. When it comes to choosing who will administer the Union of Britain, the Scottish voters have chosen the SNP above everyone else. The Scottish have placed more importance on regional matters than they have on matters of the Union. Let’s not forget that the SNP are essentially and will remain a regional party who’s appeal basically ends at the Scottish border and in that sense it will never translate into the number of seats required to administrate over the Union of Great Britain. However Scottish voters can have influence over what happens in Westminster by choosing a more national political party with more of a national focus and appeal. By so doing Scotland would be less likely to feel isolated from having influence within the Union. Unfortunately Scottish voters have not seen it this way and by voting SNP in the last 2 General Elections have chosen instead to focus on regional matters to the detriment of having a say in who governs the Union and the policies they bring about to do that. Scotland , by voting the SNP , has chosen on 2 previous occasions to throw away that chance of having a say in how the union and thus Brexit was managed. Brexit has been an unfortunate by product of the choices that we all made on these 2 previous occasions. However there is simply no case to be made now to claim that they have been the victim of English biased Parliamentary decisions when they have chosen to throw away the opportunities put before them to have a real influence over what happens in the Union. Brexit could have and should have been defeated by ending Tory rule and Scotland had a key part to play in this role but on both occasions Scotland chose regional matters as being the more precedent. A vote for the SNP simply translated as a vote for the Tories and the current status quo. General Elections is where such matters are decided and the role of the EU referendum was simply a by product of earlier choices.
It is obvious that the more of a regional party that Scotland chooses then the more isolated that Scottish voters are likely to feel with their say in the Union. A less regional political party with more national appeal is always going to have a greater influence over matters concerning the Union because it can translate to a greater number of seats in Parliament, and therefore it have greater influence on the policies and administration of the British Union if it so desires. Unfortunately for Scotland the rise in Scottish Nationalism and increasingly popularity of the SNP in Scotland has meant that in the last 2 General Elections in Britain, Scotland has chosen to vote for a party more concerned about regional matters than matters of the Union of Great Britain and which is unlikely to have national appeal beyond Scotland’s borders.Such a party will never have the number of seats in UK’s Parliament to be able to properly fight matters such as Brexit. Scottish voters are now subject to policies which they had opportunities to fight against in the last 2 General elections but chose not to and instead chose in favour of regional matters and policies (pledges and promises) made to them by the SNP (a political party with a regional focus and no appeal outside of Scotland). In this much the Scottish voters are not so much victims of Brexit or even of policies imposed upon them by a singularly ‘English’ Parliament because in actual fact they have simply thrown away 2 previous general elections which would have given them the ability and opportunity to stop Brexit if they had not been so obsessed with or misled, hypnotised even by regional matters and given those regional concerns more credence and importance than matters concerning the whole of the UK. Currently the Scottish like to see themselves a being a victim of English administration and this is a situation which Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP will be both be keen to encourage and furthermore exploit in order to forward their own ambitions for Scottish Devolution. Brexit has given the SNP momentum to their cause and the best opportunity that could have been wished for to push for Scottish devolution and this is why they are really not bothered by it.