Tagged with Scottish Referendum

After the referendum, now the backlash

scotish flag at half mastThe panic is over. The neck and neck opinion polls that led the Westminster party leaders to make uncosted promises of greater devolution to Scotland and guarantees of bigger grant funding from the centre have unravelled within hours of the result. The “vow” to which party leaders committed, offering extensive new powers to the Scottish parliament suddenly seems to be without a timetable – and locked in to a Cameron commitment to guarantee English votes on English-only issues.

And with the result come not sighs of relief from the rattled No campaigners but demands that never again should such a poll be held. And a certain vindictiveness: this, for example from Euan McColm in the London Evening Standard, before the news of Alex Salmond’s resignation as SNP leader: Continue reading →

Labour faces a titanic struggle to regain the confidence of the Scottish working class

Bx3y4n1CYAETIvaIn gracefully accepting the verdict of the Scottish people “at this stage“, Alex Salmond made clear his expectation that the three unionist parties honour their pledges to the Scottish people in rapid course. “Let us not dwell on distance we’ve fallen short; let us dwell on distance we’ve travelled.”

The turnout at 86% demonstrates how engaged and energised the Scottish people were during the campaign. Though the result was – at 55/45 – not quite as close as the last polls predicted, the SNP have in reality won a great deal in this campaign, and Labour has seen enormous numbers of its erstwhile core working class supporters vote for independence. As John Curtice put it:

Those areas with more middle-class folk were more likely to vote “No” than those areas with more working class people.

Continue reading →

Devolution or Independence: We must not neglect the North East

1349835587_8369111e95_oIn the early hours of Friday morning we will learn whether Scotland has voted in favour of Independence.

The arguments have been well rehearsed from the uncertainty of Independence, and the stability offered by the Union, to the economic and democratic freedom offered by Independence. As a supporter of the Union, and the Better Together Campaign I hope Scotland will vote to retain the United Kingdom. However, I have no doubt that an Independent Scotland would be a successful and prosperous nation.

The referendum will have a profound impact on the UK, no matter what the result, we know more powers will be transferred from Westminster to Holyrood. Continue reading →

An Open Letter to Yes-Voting Socialists

bgso6wDear Comrade,

There are many things on which we can agree about the referendum campaign. The mobilisation of masses of people in Scotland is a good thing. Whichever way the vote goes I hope the energy and positivity mobilised by Yes can feed into progressive politics and positive social change. It’s also kicked the complacency of establishment politics into touch in the rest of Britain. Seeing the powers that be panic as a huge movement blew up before them is something not seen too often. I hope the people of England and Wales are taking notice and the union, with or without Scotland, is radically recast. To be sure, after tomorrow we on the left have a hard job ensuring that not only is a new constitutional settlement for the rest of Britain argued for, but that it reflects the interests and aspirations of our class. These moments seldom come and to cede it to the wonks, the constitutional specialists, and the little England isolationists would be a terrible squandering of an opportunity. Continue reading →

Why the Scottish uprising will not lead to independence

scotish flag at half mastThe Scottish campaign for independence is effectively an uprising against the British state and its collusion with the globalized, mobile finance sector and supranational corporations. It is a protest against an economic and political system increasingly centralised and aloof—a protest bound to spread to other equally neglected regions.

It is a campaign to end allegiance to Westminster politicians that promote and/or tolerate austerity and the accelerating privatisation of the NHS and other national assets.

Rising anger against the establishment has mobilised support behind the campaign for Scottish independence. We share this anger and believe the Scots are right to challenge both the above, and also the narrow focus of Britain’s politicians on, e.g., voters in marginal seats. Continue reading →