In May Scotland’s destiny is in our hands

Speaking to SNP party members in Glasgow as the campaign for the Scottish elections in May starts to ramp up, First Minister John Swinney has said that the Scottish media should be “livid” at the UK Government’s refusal to spell out the democratic route to a second independence referendum.

If we lived in a normal country with a media which was broadly representative of the range of public opinion in Scotland, there would indeed be considerable media outrage about the hypocrisy of successive British governments which continue to insist that the UK is a voluntary union of nations but which refuse to specify exactly how Scotland, or indeed Wales, can put that to the test with a democratic ballot on independence.

However we don’t live in a normal country, we live in a country which has a paternalistic media which is wildly unrepresentative of what people in Scotland really think. As we saw after the last Scottish elections in 2021, when the Scottish media colluded with and enabled the gaslighting of the anti-independence parties which had lost the election, we have a media which does not regard its job as being a mirror in which the people of Scotland can see itself but rather its job is to cajole, browbeat and scaremonger the populace into rejecting Scottish independence, and if that means traducing democracy or even allowing Scotland to fall into the clutches of English nationalist fascists, the Scottish media is just fine with that.

If we want to ensure that Scotland resists the well funded but dishonest campaigning of Reform UK, it’s going to be up to all of us who value democracy, decency, and Scotland’s right to choose it’s going to be up to all of us to do it. The Scottish media is not going to do it for us. It’s hopelessly compromised and far too willing to act in the service of the far right.

We can combat the far right in Scotland in two ways, firstly by ensuring that voters, especially those living in more deprived communities, really understand the truth about what Reform UK stands for, and in whose interests they will govern. Reform stands for tax cuts for the rich, austerity on steroids, the evisceration of the public services upon which we all rely. It’s likely to be more productive to concentrate on other topics and avoid getting into debates about immigration with people who have swallowed right wing lies and scaremongering about migrants. More success can be had by talking about how Reform’s policies will have a negative impact on the lives of those in working class communities.

Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has claimed that the NHS doesn’t need more funding but it should be buying millions more procedures and consultations from private healthcare firms. It’s privatisation by the back door. Reform UK has suggested cutting the NHS by £26 billion and giving tax breaks to people who can afford private healthcare. That’s taking money out of the NHS and giving it to the better off who can afford private healthcare and would lead to the creation of a two tier health system.

Reform also wants to rip up employment rights, if you’re struggling in a low paid job, Reform will make your life more difficult.

The bottom line is that Reform UK’s policies are not the solution to broken Britain, they’d pound poorer communities into dust. At every opportunity we must explain to those thinking about voting Reform just how Farage’s policies would affect them.

There is also a second line of attack which could be effective in Scotland in countering Reform UK. These who are soft Noes or who are undecided on independence must be asked what they fear more, Scottish independence, or Greater English fascism? Because that’s the stark choice facing us all now. If such voters reject the far right and its racism and intolerance, they should be prepared to vote tactically for a pro-independence party in order to defeat Reform UK. Defeating fascism is far more important than defending a broken so-called union which has failed to respect the right of the people of Scotland to determine the future of Scotland for themselves and which is uniquely vulnerable to capture by the extreme right. Because both Labour and the Conservatives have refused to countenance reform of the Westminster Parliament, Nigel Farage could very easily win a crushing majority in the Commons on just a third of votes cast. Should that happen, there would be no effective checks or balances on his power.

It is vital that we ensure that the pro-independence parties win a majority in Holyrood in May. The Scottish Parliament we elect in May will be the Scottish Parliament we have during the next Westminster general election which must be held by 2029. On current polling, that election could be won by Farage, and we need a Scottish Government which will not quietly acquiesce as Farage rips up the devolution settlement and strips the right to live in the UK from hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in the UK through legal and recognised routes, followed all the rules, obeyed all the laws, paid thousands of pounds in visa fees to the Home Office and who work to support their families, paying taxes and contributing to the local community.

The only pro-independence parties which can win seats are the SNP and the Scottish Greens. You can vote for one of the minor independence parties if you want, but that only makes it more likely that a Labour, Tory, Lib Dem or Reform candidate wins. You defeat fascism with a laser focus on what will be successful in the real world and with righteous anger, not with self-righteousness.

The First Minister has said that there are a “variety of tactics” which could be deployed in order to force a second vote on Scotland’s place in the UK, if May’s Holyrood vote shows “emphatic support” for independence, but he was clear that he was not going to set out his tactics in advance. Doing so would only forewarn his opponents and lessen the chances of success when the time comes.

Whatever way you look at it, it is imperative that we have a pro-independence majority in Holyrood to keep the hope of independence alive, because if we don’t get such a majority the anti-independence parties and that biased Scottish media will crow from the rooftops that Scotland doesn’t want independence and it’s all over. Scotland will be left exposed and supine should Farage ever take power in the Commons. But it doesn’t have to be that way, in May, our destiny is in our own hands.

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