The First Minister has issued a statement clarifying this morning's report on the referendum, which was the subject of my previous blog post. Thanks to all who commented here and on facebook - please continue to express your views. Here is what the First Minister said:
"In the next few days the Cabinet will be considering a plan to put more powers for the Scottish Parliament and Scottish independence at the heart of the 2011 Holyrood campaign.
It is clear from press reports today that we will now have to appeal over their heads of the unionist MSPs to the people of Scotland next May.
The London parties have said that they will vote down the right of the people to decide, despite the ludicrous position of the Tories and Lib Dems in wanting a referendum on an AV voting system that no-one supports on Scottish polling day, and the Labour Party pursuing a referendum next spring on more powers for Wales, while denying a referendum for Scotland. The hypocrisy of all the London parties will be well and truly exposed, as will their lack of any coherent policy to generate new wealth to offset public spending cuts.
Our strategy for the election ahead therefore is to make the essential link between constitutional progress for Scotland, and the economic and financial powers we need for the Scottish Parliament to grow the economy and increase revenues to invest in vital public services.
In the circumstances we now face, our plan is to make the right of the people to have their say on independence, and the absolute requirement for economic and financial powers for Scotland's Parliament, the transcending issue of the election campaign.
Tactically, we are deciding whether to introduce a Bill to allow the unionist parties to vote it down or rather to publish the Bill and concentrate on canvassing public support.
A new re-elected SNP government will be in a powerful position to secure passage of the referendum, having successfully mobilised the people over the blocking tactics of the unionist parties."
I think the Government should have forced a vote on the referendum, if only to force the Unionists to vote down the right of the people to decide. And I think the Government should have made it a confidence motion i.e. they should have resigned as a Government if the Unionists blocked a referendum and left it to the Unionist Bloc to implement Unionist cuts. It would have made for a much better election strategy if nothing else.
Posted by: Andrew Anderson | September 08, 2010 at 12:40 PM
You know, I remember being at a wild horse auction in Idaho some years ago. On one particular horse a family was bidding against a horse dealer from out of state; they bid each other up a few times and then the wiley horse dealer, well practiced in these sorts of things, said to the family "Look, I've got a budget of $x, so if you can't bid over that then there is no point in you bidding". The family, who were trying to buy the horse for their daughter looked glum and backed off. The dealer won. Of course the dealer had simply named a price in excess of what he actually had to spend and had managed to psych-out the family in order to get a cheap deal on the beast. So... SNP, don't let the unionist horse-traders play mind-games with you; put the bill to the Scottish Parliament and force them to show their hand. Don't sell this chance of a referendum off cheaply. They are threatening to block the bill; make them do it.
Posted by: cattwister | September 06, 2010 at 08:37 PM
Dear Rolf
You state:
“George Laird may boast of how red the west of Scotland's political map may be, but what good has that done for the people living there?”
Firstly, I wasn’t ‘boasting’ about Labour success, I was stating facts.
Where you at the David Turner by-election, David Cassidy by-election, did you do the European election, did you turn up at the Denis Johnston by-election, David Kerr by-election or did you turn out for the Westminster election?
I am wondering just how SNP committed you actually are.
“Keeping Scotland on its knees for your own party political aims is shameful”.
If you had taken the time to read my post, then you have seen that I am an SNP member.
I am sure that Stewart Hosie, Nicola Sturgeon, David Kerr, James Dornan, John Mason et al would be able to tell you who George Laird is.
I also wrote:
“Some of this I proposed during yesterday's SNP meeting in Perth during group discussions”.
If you don’t know who I am in the SNP then it is probably because you don’t work enough for the party.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Posted by: George Laird | September 06, 2010 at 07:32 PM
Very disappointing news but understandable given the position of the Unionist parties, they seem determined to deny people the right to choose.
The most annoying part of this story is the spin being applied by the likes of BBC Scotland. Never let the facts get in the way of some Nat bashing...
Posted by: Iain Ross | September 06, 2010 at 02:14 PM
The SNP have met the majority of their headline manifesto commitments, and done so as a minority administration. Imagine what could be achieved in Scotland's interests (not the interests of the Westminster Labour party) if the SNP had a majority, if the Scottish parliament had real control over is own its finances etc. It is that very imagining that scares the Labour party into their current undemocratic stance. How would they win a majority at Westminster without their 40 to 50 Scottish MPs? That is all that concerns them. George Laird may boast of how red the west of Scotland's political map may be, but what good has that done for the people living there? Highest rates of unemployment, shocking health statistics etc. Keeping Scotland on its knees for your own party political aims is shameful.
Posted by: Rolf | September 06, 2010 at 09:45 AM
Dear Joan
Should we have a referendum?
No, why flog a dead horse, it is now irrelevant and time wasting at this point to try and get a bill through Parliament.
We need to show a record of achievement over more than one term in office before this is viable again with the people.
The campaign for the next Holyrood election should be firmly grounded in reality.
It should be an action plan.
The manifesto should be filled with an agenda for changes to services, tackling quangos and freezing obscene public sector pay and phasing out bonuses.
Some of this I proposed during yesterday's SNP meeting in Perth during group discussions.
I hope my suggestion for a national police force will be given serious consideration by the party.
Our agenda should be bold and radical.
Labour is climbing in the polls and action is needed to change the way the party campaigns in Glasgow.
We can't sit back and hope that the Labour Party becomes unpopular again, we need to get out and meet the public, face to face.
I ask people in Glasgow to name a Glasgow SNP MSP, so far other than Nicola, the result is zero.
Try it yourself, see what 3 years in Parliament has done to the profile of those currently list MSPs.
And then there are the SNP candidates who don't do work days for branches they are a member of.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Posted by: George Laird | September 05, 2010 at 10:48 PM
The phoney war is over, time for all who have Scotland's best interests at heart to come together and make the case for full self government.
Time to do ....
Posted by: TartanSeer | September 05, 2010 at 09:45 PM