An arrogant threat to break up Britain
Yesterday should have been an historic day for our country, as Parliament voted again for removing the last remaining obstacles to freeing Britain from the eU’s shackles. But any optimism about the Article 50 Bill was overshadowed by a dangerous new threat to our sacred Union.
Barely two years after the Scottish people firmly rejected independence (in a vote which, remember, the SNP claimed was a ‘once in a generation’ chance) the high priestess of Scottish nationalism, Nicola Sturgeon, demanded another referendum.
She did so with breath-taking cynicism and despite polls showing most Scots have no desire to plunge their nation back into a second divisive campaign.
Hers is the most risible of pretexts: that the SNP’s conditions for Brexit have been rejected. This is dishonest. Miss Sturgeon has deliberately made an impossible demand – that Scotland stays in the single market – knowing it wouldn’t be met.
The truth is that die-hard nationalists will find any excuse to resurrect their singular obsession: the break-up of the Union which has served our nations so well for the past 300 years.
Indeed, it was just hours after the UK voted to leave the eU last year that Miss Sturgeon raised the prospect of a second poll, despite knowing that the economic case for independence, which was paper thin in 2014, lies in tatters.
The collapse in oil prices means North Sea revenues will be next to nothing instead of the £7.5billion a year the SNP once claimed. With an annual deficit of £15billion – or 9.5 per cent of GDP – an independent Scotland would overnight become an economic basket case.
In a naked attempt to attract remain voters to her cause, Miss Sturgeon implied Scotland could stay in the eU while the rest of the UK leaves, a suggestion immediately ruled out by Brussels.
In reality, an independent Scotland would be forced to re-apply for eU membership and face being vetoed by Spain, which fears fuelling Catalan nationalism.
Nor would rejoining the eU be any substitute for keeping the Union. The UK domestic market is worth four times more to Scottish firms than the rest of the eU.
The nationalists would find themselves arguing to leave one highly successful union in which Scotland is an equal partner – and, let’s not forget, has vast devolved powers – in order to submit to a failing european Union run by unaccountable bureaucrats.
even more than in 2014, independence would be an act of monumental self harm. And by raising it, Miss Sturgeon shows her determination to sacrifice the immense benefits of the Union on the altar of her own political vanity.
Her arguments were so weak that there was a sense of desperation about the entire charade, raising the question of whether it was done for cynical domestic reasons.
Spending the next two years talking about independence will distract from Miss Sturgeon’s appalling mismanagement of schools, hospitals and transport.
Given the glaring flaws in the nationalist case, the Mail is confident Scots would once again reject independence.
Nevertheless, as an ardent unionist who has put the ‘precious, precious bond’ between the nations of the UK at the heart of her premiership, Theresa May will be reluctant to give in to nationalist demands. But she also knows refusing them outright might backfire and seem undemocratic.
Instead, she must reject the SNP’s timetable of autumn next year or early 2019 on the grounds voters will not be able to judge the outcome of Brexit. Then, given that the nationalists lack a mandate, she can insist on new elections to the Scottish Parliament before allowing a second poll.
That would give her invaluable time to keep passionately making the case for preserving our great family of nations.