Re-heating old indy arguments
The most depressing and pointless debate I have taken part in for many years was held in the Scottish Parliament over the past two weeks.
Eight hours of debating time were devoted to discussing whether we should have a second independence referendum, with the SNP and their Green allies demanding that Theresa May as UK Prime Minister gave them the powers to allow a referendum to be conducted.
It was, literally, a total waste of parliamentary time.
There are so many important issues we need to be sorting out in Scotland: our underperforming economy, the state of our schools, the NHS, policing, and many more.
Instead, we wasted precious time rehashing old arguments on an issue that most people believe was settled less than three years ago.
In 2014 we were told by the SNP that an independence referendum would be a“once in a generation”or even a “once in a lifetime”event.
Now, less than three years later, they want to put us through the whole thing again.
It was clear from the speeches of many of the SNP MSPs who spoke that there are absolutely no new arguments for independence. Indeed, for many, their hearts did not seem to be in it. And it is not surprising, for there is absolutely no evidence of public support for another independence referendum.
Opinion poll after opinion poll shows that only a small minority of Scots want a re-run of the 2014 referendum any time soon.
Indeed, even many people who support independence in the long term don’t support another referendum.
The SNP First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has demonstrated that she is woefully out of touch with public opinion in her approach.
The last NatCen Social Research poll showed that attitudes amongst people in Scotland towards the EU are little different from those elsewhere in the UK, despite all the claims to the contrary from the SNP.
It also found, crucially, that there is very little appetite amongst Scottish voters for the differentiated deal with the EU that the SNP have been pressing for.
One of the reasons many people don’t want a re-run of the 2014 vote is because they recall it was a period of bitterness and division in Scottish society. In her speech to Parliament last week, the First Minister called for respectful language to be used.
But it is difficult to take these sort of calls seriously when, only the day before, we saw the Deputy First Minister John Swinney pictured alongside a senior local SNP Councillor who has still offered no explanation or apology for an extraordinary outburst in Perth and Kinross Council which was described as an“anti-English rant”.
The councillor in question was being endorsed by Mr Swinney as an SNP candidate for the forthcoming local elections.
Despite the First Minister’s fine words, it seems like disgraceful and divisive language is not to be condemned by the SNP leadership, but rewarded with an endorsement.
With all this going on, no wonder voters are so angry at the irresponsible antics of the SNP, both in Holyrood and locally.
They will soon have the chance to express their views at the ballot box when we all go to vote for a new Council on May 4.
Mr Fraser be contacted via email to murdo.fraser.msp@ parliament.scot . Debating the second independence referendum in the Scottish Parliament