A bulging photo album... but not many negatives
IT was a masterclass in shamelessness, a perfect display of doublespeak. Nicola Sturgeon might style herself a different kind of leader, the embodiment of the ‘new politics’, but during First Minister’s Question Time at Holyrood yesterday, she was as slippery as they come. Wearing the concerned, more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger expression that she’s really perfected in recent years, Miss Sturgeon told MSPs it was her intention to do whatever she could to protect Scotland’s place in the European Union. The United Kingdom might have voted, last Thursday, to leave the EU but Scots did not do so; the First Minister was determined to act. Miss Sturgeon showed that dynamism on Wednesday when she dashed to Brussels for what the Scottish Government spun as crucial meetings with key EU figures but what was, in reality, simply a series of photo opportunities. The First Minister was ostensibly in the heart of the EU to urgently explore ways in which Scotland’s place there could be ‘protected’. But as part of the UK, Scotland is on its way out of the European-club. Still, the trip gave Miss Sturgeon the opportunity to adopt many different statesmanlike poses, with her head cocked at a range of angles.
Returning to Holyrood yesterday, her photo album bulging with new snaps, the First Minister restated her commitment to ensuring Scotland wasn’t dragged out of Europe. She would explore all rues and boulevards to achieve this and that meant – and you may wish to prepare yourself for a shock, at this point – yes, the possibility of a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Holyrood heard the First Minister declare: ‘I am not prepared to ignore how people in Scotland voted last week.’
Those who voted No to independence in 2014 and found themselves ignored by an SNP government that has done nothing but try to foment grievance may have been rather taken aback by this. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson made the grave mistake of attempting to inject logic into the First Minister’s strategy. Nationalist MSPs don’t take kindly to this sort of thing and jeered, enthusiastically.
Miss Davidson’s heresy was to question the sense of putting a single market with Europe – in which Scottish exports total around £11billion per year – ahead of a single market with the rest of the UK, which buys more than £48billion of Scottish goods and services.
AT least she tried. Both Labour’s Kezia Dugdale and the Liberal Democrats’ Willie Rennie were all warm words and support for the First Minister. They would do what they could to get behind her. It didn’t occur to either that the last thing Scotland might need, following the uncertainty created by the decision to leave the EU, was the chaos created by a decision to leave the UK.
The First Minister’s trip to Brussels may have allowed her to look the part of a leader in control but she cannot ignore the UK constitution. Senior figures pointed out that Brexit negotiations were a matter for the UK Government alone.
But facts be damned. The majority of MSPs were happy to play along with the bogus notion that Miss Sturgeon had the authority to do anything.
She told MSPs that independence was not her starting point as she pursues her current campaign. Of course it damned well is.
And, if opposition MSPs don’t start recognising this soon, then Miss Sturgeon will find her objective easier than she might have dared dream just a week ago.