CHECKPOINTS AT THE ENGLISH BORDER? JUST FINE BY THE SNP
NICOLA Sturgeon has spent much time lecturing the people of the UK about the dangers of a hard Brexit. But after this SNP conference, it’s clear to see the kind of independence she craves for Scotland is the hardest and most reckless constitutional proposition of all.
She attempted to talk down the more extreme elements of her party – MPs like Angus MacNeil among them – by telling them their madcap plan for some kind of ‘declaration’ of independence without a referendum wasn’t desirable.
But no sooner had that instruction left her lips, than she was suggesting the break-up of Britain could lead to a hard border at Gretna, Berwick and anywhere else where there’s a crossing into England from Scotland.
That’s significantly more severe for Scotland than anything Brexit’s got to offer, and it’s about time the SNP faced up to the reality of its dangerous plan for separation.
And let’s not forget that, when then home secretary Theresa May suggested border posts would be required were Scotland to vote Yes in 2014, Miss Sturgeon dismissed that as scare-mongering.
It’s somewhat surprising that the First Minister would change her tone on this. Perhaps she is conscious that she’s disappointed many of her hardliners by not bowing to their frankly ludicrous demands for a unilateral declaration of independence.
The hard border concession – though appalling the majority across these islands – represents some red meat at conference for an element of the SNP who would be very happy to see a barricade (perhaps even a wall) weave its way across the newly-created dividing lines.
But what is welcome tough language for the hardliner Nationalists will send a shiver down the spine of business and hard-working people.
Scotland’s trade with the rest of the UK is worth four times that of the business done elsewhere in Europe.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland are far and away our most valuable client, and Nicola Sturgeon wants to get in the way of that to create a selfish legacy for herself.
According to the Scottish Government’s own figures, Scottish exports are worth £81.4billion a year. Of that, 60 per cent goes to the rest of the UK, and accounts for almost £50billion. Quite how a responsible administration in Bute House can jeopardise this is a mystery.
No matter what policies the SNP tries to float this week, it will be this stark admission on a hard border that will resonate the most with people.
They’ve already seen the Nationalists whack up their income tax to the point where some are thousands of pounds worse off just by living here.
And, as confirmed last week, they even want to tax people £500 a year for the dubious pleasure of taking their car to work in the morning.
Yet Finance Secretary Derek Mackay, perhaps preparing his own leadership tilt at their conference in Aberdeen, claimed not only that Scotland was more ready than ever to break away economically, but that it couldn’t afford to be part of the UK any more. This being the same UK which ensured the oil price crash didn’t harm Scotland’s public finances, something a separate Scotland would never have been able to weather.
MR Mackay’s claim made during yesterday’s speech to delegates was quite incredible in its delusion. He’s won the economic argument on independence, he said. Yet still his party of separatists don’t have even the beginnings of an answer on currency, banking or division of debts and assets.
And there’s been no explanation of how a separate Scotland would address the black hole of more than £12billion which would emerge overnight in the event of independence.
This isn’t just paper money – it’s a shortfall significantly worse than anywhere else in the EU, and one that would probably be enough for the EU to turn Scotland’s membership appeals away, however passionately they were made.
Above all, it would mean a devastating reduction to public service funding, tax rises even more severe than the SNP has already imposed, and the prospect of increased borrowing.
The more sensible elements of the independence movement have acknowledged that, unless the financial battle can be won, they stand no chance of persuading Scots to vote for divorce. It was what so badly handicapped them in 2014.
Yet all this conference has shown is, far from planning to win the argument among reasonable people, they want to double-down on division, bitterness and chaos.
For Nicola Sturgeon, it always has and always will come down to independence at any cost.
If that means a hard border on the M74 and the A1 – a striking symbol marking the end of more than 300 years of the most successful social and political union the world has seen – that will be fine by the SNP.