The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Cumming fluffs his lines
This is the dark side of nationalism and one that will do the Yes movement no favours
Alan Cumming may be spitting feathers over the prospect of English votes taking Scotland out of the EU against its will.
But that fury will never justify spouting the sort of jumped-up, jingoistic bile he delivered at the weekend, in which the high-profile actor and independence campaigner laid the blame for Brexit squarely on “stupid English voters”.
This is the dark side of nationalism and one that will do the Yes movement no favours.
To start with, the case for independence will never succeed if it does not talk to Scotland’s reasoned majority, who hold practical economic arguments above any existential notions of statehood.
They will be turned off by English-bashing rhetoric, when in truth they just want answers to fundamental questions like which currency Scotland would use and how to address a £15 billion budget deficit amid oil revenues that only seem to be sinking.
People tend to be pragmatic and most will support or dismiss independence based on what they think it means for the finances of themselves and their families, as well as the communities they live in.
One MSP from a pro-Union party told me this week that he could put aside his sense of Britishness and vote for independence if there was evidence it would make the country better off.
Then there is the English minority in Scotland – and this is a sizeable chunk of the population.
There are at least 422,000 English-born people living in Scotland, which potentially amounts to one in every 12 voters.
Many of these upped sticks to move over the border in recent years, while retaining significant ties with England that would suggest they would be naturally inclined to support the UK.
But this mobile set, who simply by venturing north are unlikely to be among the “Little Englanders” who voted Leave, will be open to arguments for independence like anyone else.
The game-changer today is the Brexit vote. The Scotland-domiciled English may value the EU, including freedom of movement, at least as keenly as the UK.
With Theresa May confirming that “Brexit means Brexit”, their best chance of keeping their EU passports is through Scotland leaving the UK and maintaining its position in the EU (such as through the “reverse Greenland” precedent) or re-entering the bloc, possibly on a fast-track basis.
Converting those English voters could be key for the SNP in securing the numbers needed to win majority support for independence.
The SNP hierarchy – out of common decency as well as for more practical reasons – have distanced themselves from anti-English sentiment, with Nicola Sturgeon and others keen to highlight that their opposition to Westminster rule is nothing to do with the English public.
As those at the top of the SNP reflect on how they will win over the hundreds of thousands needed to tip the balance in favour of secession, they will wince at Mr Cumming’s comments.
The 422,000 English residents could help them tread new ground in building up the surge in independence support, which polls indicate has been fairly muted despite the Brexit vote.
As one of the Yes movement’s most prominent celebrity campaigners, Mr Cumming’s references to the “stupid English” is rhetoric that is as self-defeating as it is dangerous.
It is certainly not how you win friends and influence people.