Progressive forces of light must stand against Tory darkness

THE First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, told Scottish employers last week she will support them in refusing to list foreign workers in their workforces. It is a measure of the dismal depths to which British politics have sunk that it was necessary to give this assurance. The proposal from the UK Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, that firms could even be named and shamed for employing non-British workers was repugnant and has been widely and rightly condemned.

It has forced many who voted No in the Scottish independence referendum to wonder whatever happened to the humane and liberal United Kingdom in which they thought they were voting to remain. Since the 18th century, Britain has had an international reputation for welcoming foreign workers, intellectuals and refugees from tyranny. Not any more. European leaders believe that Britain has succumbed to the politics of the anti-immigration far-right.

What should Scotland’s response to this be? Supporters of independence will feel vindicated in their call for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom at the earliest opportunity. This paper supports an independent Scotland and will back the First Minister when she decides it is time for another referendum. The Brexit vote has undermined the legitimacy of the 2014 referendum in which many who voted No believed they were also voting to remain in the European Union.

However, there is more immediate action that should be taken by Scottish civil society. Scotland’s progressive political parties need to unite in moral revulsion at the increasingly xenophobic character of this UK Tory Government. This is why we congratulate the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for his interview in this paper today in which he calls for a recognition that the Yes Scotland campaign and Labour share many of the same values and objectives.

Corbyn is an opponent of Scottish independence and he has used harsh words in the past against the Scottish National Party. He has also rejected any electoral alliance with the SNP after the next General Election. This is regrettable.

But he should be supported in his opposition to austerity and victimisation of migrants. Labour and the SNP need to unite in Westminster and Holyrood against the attempt by Theresa May to push Brexit through under Royal Prerogative and without a legislative consent motion in the Scottish Parliament. Now is the time for progressive forces in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to make a stand against the forces of Tory darkness.