Nicola, talk to all of us, not just the SNP zealots
FUNNY thing, this referendum anniversary. You don’t have to look far to find Alex Salmond bleating about supposed BBC ‘bias’, or people looking sad next to Saltires with the word Yes emblazoned along the side.
It’s as if we’ve time travelled right back to the day itself, only to relive something a lot of us had hoped to move on from by now. I don’t know about you, but on September 19, 2014, I thought it was all over. The people of Scotland had spoken – quite decisively as it turned out – and the answer was No.
And yet here we are, one year on, and all the old wounds have not only refused to scab over but have festered and swollen into something bigger, something really quite painful. This entire week has been a stark reminder of just how deeply divided our wonderful little country remains 365 days later. Old arguments have been reignited and simmering resentments have boiled over. Scotland is not at peace with itself.
With the inevitability of a Cheshire cat grin at an Alex Salmond book signing, there has been a lot of talk this past week of another referendum. It’s as if the last one were an accident, or a dress rehearsal, and the real referendum was still waiting in the wings. All hail the future, folks. The Neverendum is a reality.
Do a majority of Scots really want independence? I doubt it. The SNP points to rising membership numbers and the triumph of its 56 MPs at Westminster in May. These facts are undeni- able, but I do not believe they are rooted in support for independence but instead in the desire for change. People are searching for a different type of politics and the SNP is offering that. In England, it’s why thousands voted for Ukip in May, and it’s also why Jeremy Corbyn has just won the Labour leadership.
Apart from anything else, the economic arguments for independence have weakened in this past year. The reality of independence – which to be fair, never got in the way of the Yes campaign – is looking rather grim.
I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that yesterday, on the anniversary of the independence referendum vote, Nicola Sturgeon chose to give a speech to the nation not as First Minister but as the leader of the SNP.
Standing in front of an SNP backdrop, she talked about the possibility of another referendum and said that Cameron was ‘on borrowed time’.
On a day when Scotland felt more divided than ever, Miss Sturgeon had a chance to speak to all 4.3million Scottish voters. Instead, she addressed the 112,000 members of her own party. That’s just 2.6 per cent of the population. What a wasted opportunity.