Cunning new plan: Ignore the truth, it’s tiresomely troublesome

CHALLENGED on the devastating lack of detail that played its part in their defeat in the independence referendum, SNP politicians can frequently be heard referring to the Scottish Government’s White Paper. The existence of this document is supposed to convince us that the Nationalists had a workable plan. There was – and remains – one flaw with this argument.

The White Paper was full of supposition, unsupported claims and distortions. Even though many cite the White Paper as proof of seriousness, many senior Nationalists who brandished it during the referendum campaign now admit the existence of its flaws.

How could they not? It was, after all, rejected by the majority of voters.

Having tried and failed to persuade us that independence would be nothing but sunlit uplands and dividends for all, senior SNP figures now tread a more cautious path.

The Sustainable Growth Commission under former MSP Andrew Wilson was meant to inject some reality into proceedings. With its concession that an independent Scotland would begin life running a serious deficit, the Growth Commission may have taken that reality too far for the tastes of some Nationalists.

But the report is what the SNP has to work with and it intends to do just that.

At the SNP conference next weekend, it will be front and centre.

A wide-ranging motion will see delegates debate revised plans for an independent Scotland.

It begins with the usual platitudes about Scotland being a prosperous and successful nation, populated by well-educated and skilled people. But for all its many wonders, Scotland could achieve more if only it was free from Westminster.

There is nothing new here – the SNP’s story of Scotland being held back by the UK is at the heart of everything it does.

But delegates will go on to discuss in detail the Growth Commission’s report. They will even tackle the awkward stuff.

Well, I say tackle when, really, delegates will gloss over any difficult truths. On the matter of the

thwocking great deficit that would burden an independent Scotland, colleagues will be invited to welcome the idea that this burden would be bearable.

In the world of the Scottish Nationalist, no problem is so great that it cannot be solved by constitutional upheaval.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday three aspects of the Growth Commission’s report were of particular significance.

This triple whammy will, if delegates agree (and they will because SNP delegates do what they are damned well told), form the basis of a refreshed case for independence.

Ms Sturgeon said the Commission’s report ‘demonstrates’ how much of Scotland’s potential is still untapped. It ‘demonstrates’ nothing of the sort. It merely asserts the SNP ‘truth’ that Scotland would fare better outside the Union.

The second aspect of the Commission’s findings is its claim that any fiscal deficit inherited by an independent Scotland would be the result of Westminster ‘mismanagement’ rather than a reflection on the case for independence.

As having one’s cake and eating it goes, this is in the Boris Johnson league.

THE third message Ms Sturgeon wants delegates to consider is that negotiations between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK should be conducted in a way that contrasts sharply with Brexit. Few would argue that would not be desirable but, again, the Nationalists’ position is weak. Perhaps the

most problematic area for the SNP in 2014 was currency.

Based on the position of the UK parties five years back, Ms Sturgeon wants delegates to support the ‘careful, managed and responsible transition to an independent currency’.

For the first time in the party’s history, members will be asked to adopt a policy position in favour of an independent currency. If this is so, it’s doubly puzzling that the SNP didn’t adopt this position in 2014.

Of course, it did not do so because creating a currency was a recklessly foolish idea. It remains so.

Ms Sturgeon might wish SNP members to believe that next weekend they’ll be voting for a brilliant new plan for independence.

In fact, they’ll be voting to ignore the realities that mean the party’s case is as flimsy as it ever was.