In its ruling yesterday on Nicola Sturgeon’s latest obsessive and absurd attempt to deny the laws of the land, the Supreme Court confirmed what everyone (apart from Ms Sturgeon, it seems) already knew.
The SNP government in Scotland has wasted a huge amount of time and taxpayer money on a Scottish Independence Referendum Bill which asks the question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” They then had to go to court (at a further significant cost) to have it confirmed that in fact, this Bill is not constitutional.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s problems caused by the SNP government continue to pile up, much like the uncollected bags of rubbish in the streets which greeted the COP26 world leaders and visitors to Glasgow this time last year.
The Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday
In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court confirmed yesterday that “the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence”.
Any superficial reading of the Scotland Act — particularly section 29(2)(b) — clearly shows that any proposed referendum on Scottish independence would relate to matters which have been reserved for the United Kingdom Parliament. This is something which is incontestable… unless, of course, you are Ms Sturgeon.
The Supreme Court could have declined to hear the case at all, given that an argument could be made that what Ms Sturgeon and her SNP colleagues did could be said to amount to ‘vexatious litigation. There was really no legal case at all. Perhaps in an effort to placate the implacable Ms Sturgeon, however, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case — before ruling against it on all counts.
Well, Nicola Sturgeon was humiliated in ‘Supreme’ fashion
The “once in a lifetime” decision had already been made by Scottish voters in 2014
The Scottish independence movement has tried to row back on the original promises made by the SNP, that the 2014 Scottish independence referendum would be a “once in a lifetime” or “once in a generation” event.
At the time, the then SNP leader Alex Salmond did indeed refer to it as a “once in a lifetime” event. He did so in an interview with none other than Jeremy Paxman on the BBC’s Newsnight programme.
Here is the foreword to the official White Paper from the SNP Government called “Scotland’s Future”, published on 26 November 2013:-
“If we vote No, Scotland stands still. A once in a generation opportunity to follow a different path, and choose a new and better direction for our nation, is lost.”
And here is the preface
“The debate we are engaged in as a nation is about the future of all of us lucky enough to live in this diverse and vibrant country. It is a rare and precious moment in the history of Scotland — a once in a generation opportunity to chart a better way.”
- “Scotland’s Future”, White Paper, Scottish Government, 26 Nov 2013
The SNP, Scotland, Brexit, and the EU
Scotland voted by 55.3% to 44.7% to stay in the United Kingdom. This was an emphatic rejection of the SNP’s raison d’etre.
The SNP’s justification for their continued obsession with independence from the United Kingdom (more specifically from the English) now lies in their claim that “Scotland was dragged out of the EU against its will — the circumstances have changed.”
The logical absurdities and harsh economic realities against this argument are on such a scale that I will deal with these in subsequent articles.
However, here is a taster
For 15 Years, It’s Been Nothing But Failure After Failure From The SNP
The SNP Government led first by Alex Salmond and now by Nicola Sturgeon has been an unmitigated disaster for Scotland and the people who live and work in Scotland and it’s getting worse.
- The SNP has presided over the worst A&E waiting times on record. In the week to 9 January 2022, just 67.4% of attendances at A&E services were seen within four hours, the worst figures on record.
2. 73% of GPs are worried they cannot provide care for patients due to their workload. A survey by RCGP Scotland revealed that 73% of GPs are worried that mounting workloads will negatively affect their ability to provide care for patients.
3. Nearly 2,000 children and young people have been waiting for over a year for mental health treatment. The number of children and young people who had been waiting over a year to begin treatment for mental health problems at the end of September 2021 stood at 1,978. This was a 106% rise in the number who had been waiting over a year to begin treatment in September 2020.
I will leave it there for the time being
In their fantasy world, the SNP government of Ms Sturgeon seems to think it acceptable to waste taxpayer money and a great deal of time and effort on one issue which was decided democratically six years ago.
The problem for the Scottish people is that while the SNP’s and its First Minister’s minds are focused on this one obsession, Scotland’s problems continue to mount.
I believe that the majority of people in the rest of the UK are unaware of just how bad things have been getting north of the border after 15 years of SNP rule. I will cover these issues in a future report, as well as a report looking at the logical implausibility of the SNP’s views on joining the EU, and another report on the practical impossibility of doing so.
And before our Scottish readers start to get concerned, I would like to quote something from Alex Salmond ahead of the Independence Referendum of 2014 that I entirely agree with
“Scotland is an ancient nation, renowned for the ingenuity and creativity of our people, the breathtaking beauty of our land and the brilliance of our scholars. Our national story has been shaped down the generations by values of compassion, equality, an unrivalled commitment to the empowerment of education, and a passion and curiosity for invention that has helped to shape the world around us. Scots have been at the forefront of the great moral, political and economic debates of our times as humanity has searched for progress in the modern age.”
Well said, Mr Salmond. A shame that most of your other utterings about Scotland have been such nonsense, but I will agree with you on the above.
Sources: Supreme Court | Scottish government | BBC Newsnight
