When I first discovered that George Galloway was
coming back into Scottish politics my immediate reaction was delight. I’m a
Conservative Brexiteer, but the reason I started writing about Scottish
politics was to keep Britain united. I am willing to work with people who have
different views from mine. I did this before in the years running up to the
Scottish independence referendum in 2014. At this point working together was
called Better Together. Now it is called Alliance for Unity. I prefer this
title.
Do I agree with George Galloway or the other people involved
in Alliance for Unity about everything? No, of course not. The aim is to
attract people from across the political spectrum. It doesn’t matter if you are
from the Left, the Right or the Centre. It doesn’t matter if you supported
Leave or Remain. It only matters that you support Britain and oppose the SNP.
Over the past few months, it is with something like
despair that I have been looking at the opposition in Scotland. To illustrate let’s
look at the Twitter followers of politicians in Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon has 1.2 Million followers on Twitter
Douglas Ross has 17.9 thousand
Richard Leonard has 21.2 thousand
Willie Rennie has 24.8 thousand
George Galloway has 356 thousand.
Politics is about popularity and getting a message
across. I have more followers than the Scottish Labour leader and the next
Scottish Conservative leader. I have a little less than Willie Rennie. I’m no
one. I have no party. I’m never in the papers. All I have is a website that
costs me £20 pounds a year. If the Scottish opposition cannot do better than me
there is something wrong.
George Galloway is a household name. He can compete
with Sturgeon. He is a better debater and has a more interesting intellect.
Sure, there might be aspects of his politics we disagree with, but on the issue
that matters, keeping Britain united he will do a better job against Sturgeon
than the present opposition and better also than anyone else I can think of.
Scotland used to have lots of first-rate politicians
on the Left. There were people with Government experience, Prime Ministers, but
these red flowers of the forest are all a' wede [withered] away. They are doing
other things. They have retired or they have joined the SNP.
The leader of any Alliance for Unity in Scottish
politics has to come from the Left. We are attempting to attract former Labour
voters back to where they belong.
Nationalism is always a fundamentally right-wing
ideology, because it is opposed to the solidarity of the British people that
has existed for centuries. Internationalism is not achieved by separation, it
is achieved by sovereign nation states working together for the good of all.
The SNP is best summed up by its former slogan “It’s Scotland’s oil”. It is an
ideology grounded in selfishness. It is therefore an ideologically right-wing
party dressed up in left-wing clothing. It betrays these origins today in its
authoritarianism and its desire to criminalise dissenting viewpoints.
The Alliance for Unity is not going to stand in the
constituency seats at the next Scottish Parliament election in May 2020. People
who support the Alliance for Unity will be free to vote for their own party at
the constituency level. It might be a good idea however to vote for the Pro UK
party that has the best chance of winning where you live. Our task is to
maximise the number of Pro UK MSPs in Holyrood to prevent the SNP having an
overall majority which they could use to demand a second independence
referendum.
The Alliance for Unity is only going to stand in the
regional list seats. The way the Holyrood voting system works means that the
more the Scottish Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems win constituency seats
the less chance they have of winning regional list seats. It therefore makes
sense to have two different efforts. The first is to maximise the constituency
vote for Labour, Conservatives and Libs Dems. The second is to maximise the
Alliance for Unity vote in the regions.
The regional list seats are delivered according to the
proportion of the vote each party gets in a region. For this reason, while the
Alliance for Unity may cost the Scottish opposition parties seats in the
regional list, it won’t lower the number of Pro UK MSPs, but could instead
increase it significantly.
No one can predict how campaigns go. But we already
knew that the Scottish opposition was going nowhere.
In my view the main benefit of Alliance for Unity is
that it will put a rocket up the backsides of the opposition in Scotland.
Too many MSPs have nice cosy jobs in Holyrood, which
require minimal work and minimal ability. What we are saying is you must
improve. There is now competition.
The regional list system allows people to be become
MSPs simply because they have served their time and done what they have been
told. These people’s jobs are now under threat.
The departure of Jackson Carlaw, who was a major
disappointment, may well have been due to the pressure that George Galloway and
Alliance for Unity is putting on the political establishment. If so, that is a
major result.
Scottish opposition parties can no longer take our
votes for granted. I will still support the Conservative Party, but my support
is not unconditional. I want a massive improvement in performance over the next
year. The Scottish Conservatives must do much better or I will advise everyone
to vote for Alliance for Unity with their second regional list vote.
I hope there will never be a second independence
referendum. Our best chance of stopping it is to maximise the Pro UK vote next
May. But if it became necessary to fight a second campaign to prevent the
partition of Britain we would need to work together just as we did in 2014. We
would then already have the basis for a united campaign with Alliance for
Unity. It would not have to be started from scratch.
For these two reasons I would like to ask everyone to
follow @Alliance4Unity
This is the beginning of a grass roots movement that
is intended to shake up Scottish politics. Get involved. Add your voice to the
debate. If you have concerns raise them. But let us accept that we cannot keep
going as we have for the past few years.
The Scottish opposition at the moment is Cowdenbeath
against Sturgeon’s Barcelona separatists. At least George Galloway and Alliance
for Unity can compete.
