The SNP has a relationship to truth which is at best overoptimistic and at worst downright deceitful. Sometimes the SNP is wrong because it claims to be fact something that it is merely predicting at other times it becomes a first rank member of the “big lie” school of politics. Make it big. Tell it often. Keep a straight face. But at the heart of Scottish politics there is a rotten untruth that is beginning to poison everything else. This is a long list, but by the end you will begin to wonder what living a lie does to a person’s soul.
The independence campaign
1. During 2013/2014 the SNP lied that Scotland would
be in a currency union with the former UK. Even SNP don’t believe this now.
2. Organisations such as Women for Independence and Lawyers
for Yes were supposedly genuinely separate from the SNP, but prominent members
of such organisations immediately became SNP MPs and MSPs afterwards.
3. Scotland would remain in the EU because it would be
able to negotiate membership during the transition period. But only independent
sovereign states can apply for membership of the EU and every member state up
until now has had its own currency or has been using the Euro.
4. A border is just a line in a map and would not be
noticed after independence. But we now know that if Scotland has a different EU
status to the former UK there is every possibility that the border between
England and Scotland would be hard.
5. In Scotland’s future the SNP predicted Offshore
Receipts of £6.8 to £7.9 Billion in 2016-2017 the true figure was £266 million.
6. SNP said UK would pay a commensurate proportion of the
£300 Billion in tax receipts which it received from North Sea oil in decommissioning
the oil rigs in the North Sea. But if that argument were logical a future
Scottish Government would have to pay back the money it received from the UK
Treasury over the same period. Moreover, why would the UK Government decommission
Scotland’s rigs if the SNP refused to pay a proportionate share of the UK’s
national debt?
7. Nicola Sturgeon claimed Scotland would be a member
of the Common Travel Area. This ignored the fact that joining Schengen is a prerequisite
for joining the EU. Ireland and the UK had opt outs. But membership of Schengen
is now mandatory. It would not anyway be up to the SNP if the former UK allowed
Scotland to be a member of the Common Travel Area.
8. The SNP claimed that in an independent Scotland
there would be increased childcare costing £700 million which would be funded
by increasing women returning to work. But if it were this easy to fund
childcare why hasn’t the SNP implemented the policy since then?
9. SNP claimed post-independence Scots could be dual
Scottish/British citizens, but the British Government said this would depend on
Scottish Government policies. The decision to allow dual nationality would be
up to the British Government alone. The SNP were promising something that would
not be in its gift. We have learned subsequently that leaving the EU meant
losing our EU citizenship and the rights that went with it. Why should this not
apply to Scotland leaving the UK?
10. The SNP said there would be no border controls
because it planned for Scotland to be a member of the Common Travel Area. But this
would be incompatible with EU membership and once more was not in the SNP’s
gift. It now looks ever more likely with the UK out of the EU that there would
be border controls because Scotland would have different immigration policies
to the former UK and would be part of a different trading bloc.
11. After for decades maintaining that Scotland would
not be in NATO the SNP suddenly changed its mind and claimed that it would join
NATO. However Scottish independence would lead to the refusal to allow Trident
submarines in Scotland. It would also break up the British Armed Forces forcing
the former UK to either unilaterally disarm or moor them elsewhere. This all
suggests that NATO would welcome Scotland about as gladly as it would welcome
Russia. Scotland would have just done more harm to NATO than the Warsaw Pact
combined. How anyway could anti-nuclear SNP be part of an alliance that depended
on nuclear weapons for its strategy, without crossing its fingers. Planning to
join NATO was merely a dishonest attempt to appease voters concerned about
defence.
12. The SNP claimed that it would rely initially for
cooperation with the former UK on security matters, but the UK Government
maintained that Scotland would lose access to UK intelligence and with it
access to the intelligence of the five eyes (USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New
Zealand). Once more the SNP were promising a degree of cooperation that was
outwith its control.
13. The SNP claimed that there was a democratic
deficit in the UK. Scotland sometimes voted for one party, but another party
won the General Election. But this would be the same in an independent Scotland.
Shetland might vote for the Liberal Democrats but be ruled by the SNP. Scottish
nationalists typically reply, but Shetland is not a country. But it is
precisely whether Scotland ought to be a country that they are trying to prove.
If we accept instead that it is feature of any democracy that some parts do not
get the Government that they voted for, then the SNP’s claim that there is a
democratic deficit in the UK is a lie. Alternatively, if we accept that all constituencies
must get what they voted for, then any constituency that didn’t vote for independence
ought to be allowed to remain in the UK and not be dragged out against its
will.
14. The SNP predicted that by 2016-2017 Scotland’s deficit
would have fallen to between 2.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent of GDP in fact it
was 6.5 percent. In 2019-2020 it was 8.5% and this year is predicted to be
26-28%.
15. The SNP said that “An independent Scotland will
comply with EU rules to provide a deposit guarantee of a minimum of €100,000 (£85,000)”,
but amusingly it only made this guarantee on the basis that the Bank of England
would remain the lender of last resort. But this required that the UK agreed to
this, which it didn’t.
16. The SNP argued that it would be possible to join
the EU even if it did not have its own currency, but former European Commissioner
Olli Rehn stated that Scotland would be unable to meet EU entry requirements if
it did not have its own independent central bank. Neither currency union nor
using the pound informally would be consistent with joining the EU. So, if
Scots had voted yes in 2014, we would have remained outside the EU for the foreseeable
future, which makes SNP support for the EU hypocritical at best.
17. Alex Salmond said in 2014 that Scotland would retain tax and spending powers
if it remained in a currency union with the UK, but whether Scotland used the
pound in a currency union or unofficially it would have no control over monetary
policy which would instead be set by the former UK chancellor and the Bank of
England. Scotland would be unable to set interest rates or expand or contract money
supply. In economic terms it would scarcely be independent at all.
18. The SNP claimed that currency union would be in the
interest of the UK after independence. But this is to suppose that it would be
in the interest of the UK to emulate the Eurozone where there was monetary
union without political union. It’s like saying Britain should join the Euro, which
even the SNP don’t want to join.
19. The SNP claimed that each Scot would be £1,000
better off per year under independence by 2030. By 2020 the price of oil had
turned negative and Scotland was running the biggest deficit in Europe. No
doubt the SNP had predicted Covid in 2014 and had taken it into account. Alternatively,
they just made up the figure.
20. The SNP maintained that Scotland joined the EU in
1973. Why then were there not 29 EU member states prior to Brexit and why didn’t
Scotland remain a member when the UK left?
21. Yes Scotland in 2013 said that UK plans for an EU
referendum had caused economic uncertainty in Scotland. Unfortunately, the SNP
was found to have a beam in its eye which prevented it from noticing the economic
uncertainty in all the years subsequently due to continual campaigning for separation
from the UK.
22. The whole SNP argument in 2014 depended on the UK
remaining in the EU, but an EU referendum bill had already been approved by the
Commons in 2013. The SNP thought that it was possible for Scotland to leave the
UK but unthinkable for the UK to leave the EU.
23. The SNP argued that they would provide “health and
social care in a way that reflects the founding principles of the NHS” but the
fundamental principle of the NHS when it was set up was that it would provide
free healthcare to all British citizens in whichever part of the UK they lived.
But there is no guarantee that Scots post-independence would have free access
to the NHS in other parts of the former UK or vice versa. Far from protecting
the NHS and reflecting its founding principles, the SNP instead would be
destroying it and breaking it up just as they wanted to break up Britain.
24. The SNP argued that we would keep our close links
of family and friendship through an ongoing social union after independence,
but it is hard to think of a social union existing between any other states
which have separated from each other. There is anyway little evidence of SNP
supporters showing much friendship towards England and if the SNP really thought
we were family why would they be seeking separation. This was just another lie
that somehow we would retain the union while breaking it up as if someone could
be both married and divorced to the same person at the same time.
25. Alex Salmond argued that after independence Scotland
will continue to participate fully in the Union of the Crowns. This was another
attempt at deception because to suppose that there would be a Union of the Crowns
after independence is close to supposing that there would be a United Kingdom
after independence. The truth is that one of the first things an independent Scotland
would do would be to hold a referendum on abolishing the monarchy.
26. The independence referendum question was
deliberately dishonest not merely in that it gave one side the benefit of
campaigning for a positive Yes. The question itself was dishonest. To ask Scots
“Should Scotland be an independent country?” is to ask them should we become what
we already are. Most Scots consider that Scotland is a country now. The
question was designed to invite the response Yes of course we should become a country,
because we already are. Look we already play international football. We’re a
country just as much as France.
27. The whole SNP argument amounts to Scotland is a country,
countries ought to be independent. Therefore, Scotland ought to be independent.
But this argument depends on the subtle
conflation of country with sovereign nation state. It is primarily by using this linguistic ambiguity
that that the SNP continually makes claims about Scotland today which would
only make sense if we were already independent. It acts as if Scotland is independent
in order to justify that it ought to be, which is obviously both circular and
deceptive.
28. If Scotland had become independent in 2014 then former
UK students would have been in the same position as students from the EU, i.e.
they would have got free tuition. But the SNP argued that the present
arrangement would continue even if Scotland were independent, because the EU allowed
for exceptional circumstances. Jan Figel a former commissioner for education
disagreed as did the Law Society of Scotland. Who then would have paid for the
free fees for Scottish students?
After 2014
29. The SNP argument depends on denying and discrediting
its own GERS figures each year.
30. The SNP does not admit clearly that Scotland
receives more from the UK Treasury than we pay in taxation, for this reason
large numbers of Scots are convinced that Scotland is a cash cow that funds
England.
31. The SNP gives no credit whatsoever to the Treasury
for exceptional funding such as the bailout of Scottish banks in 2008 or the
financial support in 2020. It blithely suggests that an independent Scotland
could do just as well without explaining how.
32. A few days before the independence referendum
there was a “vow” in the Daily Record suggesting that the Scottish Parliament
would receive extensive powers if Scots voted No. A few months later there the
Smith Commission, which included SNP involvement debated these powers and they
were later granted. Nevertheless, the SNP and many supporters still maintain
that the vow was not fulfilled. More powers were promised more were given. It
is simply a lie to suppose “the vow” was broken.
33. The Edinburgh Agreement which led to the
referendum said that it would “deliver a
fair test and decisive expression of the views of people in Scotland and a
result that everyone will respect” The SNP lied about respecting the result and
immediately campaigned to overturn it. How then was the referendum decisive? If
it wasn’t decisive, i.e. if it didn’t decide the issue, the SNP lied about that
too. It would only have been decisive if Yes had won.
34. The SNP’s white paper Scotland’s future described
the referendum as “A once in a generation opportunity to follow a different
path” The Yes campaign continually emphasized this, but as soon as the
referendum was lost a generation become a day or was it merely a few hours.
35. The UK joined the EU as a whole and voted to leave
as a whole. There was nothing in the question “Should the United Kingdom remain
a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” about Scotland.
The whole SNP argument about Scotland being dragged out against its will was
founded on a lie that Scotland had ever been a member. It no more mattered what Scotland thought than
it mattered what Aberdeenshire thought or indeed what Cornwall thought. To suppose
that it does is to suppose that Scotland were already independent. Alternatively,
if each part of a country must vote the same as the whole there could only be
one party otherwise there might be dissent. The SNP’s model of electoral
fairness would require a one-party state.
36. The SNP campaigns as Europhiles, but SNP
supporters were more likely to vote for Brexit than anyone else. The truth is
that the SNP does not care about the EU. It spent more money campaigning in a by-election
in Shetland than the whole EU referendum campaign. The EU is merely an issue
that the SNP uses to recruit Remainers and to cause ill feeling between Scotland
and the UK as a whole. It is also unlikely that an independent Scotland would
join the EU because it would cause a hard border between England and Scotland.
Rather an independent Scotland would attempt to remain as closely aligned with the
UK as possible. The SNP is deceiving Remainers too.
37. The SNP continually argues that Scotland has the
right to independence, but when the UK voted to leave the EU it did everything
in its power to prevent the Brexit vote being implemented. The right to vote to
leave only applies when the SNP agrees with it. Unfortunately for the SNP it also
set a precedent that if there were ever indyref2 no one would accept the result
and would fight in the courts to overturn it. But most importantly the SNP
showed it is lying about supporting democracy. It only does so when it wins,
not when it loses. If it is democratic to overthrow the EU referendum result it
is certainly democratic to deny the SNP a referendum on independence.
38. The SNP presents itself as a supporter of devolution,
but the only serious threat to devolution is Scottish independence. But the SNP
never admits that it wishes to abolish devolution.
39. For years
the SNP argued that the reason it wanted independence was that Scotland voted
Labour while the rest of the UK voted Tory. Having used that argument to
destroy Labour in Scotland, they then argued that we shouldn’t vote for Labour
because it isn’t really a left-wing party. Labour were really “Red Tories”. But
if Labour were Red Tories, why were the SNP complaining that Scots did not vote
for a Tory Government. We did, because we voted for Red Tories. If there is no
difference between Red Tories and Blue Tories, why had the SNP complained
previously.
40. The SNP say that Brexit, or Boris or a Tory Government
or No Deal justifies independence. But they would right now be campaigning for independence
if we had voted for Corbyn or Remain. No matter what we do, it will always
justify independence. The SNP are lying when they say we should have vote for
the SNP to avoid Boris and his Brexiteers. They would want us to vote for independence
even if the SNP ran England.
41. The SNP lied about a Covid outbreak connected with
Nike in Edinburgh and ever since it has lied that Scotland has outperformed the
other parts of the UK in Covid deaths or Covid cases. Scotland in fact has done
no better than England and much worse than any other European country of a
similar size.
42. The SNP claimed the EU left a light on for
Scotland, but it was the SNP that paid for the stunt.
43. The rumoured super injunction covering stopping the
Scottish press and anyone else telling a certain story about a very senior SNP
politician suggests that he or she may be living a lie.
44. Alex Salmond spent £20,000 of taxpayer’s money
trying to hide EU legal advice that did not exist. Pretending something exists
that doesn’t is clearly lying.
45. If Alex Salmond did nothing untoward or illegal
during the 2013-2014 independence campaign then the witnesses and those in the
Scottish Government who made them go to the police to accuse him of committing
a crime were lying.
46. If the witnesses and the Scottish Government were
not lying, then it follows that Alex Salmond must have done something though
perhaps there was not enough evidence to convict him or perhaps what he did was
not criminal. But his story is incompatible with their story. Someone must have
been lying.
47. If Alex Salmond misbehaved regularly and badly
enough for his behaviour to justify a court case, it is impossible to believe
that senior SNP politicians did not hear about these rumours at the time. They
all knew the witnesses and worked in the same building. We don’t know the
truth, but we know that persons unknown, possibly very senior in the SNP were lying
during the most important year in the SNP’s history and have been lying ever
since.
48. Nicola Sturgeon denies conspiring against Alex
Salmond. Everything we have learned since the trial suggests this is a lie.
49. Nicola Sturgeon promised that her Government would
cooperate fully with the Alex Salmond Inquiry. If that wasn’t a lie when she
made it, it certainly is now.
50. Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of lying about
when she found out about the accusations about Alex Salmond. She initially
claimed to know about them in April 2018 only for it to become clear later that
she knew about them in November 2017. This is a serious lie and should merit
resignation. If she cannot be trusted about these sorts of dates, how can we trust
her about anything in the case. But really does anyone seriously suppose that
she knew nothing in 2014? If she did know, or even if she merely suspected but kept
silent because speaking out in about sexual assault would have irreparably
damaged the Yes campaign, what would this tell us about Sturgeon’s values,
about her supposed progressiveness and concern for women’s rights? If it could
be shown that Sturgeon knew about the Salmond allegations in 2014 it would ruin
her reputation beyond all repair. She would be gone that very day. This is the
lie that is at the heart of Scottish politics. It rots and it festers, and it
isn’t going away.
