The above is a genuine tweet posted by Stuart Campbell nine hours ago in response to the question “You Yes Yet?”, and let’s be honest – it’s not easily reconcilable with his supporters’ insistent claims over recent months that he is still somehow full-bloodedly working towards independence, albeit by counter-intuitive and seemingly contradictory means.
I would guess I speak on behalf of most readers of Scot Goes Pop when I say that I am just as Yes today as I have ever been, if not more so. No principled dispute with the SNP / Green Government over an individual piece of legislation would ever dent my support for independence, but it appears the opposite – in fact far more than the opposite – is true for Mr Campbell.
The narrative being pushed today by Mr Campbell and certain others is that the Westminster veto of the GRR Bill is fully justified because Scotland’s parliament is a second-rate, juvenile, irresponsible institution that needs to be kept on a tight leash by the altogether more sensible, seasoned and mature Westminster parliament, in the best interests of the people of Scotland. To state what should be the bleedin’ obvious, that Tory-style narrative is not helping to build the case for independence. It’s actually building the case for the abolition of devolution and the reintroduction of direct London rule. And it’s absolutely natural coming from someone who answers “no” to the question “You Yes Yet?” I don’t doubt the sincerity of Wings readers who have practically been mass-hypnotised into believing that by adhering to Mr Campbell’s essentially unionist narrative they are somehow – God knows how – following the “only true path to independence”, but that just makes it all the more vital that we at least endeavour to bring to their attention the real destination at the end of that path, before it’s too late.
I’ve never bought into the wild conspiracy theory that Wings has been “compromised” and is now serving a new master. But I’d just note that he’s currently behaving in the *exact* way that he would if that conspiracy theory were true.
Sticking to a belief in Scottish self-government, even when mistakes are being made by our parliament, is not an endorsement of the awful GRR Bill. It’s not a betrayal of women and girls. I entirely agree with what Joanna Cherry said today – the GRR Bill is a problem made in Scotland and it should be solved in Scotland. Solving your own problems as a country is what self-government is all about, and indeed it’s what sovereign independence will be all about. No parliament anywhere in the world gets it right 100% of the time, but the UK Parliament has done far, far more harm to Scotland over the years than the Scottish Parliament ever has. If we didn’t believe that to be true, we would have no logical reason to support independence – and it’s no coincidence that Mr Campbell, who doesn’t believe it to be true, apparently no longer supports independence (or to use his euphemistic language, he’s “the least Yes he has ever been”). His statement today is also entirely consistent with
his call for his readers not to vote for pro-independence candidates on the constituency ballot in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
If Scotland becomes independent and then passes the GRR Bill, the logic of Mr Campbell’s support for the Westminster veto – which he openly admitted to in absolutely crystal-clear fashion last night – is that he would want Scotland to rejoin the United Kingdom so that the grown-ups in London can set us straight once again. Or perhaps he’d want England to launch a White Knight Invasion and repeal the Bill to save us from ourselves. That is not the position of an independence supporter. If you think MSPs have got it wrong, then at the next election you elect MSPs who will put the mistake right. That’s how parliamentary democracy in any self-governing country works.
By the way, anyone concerned at the standard of MSPs such as Emma Roddick and Maggie Chapman should take a closer look at some of the Tory and Labour lobby fodder in the House of Commons before concluding that the grass is greener down in the metropolis. And although I’m certainly no admirer of Ms Roddick myself, I remain deeply concerned at the overtones of some of the attacks on her from Wings and others, which seem to imply that anyone with a diagnosed personality disorder should automatically be regarded with hostility, suspicion and derision, and should have no place in our parliament.
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