Where now with Scottish politics?
10 May 2011
With a majority SNP government in Holyrood, the question of Scottish independence from England is firmly on the agenda.
In order to calm Scottish nerves, during the election campaign Alex Salmond said that the priority for the next Scottish Parliament will be dealing with the Scotland Bill which “pushes the Referendum Bill into the second half of this Parliament.” This is sensible. Salmond knows that there is a lot of work to do to persuade these SNP voters to vote for independence.
The Labour Party showed themselves to be so much out of touch with the Scottish electorate that when Gordon Brown was rolled out late in their campaign on 2/5/2011, he said that “Labour’s priority is not the constitution of Scotland but jobs.” So we cannot expect any help from Labour, and it is just as well that this particular form of socialism has been banished from Scotland, just as Margaret Thatcher banished it from England in the guise of Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson. When we get through the economic crisis, jobs will return; but once Scotland goes independent it is irreversible.
However, Alex Salmond cannot disguise the fact that Scotland will not be independent once it is free from Westminster. The vast majority of Scottish laws will still be made in Brussels. It is Salmond’s sleight of hand to suggest that Scotland will be better off free from England. We may be independent of England but we will not be free. The dead weight of Brussels holds us in bondage, and many Scots have dust thrown in their eyes by SNP talk of Independence in Europe.
SNP Independence is a sham: Scotland will still be in chains. The vast majority of our laws are made in Europe, and whatever laws we make must be interpreted within European law. We cannot remove VAT without reference to Europe; nor reduce fuel duty nor invest in local jobs without reference to Europe. We are still net contributors to the unelected European machine so that funds continue to flow from northern to southern Europe to pay for their lifestyle.
It is in the interests of Europe to promote the separation of Scotland from England. Thus the SNP developed the formula some time ago - Independence in Europe. European money will be used to encourage the Scots in this direction. David Cameron’s spineless reneging on a Referendum on Europe may see the Westminster Government out-manoeuvred by Europe. This may lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom on David Cameron’s watch. Some Scots will rejoice at this, but David Cameron will have this unhappy legacy in England, and it will last longer than Tony Blair’s legacy of the Iraq war. Cameron is no safe pair of hands; the Christian constitution of Scotland and England is not safe on his watch. It is time for him to repent and change direction.
So what is the Scottish Christian Party attitude to Scottish independence? Since 2007 we have expressed our concerned about the loss of the Christian constitution of Scotland by the SNP proposals. The SNP has said nothing about this. In this vacuum, we suspect that the nation will adopt a secular or atheist constitution, or a multi-faith one. What proof do we have of this? The Scottish Parliament itself. Donald Dewar wanted to have no prayers at all in the new Scottish Parliament and with difficulty a religious slot was secured in Parliamentary proceedings. However, this religious slot is multi-faith and the atheists, who keep claiming they are irreligious, want to be included in this slot. If this feature of Parliamentary life becomes a bone of contention, some wiseacres will propose that we abolish it and the lemmings will follow suit and adopt it. In England, Nick Clegg is at work on a multi-faith agenda in the House of Lords. As he is an atheist, this task is in another pair of unsafe hands. We should interpret this as a step in the direction of breaking the Christian constitution of Britain by using the multi-faith agenda. This is simply a step in the direction of a secular or atheist constitution.
The Church of Scotland singularly failed in its duty to act as the guardians of the Christian constitution of Scotland when it passed over the opportunity to insist that it should have a role in the Scottish Parliament as the national Church of Scotland, established by Act of Parliament. Possibly it felt that its credibility was at too low a pass to insist upon this, but the Scottish Christian Party reminds it that it should act on behalf of other Christian churches in Scotland as the guardian of the Christian Establishment.
Just as the multi-cultural agenda has come unstuck, so the multi-faith agenda will come unstuck. This is not the time to be locking a multi-faith agenda into the constitution of Scotland, but this is exactly Alex Salmond’s agenda. We hope that he will see its folly and support the current Christian constitution of Scotland. Eventually an investigative journalist may be found who has the courage to begin this debate in public with the First Minister.
