Almost nine in ten Scottish voters now back a second referendum on independence. This rather startling news was brought to us at the weekend by an unlikely source, in the form of walking brain vacuum Annie Wells MSP.
Wells was absolutely unequivocal that NO other vote this Thursday – not Labour, not Lib Dem, not Brexit Party – would constitute opposition to a second indyref.
(She emphasised the point by RTing a tweet from the Scottish Tories’ boorish and obnoxious head of media Adam Morris which described both Nigel Farage and Vince Cable as “weak on Scotland’s place in the UK”.)
We watched the whole of the Labour shadow Scottish Secretary’s interview on this morning’s Sunday Politics Scotland, and can confirm that this is a wholly accurate representation of what she said on it with regard to Labour’s position on Brexit.
So for those of you keeping score: Labour does NOT support a second referendum, does NOT support the current deal, does NOT support no deal, but WOULD vote for the current deal if it included a second referendum, and would INSIST on a second referendum on any alternative deal.
Honestly, we have no idea why anyone’s still confused.
We got a tweet this morning from one of those odd Twitter accounts that’s been going for eight years and still only has six followers. This one appears to be a fairly moderate right-wing, UK-nationalist Brexiter with only a few dozen tweets (nearly all replies) to their name since 2011.
Almost exactly two years ago, this website suggested that it might not be the smartest idea for Labour to go along with Theresa May’s call for a snap election. (Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, it couldn’t have happened without Labour’s support.)
And it occurred to us today that if they hadn’t, the current government would only have a maximum of one year left to run.
The Conservatives’ disastrous handling of, and failure to deliver, Brexit seems to have finally begun to hurt them in the polls, with a clutch of recent stats showing Labour with a significant lead for the first time in many months.
Most seat projections on the numbers show Labour failing to reach a majority either on their own or with the Lib Dems, but being able to get Jeremy Corbyn in to Downing Street with the assistance of an increased number of SNP MPs.
We’ve still got a few of the results from our last Panelbase poll (conducted last month) to round up, and this one seems pertinent this week:
As has been the case ever since we started asking this question about the nation’s twin constitutional dilemmas back in July 2015, the single most popular option in a four-way choice remains an independent Scotland inside the EU, which leads the impending reality (a UK Scotland outside the EU) by a clear 10 points.
Scotland isn’t merely about to get something it doesn’t want, it’s about to get the exact opposite of the thing it wants most. But oh boy, is it ever more complicated than that.
Billions of years from now, when the Sun finally dies and expands to swallow and burn up the Earth in a final cataclysmic explosion, the very last thing to turn to dust and atoms will be Scottish Labour’s brass neck.
Coming from The Eternal Abstainers themselves that’s already quite a breathtakingly hypocritical claim, but if you look at last night’s results closely it gets a lot worse.
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Wether lowland or highland Scots, you were dissolved from the treaty of union in 1707. By the parliament of England…” Feb 16, 12:58
Confused on The Modern Politician: “Chomsky – what now for him, does he disappear down the memory hole? Turns out america’s “#1 dissident” and critic…” Feb 16, 12:56
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: ““Scotland could walk away now” But we’ve got seas on three sides, and English cants on the fourth. So where…” Feb 16, 12:55
James Che on The Modern Politician: “One day the penny will drop, Hoping it will be soon , but I realise that Scotland has been deceived…” Feb 16, 12:41
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “There you go, Northy. A rare opportunity to praise Alf, for praising you, for praising Alf. Dinna get confused, noo!” Feb 16, 12:23
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: ““independence is necessary, to enable self-recovery of indigenous languages” I see, Alf. So your published hostility on here to state…” Feb 16, 12:16
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Scotland has not had a monarch of Scotland because Scotland was dissoled from the treaty in 1707. The monarch of…” Feb 16, 12:14
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Ye missed ane, Northy: 11. Repatriation (if Reform get their way) of all holders of alien, abusive, foreign, beliefs. As…” Feb 16, 12:08
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Aye, sam, nae doot whitsoeever that thinking aboot the stuff that happened in 1608 keeps maist daecent, richt-thinking Scots awak…” Feb 16, 12:02
sam on The Modern Politician: “From an interview with Iain MacKinnon https://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/mackinnon-iain-intview1.html#Anchor-Part-11481 “(But,) there’s a key difference in between what happened in Scotland and what…” Feb 16, 11:39
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: ““I found Doun-Hauden by Alf Baird, tho – a must read for all indigenous Scots who want to know how…” Feb 16, 11:32
sam on The Modern Politician: “Iain MacKinnon -historian. “There you have the complexity of the fact that there was internal colonizing, as well. Some of…” Feb 16, 11:28
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Scotland has not had a monarch of Scotland since the year 1707.” Feb 16, 11:21
James Che on The Modern Politician: “That is why in Hansard it is often said, ” wether there is a treaty or not” when they speak…” Feb 16, 11:20
James Che on The Modern Politician: “One day, the penny will drop, Scotland cannot legally do UDI from the 1707 treaty of union that Englands Great…” Feb 16, 11:14
James Che on The Modern Politician: “England parliament transferred into the parliament brand Great Britain removed it very foundation creation to be the parliament of Scotland…” Feb 16, 10:57
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Catch’d Scotland, Except they didn’t, I been trying to explain why for years, When you dissolve only one party in…” Feb 16, 10:43
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: “Actually the native language spoken in Timor Leste is known as Tetum, and today both Tetum and Portuguese comprise the…” Feb 16, 10:42
Northcode on The Modern Politician: “A list of the top ten imports the Scots just can’t live without; ‘gifted’ to them by their friendly neighbour,…” Feb 16, 10:09
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Oh dear, Alf! Freudian slip or just a long overdue admitting that for all your huffing and puffing, the majority…” Feb 16, 08:41
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Ah, C’moan noo, Northy. Ye’re turnin it intae a hoat war jist by bletherin yer screeds o’ hoat air a’…” Feb 16, 08:33
Willie on The Modern Politician: “A cold war between Scotland and England is a very good way of putting it Northcode and that is so…” Feb 16, 07:57
Northcode on The Modern Politician: “Two hundred and fifty years… that’s roughly how long, in total, Scotland and England have spent warring with each other.…” Feb 16, 06:31
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: ““Timor Leste is a Portuguese speaking democratic republic recognized by the UN, and Indonesia from which it split” Scotland is…” Feb 16, 00:03
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Modern Politician: “Thanks TURABDIN. In a footnote to the article by Poncarová to which you refer (link posted by me above at…” Feb 15, 22:50
Lorna Campbell on The Modern Politician: “H. McH: yes, I have often thought about that, too. Independence for so many former colonies ended up in conflict…” Feb 15, 21:23
Lorna Campbell on The Modern Politician: “H. McH: what you don’t get is that these men do not just want to be women facsimiles, they claim…” Feb 15, 20:54
Onlooker on The Modern Politician: “Fourth Scottish church to burn down in six months. As Harry Hilll would put it: “What are the chances of…” Feb 15, 20:47
willie on The Modern Politician: “All prosecution is in the name of the Crown. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, or as they say in Glasgow, -…” Feb 15, 20:03
