It’s probably overdue that we start collecting these together. So here’s Sir John Major on the Andrew Marr show yesterday, explaining why a “once in a lifetime” referendum should in fact be held again because its outcome was determined by something that turned out to be untrue.
Which is, of course, totally different to Scotland being told to vote No in 2014 in order to stay in the European Union, because [REASONS TO FOLLOW AT SOME POINT]
Labour MP Stella Creasy, explaining to Sarah Smith on today’s Sunday Politics why she backs a so-called “People’s Vote” on Brexit because voters should have the right to change their mind about a referendum if circumstances change.
In the light of David Davis’ resignation last night and the continuing shambolic chaos that is UK politics, it seemed a pertinent time for these findings from our latest poll.
Alert readers may recall that a few weeks ago we revealed how an independent Scotland could reduce its budget deficit by billions of pounds a year – by renting out the Faslane naval base to the rest of the UK to keep their nuclear weapons in.
Voters in England, we learned, were more than happy to pay Scotland £5bn annually – and perhaps even more – for a Trident submarine park during the decades that it would take to build a replacement base south of the border.
Of course, that plan is only any good if the people of Scotland would accept it too.
So this is an interesting one. The UK government currently finds itself in an appalling mess over the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with Ireland, due to the inconvenient fact of a small part of Ireland being in the UK, and has no idea what to do about it.
The fallback on the backstop, as announced last December, is “regulatory alignment” on the island of Ireland, which would effectively mean Northern Ireland staying in the EU and a border coming into existence in the Irish Sea (or to be more geographically accurate, the North Channel).
This would be, um, bitterly opposed by the DUP, on whom Theresa May’s government notionally depends, but given the absolute trainwreck of Labour’s position on Brexit it’s not at all clear that the DUP’s opposition would be enough to scupper any vote, so it could happen anyway, opening a simply massive can of worms.
That’s about the shortest rendition of the situation we can manage. But of course, in reality it’s much more complicated than that.
Peter McAvoy on Believers In The Ruins: “When Independence is declared whether after a referendum or UDI who would recognise Scottish Independence and for what reason,and how…” Aug 14, 01:34
sarah on Believers In The Ruins: “@ BLMac “Scotland is lacking..a leader who the enemy fear…”. I’d be happy with any leader i.e. with enough personality,…” Aug 13, 22:24
BLMac on Believers In The Ruins: “Looking at the history of independence movements what Scotland is lacking is a right nasty bastard as leader, ie a…” Aug 13, 22:00
sarah on Believers In The Ruins: “O/T: Mark Hirst fundraiser today for £5000 to pursue his case against the Crown Office for malicious prosecution. The crowdfunder…” Aug 13, 21:33
Breeks on Believers In The Ruins: “The weakness of a UDI isn’t necessarily constitutional legitimacy, nor political justification, both of which I consider favourable towards Scotland’s…” Aug 13, 21:14
Dan on Anatomy Of A Grift: “Trouble is Stu that there aren’t that many people btl now… That’s because 8 years of an awful lot of…” Aug 13, 20:17
Aidan on Believers In The Ruins: “Aye thats it – there’s about 15-20 regular posters here, the plan is to bore than to death until what?…” Aug 13, 20:10
Chas on Believers In The Ruins: “Made me laugh Kenny. Alf has a plan-what is it? Bleating on about colonialism every fucking day is not a…” Aug 13, 19:40
Kenny on Believers In The Ruins: “I happen to be encouraged by Prof Alf Baird’s ‘shite’ – he has a plan, wtf do you have, Salmond’s…” Aug 13, 19:16
TURABDIN on The Other Kind Of Winning: “glad to find below the liners with a sense of proportion not to mention a sense of humour. have this…” Aug 13, 18:28
sam on The Other Kind Of Winning: “I may be wrang but I think Turabdin lives in Scotland. a wee bitty racial stereotyping going on with you.…” Aug 13, 17:49
100%Yes on Believers In The Ruins: “Yes, and it can only improve and it doesn’t need the backing of the SNP to support it.” Aug 13, 16:58
Chas on Believers In The Ruins: “I owe the learned professor an apology. He is clearly suffering from dementia as this is the only reason why…” Aug 13, 16:41
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “So that’s what we’re doing, Alf, we’re following the decolonisation template. Crivens! Care to provide a concrete example? Maybe a…” Aug 13, 16:40
Hatey McHateface on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Perhaps you need to educate yourself, TURABDIN. You might discover that the Earth-Moon system is unique within our solar system,…” Aug 13, 16:13
Alf Baird on Believers In The Ruins: ““Written in the post colonial textbooks” Correct Hatey, Scots are, sure as Celts winning the league, following the ‘decolonization template’…” Aug 13, 16:12
Hatey McHateface on The Other Kind Of Winning: “An interesting idea, Chas, but in a country where the immigrants are doing an ever increasing share of the jobs,…” Aug 13, 15:47
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Listen to Professor Baird. He’ll tell you that Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, Elkins and the Jonesy boyo predicted all this was…” Aug 13, 15:37
Hatey McHateface on The Other Kind Of Winning: “All very well but where aboot’s this genocide at? Thing is, if there’s a real genocide ongoing, none of the…” Aug 13, 15:31
Captain Caveman on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Can you imagine the scale of brass neck required to approach a hard-pressed charity for a new sofa, when you’re…” Aug 13, 15:28
Alf Baird on Believers In The Ruins: ““I know the numbers who support UDI are low” One third is not that bad considering colonial rule inevitably results…” Aug 13, 15:10
Morgatron on Believers In The Ruins: “Being a Clyde supporter, I never got the whole ugly sister bitterness. But being an independance supporter my whole adult…” Aug 13, 15:03
100%Yes on Believers In The Ruins: “Scotland’s Fucked!!! The National in my opinion is having to twist the truth because it knows its failed as an…” Aug 13, 14:41
robertkknight on Believers In The Ruins: “Ugly sisters everywhere you look! Tommy: “Doesn’t it make you feel proud to be Scottish?” Renton: “It’s shite… etc.” Aug 13, 14:30
robertkknight on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Indeed… Full-time (38hr week) employment on the (voluntary) Living Wage gives a gross annual salary of £26,600 A gross annual…” Aug 13, 14:26
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Anatomy Of A Grift: “We’ve been covering this topic for eight years now, so it seems rather unlikely that there are many people here…” Aug 13, 14:24
duncanio on Believers In The Ruins: “The SNP and British Labour in Scotland are like two unipeds laying claim to a pair of ragged trousers.” Aug 13, 14:18
