Part of the Union?
The growing rift between Labour and the trade union movement in Scotland was highlighted yesterday by a statement from the STUC flatly contradicting the narrative spun by all three opposition parties this week, namely that that uncertainty over the date of the independence referendum was damaging the prospects of business investment in Scotland.
In a statement striking for its lack of ambiguity, an unnamed spokesman for the congress was reported by the Scotsman as saying that the unions "had come across no evidence that the forthcoming poll was deterring investment in the country", and that as a result it "did not believe it was necessary to hold a referendum as soon as possible, as is being urged by both the UK government and opposition parties", adding that "There are far more immediate problems that need to be looked at."
Oddly, this fairly dramatic divergence of opinion was afforded just 126 words by the paper, compared to the 2,348 devoted to Douglas Alexander's rather less newsworthy speech to a Labour youth conference.
… Interesting Blog, Stu, well worth a read for Sassenachs such as I who (infamously) know bugger all about the various dynamics of Scottish politics. My sentiments differ largely entirely of course, but a good read is a good read, most especially an off-script, off message one that isn't borne of the lapdog, mainstream media.
As far as this piece goes, I did chuckle at the '…there are far more immediate problems that need to be looked at' observation from the union spokesperson – ain't that the truth. (In fact, I genuinely believe the catastrophic unravelling of the Euro, the now demonstrable beyond any reasonable doubt abject failure of Social Democracy, left-of-centre politics of Europe and all the rest will make the average Scots citizen far, far more wary of full independence and the 'spend, spend, spend' old-Labour politics of the SNP in general, and I reckon the SNP are well aware of this. Hence their 'easy does it', distinctly un-bullish stance in all of this, viz a vie their independence referendum? Albeit, I could have misinterpreted the mood music entirely, wouldn't be the first time).
Mind you, "incertainty"…? Tsk old chap, tsk.
"the 'spend, spend, spend' old-Labour politics of the SNP in general,"
Hang on, what? The SNP have balanced a fixed budget in each of their five years in office.
"incertainty"
Whoops, fixed.