The Fear Of The Briar
With Reform now pretty consistently miles in front in polling for the next UK election, logically this is brilliant news for the Scottish independence movement, isn’t it?
So can anyone explain why the SNP is so desperate to stop them?
That’s a rhetorical question, of course. As we’ve repeatedly explored on Wings over the last few years, the SNP don’t want anything to happen that might actually lead to independence, because independence would be the death of the SNP, and they like money and power far more than they hate the Union whose cash keeps the party alive.
But while the motivation of those in the independence industry – who need it to never happen in order to keep making a living out of it, and whose main imperative is always to kick it a few more years down the road and keep people chasing the carrot – is obvious, it’s still an interesting one to ponder for the grassroots Yes movement.
Because if your options are “Reform in power, leading to independence”, and “Labour or the Tories in power and nothing ever changing”, that should be the easiest choice in the world. Even if you’re not sure Nigel Farage in No.10 would have that effect, we know for SURE that the Lab-Con status quo WON’T, so it’s got to be worth a shot.
(And that’s even before you start contemplating the political realities, and all of the rational reasons why an English nationalist like Farage might be a lot more amenable to cutting Scotland loose than the likes of Keir Starmer or Kemi Badenoch.)
As it stands, nobody with more than two brain cells to rub together thinks there’s the tiniest chance of independence in the next five years at a minimum.
(Just days ago John Swinney himself told us he intends to be contesting the next TWO elections to a devolved Scottish Parliament, clearly signalling he doesn’t think there’s any hope of indy before then.)
So why should we be terrified of an outcome that will supposedly put us 22 points in the lead? Why shouldn’t we be doing everything we possibly can to bring that about without letting the SNP waste another half-decade of our time first?
(A special shout-out to The National’s specialist arithmetic desk there for managing to work out that 61 minus 39 is indeed “over 20”. We hope there was an adult nearby to help them put their socks and shoes back on.)
Yes has NEVER led by anything like 22 points. There have only been three double-digit leads recorded in 130 polls since 2021.
So we need to ask ourselves what’s more important to us – independence, or hand-wringing and pearl-clutching and virtue-signalling aimed at trying to deny England the Reform government it so clearly wants.
We’ve already let Nicola Sturgeon throw away the best chance of leveraging a victory for Farage – the Brexit vote of 2016 – into independence for Scotland, when her terrified phobia of being seen to co-operate with the Tories on anything led her into the misguided and undemocratic attempt to reverse Brexit for the whole UK, rather than weaponising it to Scotland’s advantage.
Let’s not make the same mistake twice. Let’s celebrate every growth in Reform support anywhere in the UK, let’s get the useless elephant corpse of Swinney’s SNP off our backs as soon as possible to give us the maximum amount of time to build something new that can do the job, and get ready to make Nigel an offer he can’t refuse.
Because if Reform are going to win in the UK some time between now and mid-2029, we simply cannot afford to waste the next five years like we’ve wasted the last 11. The SNP are now 20 points less popular than independence is. Already 40% of indy supporters refuse to vote for them, and after another term of their useless governance that number will only get higher and the roadblock of their toxic unpopularity even bigger. They are the ball and chain around our ankle. They are yesterday and we need to look to tomorrow, starting now.
Hard to believe that once upon a time the SNP were a means to an end and it was just accepted that after independence they’d disband and the members go wherever.
Seems such a long time ago now.
David Beveridge says:
31 December, 2025 at 11:51 am
“Hard to believe that once upon a time the SNP were a means to an end”
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It still is.
But the “end” is no longer to end of the union. it is to maximise income for elected Parliamentarians and various SNP hangers-on
“ But while the motivation of those in the independence industry – who need it to never happen in order to keep making a living out of it, and whose main imperative is always to kick it a few more years down the road and keep people chasing the carrot “
I’ve said for years now that Scotland will never be independent as long as there are people making money out of the quest for independence – the MPs the MSPs, the pundits, the poets, the SPADs, the office staff, the councillors, the authors, the filmmakers, the musicians, the singers, the Indy march movements, the grifting “business/ believe” campaign groups who only like donations of folding money.
Scottish independence is one massive grifting industry which will collapse if Scotland becomes ever independent.
Aside from that, I dread to think what would become of Scotland if we ever got independence under the incompetence of the SNP -it doesn’t bear thinking about.
I read the headline this morning and thought the very same thing, but less eloquently than you Stu. The independance movement needs someone to get behind and they need it soon, as plans need working on now. NF will be the UKs next PM and Swinney is watching on with his thumb up his arse, enjoying securing his long term future employment and subsequent healthy pension. I’ve said it before , yourself and Robin are the very people we need to be delivering Scotland independence.
When it comes to Scottish independence I’m drawn to the old Indian story about ten men and an elephant.
Another thing that has always puzzled me is the ranting about ‘a nation once again ‘. If we were it must have been pretty shit.
All the best for 2026. Lang may your lum reek.