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Once again the interests of Scotland are to be trusted to English Conservative MPs whose only concern is the protection of England and the City of London. Not a single voice from Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland will be heard during the Brexit talks.
Theresa May’s “European Union Exit and Trade Committee,” the so-called war cabinet charged with negotiating the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU, has been appointed. The Prime Minister has filled the seats with the entire rogue’s gallery of hard-line Brexiteers, filling those left with her friends and allies from the soft Remain campaign; indicating that the committee will steer the country towards a hard Brexit. Scotland’s “divisive nationalists” will not be given a seat at the table. In fact, not even David “Fluffy” Mundell – the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Conservative government’s only Scottish Member of Parliament – has been appointed to the committee. Like the secretaries of state for Wales and Northern Ireland, London’s senior most representative in Scotland will be called upon only “as required.”
That’s it. That’s Scotland’s Brexit deal right there. Scotland and Northern Ireland rejected leaving the European Union and now only English Conservative MPs will have a say on the terms on which we will be exiting against our will. Brexit is a microcosm of the United Kingdom. It is Britain in a nutshell. England sets the rules by which the country will work for London and England’s agendas and every now and again someone from Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland gets the privilege of working for England. This is exactly what it means to be an equal partner in this union. It has never been otherwise, so why would it be any different now?
England’s decision to leave the European Union is already having a negative effect on the economy of the whole United Kingdom, but at least this is what the people of England and Wales wanted. Scotland’s economy will suffer as a result, and Europe has made it clear that whatever deal is hammered out in the end there will be a punitive nature to the exit for Britain. Europe will not be best served by inflicting irreparable harm on the UK, but it must still show other member states that leaving the union will not be cost free. As only English MPs will be present at the talks it can be safely concluded that only England’s interests will be protected.
The City of London, a city and not a national member of the United Kingdom, voted Remain and there are now plans to work out some form of single market access for it. No such exceptions will be made for the people of Scotland and Northern Ireland. “There will be no opt out from Brexit,” declared Theresa May. What she means by this is that Scotland, the north of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland will be made to suffer as much as is necessary to ensure the safe passage of London through the Brexit process. This is really what union means in the United Kingdom.
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