Claims of its Demise have been Greatly Exaggerated

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By Jason Michael

Nothing says “Strong and Stable” more than a bunch of daft unelected Scottish Tories standing out in the rain picketing in their wee blue windbreakers. This is what the loyalist opposition to Scotland’s independence has come down to.

After having had a 20 point lead on the opposition on 27 April, since announcing the snap general election; the one she promised six times we wouldn’t have, Theresa May has managed to more than halve that lead – making it, at least theoretically, possible for Labour and the Liberal Democrats to deprive the Conservatives of government. Amid anger at the proposed dementia tax and a policing crisis; exposed for the royal mess it is by the attack on the Manchester Arena, the Tories have shown themselves to be anything but “strong and stable.” The United Kingdom is in a shambles.

.@NicolaSturgeon: "Only @theSNP is strong enough to keep Tories in check. And only SNPs will stand up for Scotland.… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

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Ross Colquhoun (@rosscolquhoun) May 30, 2017

Something very closely resembling a new Dark Age has taken over Westminster politics and the loyalisms in what remains of England’s empire. Maybe the equating of this mayhem with a Dark Age is quite fitting; after all, the last one was ushered in in the wake of an imperial collapse. All that is left, it seems, is Mrs May spitting out meaningless slogans that are being badly parroted by her lackeys in Scotland – the same people who have been telling us Scottish nationalism has had its day.

Now would be a good time for them to open their eyes. Murdo Fraser stood outside the SNP manifesto launch at the Perth Concert Hall in his blue anorak, like a sad Fr Ted rerun, shouting “down with this sort of thing.” It has been a long time since the Conservatives in Scotland could fill a parish hall, never mind a concert hall. After a decade in government in Scotland the Scottish National Party is stronger today than it has been in the 83 years since it was established. More people – ordinary working Scottish people – filed past Murdo on their way into the venue than have ever been members of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. The game is up.

Right now, regardless of the constitutional crisis, Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom that is functioning in a way well-ordered countries should. It’s even taking in English refugees; disabled and vulnerable people who are quite actually fleeing the sanctions regime south of the border. Scotland under the SNP is the only place in Britain where strong and stable have kept their original meaning. So the more that Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale scream about the decline of Scottish nationalism, the more like a comedy routine it becomes.

Nicola Sturgeon on the Timing of IndyRef2

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