Devolution: Defence of the Realm after Brexit

Tweet Follow @RPJblog
By Jason Michael

Sooner rather than later the greatest threat to England’s security will be the Scottish parliament. As a rallying point for aspirations of Scottish statehood, it threatens to take away the only thing that will keep Brexit Britain afloat.

Reading David Torrance, Blair McDougall, and even Jill Stephenson’s increasing criticism of Brexit – especially considering the result of the EU referendum in Scotland – one can be forgiven for being optimistic of how they’d vote in another independence referendum. It was never a case of waiting for the penny to drop; these are people who have always known the harm leaving the European Union will do to Scotland. Already we are feeling the effects on our essential services and right across the economy as people leave us for the continent and as would-be immigrants think twice about joining us. This is England’s Brexit and Scotland will pay for it.

Nothing of this is lost on the mouthpieces of Scottish unionism, but what is clear is that in the end they will put the union before Scotland. No matter how bad Brexit gets; no matter the havoc it wreaks, no matter the lives it destroys, people like Torrance, McDougall, and Stephenson will support the union – because that is where their bread is buttered. When all their whimpers and protests have fallen on deaf London ears and when Brexit becomes an awful reality they will sit down and shut up and accept the democratic will of the British people.

These people will not back independence, no matter what comes. They are British and their rewards; their thirty pieces of silver and their honours, are in the post. Britain will reward them because it’ll need them more when Brexit comes. These are the same people who will defend the union even when the power grab takes full form. The defence the realm in the aftermath of Brexit will mean the end of devolution in Scotland, and that clock is already ticking.

London’s plans are not going well. Europe has made it crystal clear that Mrs May’s fantasy of a cake-and-eat-it “red, white, and blue” Brexit will not happen. There will be no movement on access to the single market, and little England will not have a seat at the table when trade rules are being decided in Brussels. The British government will not be cherry picking what it will and will not have in any deal that is negotiated, and a line has been drawn – right along the Irish border; there will be no discussion on trade before the Irish question is settled to Ireland’s satisfaction. Britain is not in the club. Ireland is, and Europe has spelt out exactly what that means.

Out in the chilly cold, Britain will be at the mercy of any trade partner that will take it, and that isn’t looking too good. The Brexiteers’ delusions of Empire 2.0 have been laughed to scorn by Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations which – frankly – are glad to see the back of their former imperial master. While the Irish Taoiseach heads off to Washington with Ireland’s annual gift of shamrock and friendship, the British have been dashing around the globe, knocking on every door, dressing like the natives, and grovelling. The answer is always the same: Sorry, we gave at the office.

The sun has set on the British Empire and all it has left is the threat of tearing up a peace treaty in Ireland, a threat – if carried out – that will cost England dearly and guarantee the unification of the island it divided. But England is determined to head right off the edge. It will do this, and Brexit is coming – and Scotland will pay.

Without Scotland England’s isolationist Brexit is dead in the water. Its “special relationship” across the pond has become a patronising sneer. Even Trump – who’s not known for his smarts – knows the weakness of the British position. There’s blood in the water and the US is keen to extend its influence – on its terms – right up the pavement to the door of Number 10. Without Scotland and our oil Britain knows the party is over, and so Brexit makes our independence impossible so far as England is concerned.

On the morning of 30 March 2019, as Britain wakes up to its “independence day,” Scotland’s unionist talking heads will have a new job – taking down Holyrood. In David Davis’ – almost Mad Max – apocalypse the very survival of England will depend on its ability to cling on to the last of its empire, or to the oil at least. The only obstacle to this, of course, is Scotland and the Scottish people and our obstinate and disagreeable little parliament. If Scotland does end up going down the Brexit plughole then we had better get used to the idea that that will be the end of devolution.

Given that there are three legs to independence; the parliament, the party, and the movement, the loss of our devolved parliament will be a severe blow to the independence cause – and that will of course be the intention. The single greatest threat to the security and future well-being of England post-Brexit will be Scottish independence, an eventuality that would leave England to become what it truly is and what it fears most; an ordinary, medium sized European nation without much going for it and without a real friend left in the world.

If we want to break free from the union or if we would just prefer things to stay as they are, then our only real option is to press for another independence referendum before the end of this year. There can be very little doubt that the only way now available for us to remain within the European Union and to have any kind of democratic parliament of our own is to end the union at the soonest opportunity. We are tethered to a sinking ship and time is of the essence.

---

Scottish Government Continuity Bill | Explained!

---

Follow @Jeggit