A pro-Union Labour party would enliven post-independence politics

Monday 2 July 2012

Iain Paterson and Paul Cochrane (Letters, June 30) seem to believe I have an overactive imagination about a notional independent Scotland (Letters, June 29).

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Both perhaps forget that the referendum on Scottish independence is a product of mere politics. A vote in the referendum is nothing more than a fleeting vote at one passing period in time by one generation of people. Like all political votes, the motivation too is transient: it takes a very short time for the new bloom to be shed, as we well know from the lessons of the UK parliament.

Many people are of the opinion, which has been well considered over the years, that Scotland gave the current parliamentary majority to the SNP simply because the public had become disillusioned with the positioning of New Labour and the SNP gave the impression it sat to the left and was worth a try.Since it was elected I can only see the party leaning to the right. The establishment and control of a single national police force; directing our schools on what our children must learn; minimising local authority decision-making developments; and railroading intrusive and unproven wind turbines on to our once majestic landscapes are all only minor examples of this top-down government compared with what I believe the SNP would be capable of were we an independent state.Personally, I feel great sympathy and exercise much understanding for adherents of all things Scottish who are innocently beguiled by sharks who are in wait for a feeding frenzy of power if we were to become an independent country.It is clear that the Labour party is, like the Conservatives, actively against separatism from the rest of the UK and I suspect a significant factor in its case is that it would undermine, if not fragment, the national trade union network on which Labour depends. Nevertheless, what if a rejuvenated and convincing pro-Union Labour party won a majority in Holyrood in the first Scottish election after independence?Would such a vote, based by the public on immediate experiential evidence, essentially sabotage any recent referendum vote on independence if the Labour manifesto loyally continued to adhere to its Unionist guns? If this scenario is beyond some people's horizons then the only conceivable feature of politics I envisage in a settled independent Scotland is an unbridled SNP running the country, perhaps with the odd token MSP from the opposition side. I have no doubt the SNP would take many steps to ensure it continued to hold such total power and claim it was the natural party in office because of the referendum outcome.In spite of what Alastair Darling said recently about "no going back", I am hopeful that any terms set by Westminster for separation would ensure a failsafe clause that we were not thrown off the train because we did not have a return ticket.Bill Brown,46 Breadie Drive;Milngavie.

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A pro-Union Labour party would enliven post-independence politics

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