IN a speech at Glasgow’s Moat House Hotel in February 1992, two months before the General Election, Prime Minister John Major argued forcefully against those who sought an independent Scotland – “A Scotland apart, adrift from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
He added: “I can understand the pride in being a Scot that may lead to that ambition. But everyone should pause to consider what such an historic rupture would mean. Not just for Scotland. But for every part of the United Kingdom.
“Does anyone seriously believe that, if Scotland plunged down the road to separation, the influence for good in the world that we’ve exerted together would remain the same?
“It couldn’t be. And, sadly, it wouldn’t be. It would be a loss for us all – a loss for Europe and the shaping of the century to come.”
The “open advocates of independence”, Major added, were “still stuck at that end of the political spectrum from which Eastern Europe is struggling to escape”.
No nation could be held irrevocably in a union against its will, he observed. “We can do it. We can break up the United Kingdom”. But a solitary Scotland also meant a solitary England, alongside Wales and Northern Ireland. “Two proud nations. Divorced. Marginalised. Diminished ...”
Major went on to win the election, but nothing could silence the clamour for Scotland to have a greater say in its future.
A major rally in Glasgow’s George Square was staged not long after the election.
It had been officially set up just 24 hours before it took place, but nevertheless managed to attract 3,500 people in support of the Scotland United pressure group.
The gathering was hailed as an historic event for George Square by Campbell Christie, leader of the STUC.
He asserted that just because a Conservative government had been elected throughout the UK it did not mean that the party had a mandate in Scotland. Scots, he added, were not prepared to accept the status quo for another five years.
Christie called on Scottish political parties to sink their differences and unite to fight for a multi-option referendum on constitutional change; Scotland United, he added, represented the 75 per cent of Scots who had not voted for Major’s party.
Sharing the platform with Christie were prominent Scotttish politicians, among them George Galloway, Dennis Canavan, Gordon McMaster and Gavin Strang - and musicians Pat Kane, Ricky Ross and Donnie Munro.
The Tories’ gain of two Scottish seats at the General Election prompted the writer William McIlvanney to tell the crowd, “One swallow does not a summer make, and as sure as hell two more Tories does not a mandate make”.
Read more: Herald Diary
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