The Herald: Neil Mackay unspun banner NEW

The SNP has just effectively admitted that its vision of an independent Scotland back in Europe is sheer fantasy.

The problem is: the party won’t admit that to the Scottish public, and is once more treating us like the mushrooms the leadership clearly thinks we are - keeping us in the dark and feeding us on the unmentionable.

A decision has been taken - conveniently - not to debate a motion at its upcoming annual conference calling for a frictionless border between an independent Scotland and England. The motion was earlier on the draft agenda. But abracadabra! It’s now gone.

To anyone with half a brain, the decision to drop the motion makes complete sense: why debate something that’s entirely nonsensical.

Regular readers will know that I’m a pro-European and a moderate supporter of independence - with a hefty loathing for any form of nationalism, Scottish or British. So I’d really like to see an independent Scotland one day return to the EU. I also detest the idea of a hard border with our friends and neighbours in England. However, those two positions are entirely incompatible. Although I may wish these opposites to both be attainable - they are not, as Northern Ireland post-Brexit proves.


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