At what point does Nicola Sturgeon accept that the Section 30 process is dead? What does it take to convince her that it is not viable even if it wasn’t anathema to anybody who holds that the people of Scotland are Sovereign? When will she rid herself of the plainly daft notion that the ‘international community’ demands we jump repeatedly through the same pointless hoops as the price of recognition? If there was a body called the ‘international community’ and it was asked to give an opinion on Section 30 on the idea that Scotland’s people need the consent of England’s parliamentarians before exercising their right of self-determination they would surely deem it ridiculous and anti-democratic. The notion that the Section 30 process is the democratic ‘gold standard’ is idiotic – and always was.
I realise that repudiating the Section 30 process after her apparently unshakable commitment to it might be thought a politically damaging U-turn. But Johnson, Starmer and the rest of the British political elite have made it easier for her. Personally, I would respect such a change of heart now only a lot less than I would if she’d done it before the election last year. A lot less is better than not at all. I suspect the only ones who wouldn’t appreciate this – apart from the BritNats, obviously – would be those petty trolls who see every development as an opportunity for some pointless sniping at the SNP. The rational and realistic faction of the Yes movement would welcome it. Both of us!
If Ms Sturgeon had political nous to match her undoubted communication skills then she might think it wise to merge all her U-turns into one. The opening is there to present a complete reappraisal of the situation and a rethink of her entire approach to the constitutional issue. She might even realise that it’s long past time to give up on the deluded notion that confrontation with the British state is unavoidable.
If I have crossed the line into the realm of wishful thinking, who could blame me? At least I’m wishing for something that is actually possible, unlike those who are utterly convinced Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘plan’ will lead to the restoration of Scotland’s independence. So, while I’m indulging myself with a bit of wishful thinking, I might as well express the hope that at least some of the Sturgeon/SNP loyalists might realise that independence is not the aim of the ‘plan’ at all. Sturgeon’s thinking – and therefore her ‘plan’ – is dominated by her aversion to confrontation. Her ‘plan’ is entirely and solely about avoiding the confrontation with the British state that is inevitable if the real purpose is to restore Scotland’s independence.
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Peter A Bell 
But she has effectively turned her back on it. The referral of the Scottish govt’s bill to the Supreme Court to confirm, or otherwise, whether they can initiate a referendum without it confirms that. As does her intention to have a plebiscitery election should said Court find against the Scottish govt. None if which precludes the ultimate, last resort, of UDI should if become necessary.
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I don’t know why autocorrect insists on making my “it” and “of” an “if”.
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Sturgeon has NOT repudiated the Section 30 process. Neither, for that matter, has Alex Salmond.
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Why does it need to be vocally “repudiated”? It appears you are as concerned about “the optics” as I am. Though, while I’m concerned about how they affect the latter stages of the process of achieving independence, your concern appears more personal. Public “vindication” for yourself looks to be your goal here.
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You come out with some pish, fool. What the fuck would I want with “public vindication”? I’ve got no public, you dolt. I am NOT a public figure. I’m a 71-year-old blogger with a few hundred followers. And one who has never shown the slightest concern about how he is perceived by others. In your desperate need to personalise you make an utter arse of yourself.
I am not in the slightest bit surprised that you so totally fail to comprehend why repudiation of the S30 process is so important. Someone so shallow-minded as to come out with that “public vindication” crap wouldn’t be expected to understand the finer points of political messaging.
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Still feels like a “you” thing. Not something those of us who just want an independent Scotland need to unduly worry about. And I never mentioned other people’s opinions of you. It’s you who appears to need the personal “vindication” of a “public” repudiation of the S30 process by Sturgeon/Salmond. Clearly, you don’t care about other’s opinion of you.
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Errmmm, if when the First Minister of Scotland turns against the Section 30 waffle, and any other way by Westminster “approval”, that needs to be made very public.
Apart from anything else, it would throw down the gauntlet to the anti Scottish politicians, we will take our Independence regardless of Westminster.
It is not something that can be just quietly dropped in the hope nobody would notice.
Especially as all the tory wannabe Prime Ministers, (and one of those wannabes, (Hunt) wants to make Esther McVey his Deputy Prime Minister) have declared very publicly, they will say no for at least the next decade.
So there is no chance of getting anything from London.
They will never agree.
Tho, it is interesting the tories have suddenly changed their own minds over Boris Johnson, but insist that same ability to change isn’t allowed for Scotland.
So to abandon Section 30, and any other “Legal” route set by London, has to be made very clear, both to London, and to Scotland.
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“Section 30! Gold Standard! Legal!”
“Section 30! Gold Standard! Legal!”
“Section 30! Gold Standard! Legal!”
“Section 30! Gold Standard! Legal!”
infinite loop, endless repeat etc.
I doubt that the batteries for Nicola Sturgeon’s the Duracell Bunny act are unlikely to run out any time soon.
Like so many other opportunities passed up in the last 8 years this is likely to be another chance squandered even if it is a potentially face-saving one.
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But it is no longer part of the process. One of Johnson’s last acts before “sort of” resigning was to deny one, as the FM knew he would. That’s it done.
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There will be another Tory Leader / PM at some point soonish. I wouldn’t rule out the S30 dead psittacine being exhumed and the mantra parroted once again upon his/her arrival.
We’ll see.
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You don’t get to decide that. Because I’m not stupid, I need to hear it from Nicola Sturgeon. She might also offer an apology for compromising the sovereignty of Scotland’s people, although that’s probably too much to expect. I’m not sure I could accept such an apology anyway.
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English votes for English laws, the Scotland Act setup by Labour to trash the Treaty of Union. There is no such thing as the Gold Standard, how many PM can we ask for a S30, all Sturgeon has done is to make Scotland the SNP and the Scots look desperate by keep asking for S30 she’s been bought and sold on the idea of a S30!
Through this really weak leader she made us all look subservient and every day we breath god fresh air we should hold our heads up with bride that the English are running us so well.
Wither it come tomorrow or 2023 or 2024 the wording in the New SNP Westminster manifesto is going to let us know if the SNP/Leader is friend or foe because one thing is for sure she isn’t going to be able to hide her true intentions.
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Will that manifesto adopt some version of the #ManifestoForIndependence? If it doesn’t, I for one will want to know why.
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I would say this, if the SNP’s Westminster manifesto turns out to be a trap just to keep us in this union, we can’t allow it to go unchallenged, if we did, we’d be no better that the Unionist. We’d need to act and quickly, by refusing to accept any form of wording in the manifesto that didn’t honour the mandates the Scottish people have given the SNP.
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Whether the S30 process is off the table or not doesn’t really matter all that much just now. What is important I think is that the FM is now displaying a degree of flexibility in her approach to the route taken to independence. Demonstrating flexibility and accepting the possibility of using Plan B, whatever you think of Plan B, is a real step forward. If neither referendum route nor the proposed plebiscitary election is able to take place in practice, then the willingness to adopt a flexible approach allows another course to be steered without losing credibility.
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Whether or not the S30 process matters depends on how much importance you attach to the principle of popular sovereignty. Leaving it on the table signals a readiness to compromise the sovereignty of Scotland’s people. I will never find that acceptable.
I happily concede that there is at least the superficial appearance of greater flexibility in Sturgeon’s more recent statements. But I can’t help but wonder why, if this flexibility is real and means anything at all, she has opted for two options that are far more about not poking the British state than they are about restoring Scotland’s independence. I can’t help wondering also why shy would put herself in a position where she will have to change course yet again when enough people realise that neither the referendum she proposes nor a plebiscitary election will take us any closer to independence. Both will bring us back to where we are now, but without the option of a new referendum.
The key question is: What happens next? Neither the referendum as proposed nor a plebiscitary election connects to any defined action. And I can tell you why. Because that action is effectively UDI. There is no way past the fact that the action connecting the vote to the process has to be taken by the Scottish Parliament using powers that it does not possess and can only acquire by taking them.
All roads lead to #ScottishUDI. Nicola Sturgeon is most definitely NOT the person who is going to say that out loud. Neither, apparently, is Alex Salmond, for whatever that may be worth. Someone is going to have to say it. Who might it be? To date, the only one who’s even come close is Angus MacNeil.
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I tend to agree with you Peter, as does postcolonial theory, which tells us that the dominant national party elites’ unnecessary delay, deceit and petrification at a crucial stage in the independence/ decolonization process only stores up more serious problems for the future. Yes, the diptych has another side, much as Albert Memmi described it thus:
“A day necessarily comes when the colonized lifts his head and topples the always unstable equilibrium of colonization. For the colonized just as for the colonizer, there is no way out other than a complete end to colonization. The refusal of the colonized cannot be anything but absolute… the mere existence of the colonizer creates oppression, and only the complete liquidation of colonization permits the colonized to be freed.”
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There is only #ScottishUDI. There always has been only #ScottishUDI. It’s clear now. It’s where all roads lead. If our independence is to be restored it will be by taking it and defying the British state to try and take it away again. It is how all power comes into being. It isn’t built or created or won. It is merely asserted. If it is asserted and then defended it becomes the status quo. It becomes the settlement. It’s how colonisers colonise. They move in, assert authority, back that assertion with some form of force and once enough of the colonised accept it it becomes the rightful authority. It becomes established power.
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First off Peter going by your photo you certainly don’t look 71 years of age, unless of course its an old photo.
Anyway the S30 in my opinion was never a route out of the union and neither is a referendum, Sturgeon has no intentions of getting Scotland out of this union, I believe she’s attempting to make sure that we vote for the SNP at the next GE by attempting to promote it as a plebiscitary one, once we’ve given her party 50+ MPs the plan will have succeeded and Sturgeon can move onto pastures new.
The union will have been saved and her party will retain power, the only fly in her ointment I can see is that to push for a plebiscitary GE, she would first have to explain to voters in Scotland what that meant, mind you we’re going to be hit with the GRA, and have already been hit with the HCB without much consultation, and Sturgeon has promised that Nato will be our “corner stone” without giving us a vote on it so maybe she’ll just be a svague as usual on that.
I’m so skeptical of it all, that I’m hoping for a quick GE, not because we might use it as a plebiscitary election but because it will hopefully be an eye opener to those who still put Sturgeon on a pedestal, to see that she’s f*cked us all once again, and we can move on from her tenure, well at least I hope she buggers off after the final carrot is waved.
I tip my hat to the Sri Lankans they know when enough is enough.
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The image is no more than 2 years old.
We don’t have time to replace Sturgeon.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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