“We are not four separate nations…” – Liz Truss
The British Prime Minister-in-waiting could hardly be more explicit about the ‘One Nation’ British Nationalist agenda she intends to pursue. British politicians are now quite openly denying Scotland’s existence as a nation. What is true for Scotland also applies to the rest of the periphery. Only England continues to be a nation. And only on condition that it is rebranded as ‘Britain’ If British Nationalists get their way, then there will be only England-as-Britain as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are sucked into the black hole formed at the nexus of political and economic power that is the city-state of London.
Every time a British politician speaks in such disparaging terms of those parts of the UK which are not London, they give licence to the next politician to speak even more disparagingly. Thus, in what seems a very short time, Scotland goes from being that slightly troublesome northern annexed territory which can be brought back into Britannia’s fold with warm promises and cosmetic political and constitutional reform. to the enemy threatening everything that ‘we’ value and hold dear. A threat which must be ‘dealt with’. An enemy which must be brought to heel by any means.
The anti-devolution rhetoric we are now hearing from Truss will be trumpeted by the British media in an increasingly shrill and extreme and dumbed-down form that quickly morphs into anti-Scottish rhetoric. Once the British media have made it an issue, other British politicians will feel obliged to speak on the matter. If there is a populist bandwagon rolling then jumping on it is not optional for any career politician. A position must be taken, choosing between the binary choices defined by the British media ─ you are either with ‘us’ or you are against everything that is great and decent about the divinely-ordained British ‘nation’.
So great is this threat that, as in time of war, democratic principles cannot be allowed to inhibit those seeking a final solution for the ‘Scottish problem’. If British politician number one is talking about rolling back devolution, then British politician number two cannot do other than call for devolution to be ended completely. If British politician number two seeks to trump British politician number one by calling for measures to curb Scottish political parties, British politician number one must respond by calling for a ban on parties campaigning against the Union.
When mainstream politicians embrace extreme positions, they invite extremists into the realm of mainstream politics. An invitation that extremist accept with alacrity. Once this process is initiated it has to play out in its own time and in its own way. The process becomes self-energising and continues beyond any control until there is a popular reaction against it sufficient to provide an opportunity for some politician astute enough to recognise a new bandwagon starting to roll.
All of which is very bad news indeed for Scotland and the rest of the periphery. Because that reaction against extreme British Nationalism must happen close enough to established power for its effect to be felt, and because there is no way of knowing how far the wave of extremism will carry or how much damage will be wreaked or to what extent that damage will be irreparable, we have to assume the worst. It would be irresponsibly complacent to gamble on politicians ‘coming to their senses’ in time to avoid eradication of Scotland’s distinct political culture and obliteration of our national identity. Scotland is on the verge of being overwhelmed by a great tide of Union flags and open hostility to our democratic institutions.
Liz Truss isn’t only fighting a Tory leadership campaign. She is firing the first rounds in the next Westminster election. She isn’t just seeking to be British Prime Minister. She has ambition to be the first Prime Minister of a new ‘Great Britain’ shaped by a mythologised past and the conscienceless forces of modern accumulative capitalism.
The fight to restore Scotland’s independence has ceased to be about creating the nation to which we aspire. It is about saving the nation we know.
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Peter A Bell 
Indeed. How long before Thatcher’s phrase “the enemy within” gets rolled out and repurposed.
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I’ve known since 2014 that independence is a matter of survival for Scotland.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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We hear SNP politicians respond by saying “Scotland’s voice will be heard”, as they keep telling us.
Oh sure it will, then totally ignored!
We have this report in The National, “Scotland about to ‘call a day’ on ‘being ignored by Tory prime minsters’, Nicola Sturgeon says” which doesn’t explain what the First Minister intends to do to make it so.
We live in an energy rich country, we have all the resources we need, and yet folks can’t afford to pay their energy bills, and trade unions threatening strike demanding more pay, and yet they know full well, the UK Govt is the main problem, not Edinburgh, which doesn’t have the resources it needs, as it sends most of our resources and revenues to London.
Yet those very trade unions were at the front of the anti Independence agenda in 2014.
They still are anti Scotland right up ’till now.
So too is Labour, but they refuse to accept their responsibility for the chaos we in Scotland find ourselves in, as a direct result of London rule.
All the while SNP Leadership still seems to think, or hope Independence will happen all by itself in due course!
These comments from Truss, should be a clear warning to SNP to the contrary.
However, one good thing about those comments, is that it is now out there, quite openly, and can’t be taken back, that London does not see Scotland as another country, but as an integral part of England.
Neither Labour or Lib Dems, will be overly bothered. But they can’t now pretend any more, it is still a “Union of Equals”, a Union or a partnership of nations, of any kind.
MP Truss has destroyed that notion for them, forever!
Tho I do wonder how she will explain the differing national soccer, rugby teams, etc.
And when she intends to abolish those too!?!
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I agree that Liz Truss’s comments clarify the concept of “take back control”
As the Brexiteers see it, the UK can do whatever it wants with regards to Scotland because it is an internal matter over which the UK is sovereign.
Scotland must have zero say on its constitutional status, and nothing is to be ‘negotiated’.
That is the point of “sovreignty” and “taking back control”.
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The argument for independence has always been multi-layered. The political, economic and cultural arguments (and their sub-divisions) have dominated, but the existential argument has been assiduously avoided. Both by unionists who don’t want to draw attention to it, and Indies who don’t want the “blood and soil nationalist” tag foisted on them.
It’s strange (though, maybe, not really) that the existential argument was central, much debated and “respectable” during the Brexit campaign, while being on the periphery, avoided and “toxic” to the Indy campaign.
Perhaps Truss has done us all a favour by highlighting the threat to Scotland’s unique existence, unprompted, to the Scottish nation. She may well have made it “respectable”. Unionists can rail against it but we can just turn round and say “well she started it”.
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“We are not four separate nations…” – Liz Truss
Adolf Hitler would have been pleased with Truss’ version of treating Scotland’s people like Untermensch (“inferior people”)… Well, Truss, “tha thu fad do dhroma ceàrr” (you’re very/totally wrong) – YOU will be internationally remembered; just as Hitler has been!
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The UK and the UK Government owe their existence to the Treaty of Union, which is also from where they get the authority to govern. The Treaty in turn was authorised by the two sovereign nations that signed it. If either of those signatories cease to exist then so does the Treaty, the UK Government, and the UK. There is a legal hierarchy in which the signatories are superior to the UK and its Government
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We know what happens if you remove the foundation of a building.
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Thanks for your very clear and easily visualised comments… More of us would better understand important matters with such clear examples! (smiling and winging here 😉 )
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