Scotland: Was associating itself directly with the Independence Movement a faux pas?

 

Was the fact that the Independence Movement was directly linked to the SNP a serious mistake?

The Scottish National Party and its newly adopted leader and successor of Nicola Sturgeon are in deep waters. Their management of Scotland has left a lot to be desired and has somehow come to be seen as what would happen to Scotland if Scotland were to become independent. Management of health and education - to name two vital sectors of any economy - has been an unmitigated disaster. The association of SNP with the Greens as a way to remain in power has led to disastrous policy making as a way to keep the coalition going.

Long gone are the days when Alex Salmond, the most successful Scottish National Party Leader, used to tell everybody that Scottish oil resources would ensure a strong Scottish economy that would be independent from the rest of the United Kingdom. In a move to remain Socialists without being attached to what they called the English Labour Party, the Scots gave preeminence to the Scottish Green Party and Net Zero did the rest to undermine what had been until a more or less credible stance. 

The poison chalice for Nicola Sturgeon as Leader was on the surface her stance on Gender Politics and suddenly, she was stricken by a series of scandals around financial impropriety. Her way out - and her resignation as Leader was planned as a way to avoid a major crisis that could have sunk the SNP even lower - was designed as a way to disappear. No sooner she was out as leader, a political storm was unleashed.

Humza Yousaf was chosen as scapegoat. He was supposed to be Nicola Sturgeon's heir apparent. He did not inherit her power. She threw him to the wolves and now he faces the inevitable. If his first time as leader is to lose to the Labour Party opening the way back for Labour into Scottish politics, will he survive? The Scottish National Party is extremely factional. In fact, the SNP has been at war with itself not just in Scotland, but most visibly in Westminster.

The SNP should have seen that by closely associating itself with the Independence Movement all it has done is to push backwards the Independence project. The Scottish people have just realised that when it comes to health, education and the economy in general the SNP has not delivered and it cannot deliver precisely because of its close association with the Scottish Green Party.

You cannot base your calculations on fossil fuel energy while at the same time talk about getting rid of fossil fuels. It makes no sense. I can't possibly make sense. If anything, it has increased economic dependency. The point might come when Devolution itself will be questioned.