Odds and Ends Monday 6th February 2023 – The Presidential Press Conference

Not sure what to make of this at all to be honest – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is holding another press conference today where journalists can ask any questions they like about the Scottish Government etc. I remember getting sick of the Covid-19 briefings after a while although in fairness I did find them useful at the start and I did hear people say they found them helpful and reassuring. This feels a little different, a little presidential in some ways. Today she did say that she fully intends to challenge the UK Government over GRR, that one is a mistake I suspect. There was chat about strikes, council funds, and defending the settlement to local councils. She was also asked about the loan to the SNP from her (husband), and said it was his business (yeah ok) sure every wife would say that regarding a £106,000 loan to a political party lol.

I actually agree with this – The Scottish Government has a consultation on alcohol advertising. The First Minister was asked today about a letter signed by more than 100 major brewers and distillers which warned Scotland’s world-famous drinks industry could be damaged by the plans. The Scottish Government has launched a public consultation asking for views on ways alcohol advertising could be scaled back or even banned in public spaces completely. It could see shops being prevented from displaying alcoholic drinks on shelves or in store windows.

Scotland has serious alcohol and drug addiction issues. The cost to individuals, families, and the SNHS is huge. We are just not a grown-up part of the colonial UK when it comes to this issue, the minimum pricing legislation was the right idea but not thought out properly. Allowing the sellers to keep the additional profit was wrong, they should have been forced to hand over the extra money raised and put into re-hab to help those with addiction. I am all for a curb on alcohol advertising, especially in sports and places where kids and young people frequent. I don’t want a nanny state but we have to do something.

I won’t hold my breath – some members are urging her to go further and call an early Scottish election in October this year and make that a single-issue poll. An amendment has now been drafted that calls on Ms. Sturgeon to force a Scottish vote. (Scottish Express)

There are three methods this could be achieved. Ms. Sturgeon could resign as First Minister while parliament can also be dissolved if two-thirds of MSPs back such a move. A third option is to amend the Scotland Act 2016 to allow an election with a simple majority of MSPs. It’s just not going to happen is it, when has Nicola Sturgeon ever changed her mind when she doesn’t have to, and when has the party leadership listened to elected members or members for that matter. I suspect we go into the 2024 UK colonial election with the deeply flawed and bound-to-lose strategy we have now.

However, nationalists on social media seem pessimistic about the plan’s success. One said: “Even if the amendment passed, conference votes aren’t binding are they? And it WILL be ignored. Just like Freeport, currency and public energy company votes. The SNP no longer care what their members want.:”

Totally agree but sadly it will fall on deaf ears – A letter to the Herald worth re-posting here.

SURELY it is to be welcomed that Neale Hanvey of the Alba party has significantly raised the standard of debate, and the tone of that debate, at Westminster, during the introduction of his Self Determination Bill, as reported by you (“Alba MP tables Indyref2 Bill in the Commons to allow vote every seven years”, The Herald February 2).

I watched the television broadcast of him doing it and am pleased to note there was none of the usual mud-slinging and political point-scoring that we often get. Instead, there was a calm and well-reasoned argument in favour of Scotland, as a nation, being granted the right to self-determination.

Mr Hanvey based his argument on various aspects including Scotland’s Claim of Right, which is protected within the Treaty of Union; the fact that in Scotland the people are sovereign over parliament – unlike England where the Monarch is sovereign over Parliament, and it is sovereign over the people; and statements made by prominent politicians of the past including Margaret Thatcher, John Major and the “Grand Old Man” himself, William Ewart Gladstone, who, in 1889 stated: “I am to suppose a case in which Scotland, unanimously, or by a clearly prepondering voice, were to make the demand on the United Parliament to be treated not only on the same principle, but in the same manner, as Ireland, I could not deny Scotland to urge such a claim.”

Of course, at that time Ireland was still a “complete entity” although today it is divided. Nevertheless, there is some merit in Mr Hanvey’s argument because the Good Friday Agreement, over which there has been much furore recently, contains a section that allows Northern Ireland to hold a referendum on whether or not it should rejoin Eire, every seven years, subject to the desire of the people.

Scotland is deprived of that democratic possibility and must instead pick up its begging bowl and ask Westminster, just like a little child and without the dignity of a nation, without any possibility of it ever being granted. This bill, without supporting either outcome of such a referendum, would insert that possibility into Scottish democracy.

Surely, it is a failing in Westminster democracy when one part of the United Kingdom is allowed that procedure while another, significantly larger, part is denied it, even though the Smith Commission, which followed the last referendum and was signed and agreed by all political parties, stated that there was nothing in that agreement that prevented Scotland from holding another referendum in future.
Charlie Kerr, Glenrothes

Charlie couldn’t agree more, excellent letter, but sadly while I applaud Neil and his efforts, an independence MP who deserves our respect, our colonial status means it will not only fall on deaf ears across all of the parties, but will be talked out, denied time, and failing that defeated in the colonial UK Parliament.

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