Brit-watching

When Winston Churchill quipped that the British never draw a line without blurring it he probably intended it as humour of the faux self-deprecating variety. But many a true word is spoken in jest, as Theresa May’s shifting and squirming on her Brexit white paper so amply demonstrates. Not so much a stance on principle as a stance on castors, the easier to be pushed and pulled to and fro by the warring factions of the British Conservative party.

It’s an entertaining spectacle. For those of us whose focus is on Scottish politics, Brit-watching has become an amusing pastime. Like looking at pond-life through a microscope, or gazing at the eddies and currents of a fast-flowing stream, it can be absorbing almost to the point of being addictive.

The danger is that we, or our political leaders, take it all too seriously. There is a risk that our choices and decisions may tend to be overly bound up with the chaotic antics of the British political elite. There are altogether too many influential figures in the SNP and in the wider Yes movement who urge that we should take our lead from what the British government does. That we should wait and see what they do. That we should bide our time and let events run their course.

Maybe I’ve got this whole independence thing wrong, but I thought the whole purpose was to get away from having decisions made for us by a British political elite that has neither democratic legitimacy nor accountability in Scotland. I was under the impression that the whole point of the independence cause was to put decision-making power back in the hands of the Scottish people where it belongs.

If the ultimate purpose of the Yes movement is to reassert the sovereignty of the people of Scotland then, as many have pointed out, we have to start by insisting on the exercise of that sovereignty. In order to become independent we must start acting like we’re independent. If the decision-making power which rightfully belongs in Scotland is to be brought home to Scotland then it is essential that we assert the authority of the Scottish people and their democratically elected Parliament and Government over the process by which our nation’s independence is restored.

Fascinating as it certainly is as a piece of political farce, the pond-life twitchings and squirmings of the British political elite cannot be allowed to determine how the campaign to restore Scotland’s rightful constitutional status proceeds. The decision as to how and when that process continues can only be taken in Scotland by those with proper democratic authority and in consideration solely of the needs, priorities and aspirations of Scotland’s people.

It matters not at all whether and for how long Theresa May can postpone her own demise and continue to patch up the gaping cracks in her administration, the fundamental constitutional issue remains. That issue must be decoupled, not only from the Brexit process, but from the entire British political system.

Scotland’s constitutional future is a matter for the people of Scotland alone. The first thing we need to bring home is the whole process of dealing with an issue which is entirely ours. We need to be perfectly clear that Westminster has no legitimate say in the matter. We have to explicitly reject the authority of the British political elite.

To paraphrase Ayn Rand, the question isn’t whether they will let us, but whether we will allow them to stop us.

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