Sturgeon's Risible Rabble Rousing Rhetoric

Nicola Sturgeon deploys familiar rabble rousing rhetoric in response to the Supreme Court's decision, but not all SNP politicians agree with her line about being democracy being denied - 'imprisoned and shacked'.   

Stewart McDonald MP @StewartMcDonald

So although the court has made clear the consent aspect of the union lies with Westminster, we must shun talk of being imprisoned or shackled. Our campaign is not a liberation struggle, but one of democratic, social and economic renewal and empowerment.

Scotland's Democrats vs Dodgy Coalitions (November 24, 2022)

The UK Supreme Court stood up for democracy yesterday because its intervention in upholding the law has stopped Nicola Sturgeon from imposing a stitched-up referendum - regardless of wider public opinion.

Sturgeon and Harvie would have used a simple majority at Holyrood and a dodgy SNP/Green coalition to get their way and decide a whole range of vital issues cynically in their favour.

For example, the rules and questions (Remain/Leave vs Yes/No), should there be one vote or two (a la Brexit), is 50% plus one vote enough on such a big issue - and what precisely would a Leave vote mean for currency,  pensions etc etc.  

The point is that democracy in Scotland is not what Nicola Sturgeon and her new chum Patrick Harvie say it is - and any further constitutional referendums ought to command cross party support as they did in 2014.

Truth is the SNP are only in favour of a wider participative democracy and referendums when it suits their narrow purpose - otherwise we'd be having a Scottish referendum on Sturgeons' barmy 'Self-ID bill which the vast majority of Scots oppose, of course.

Scotland - What Price Democracy? (November 14, 2022)

All the opinion polls say that a big majority of Scots reject Self-ID and the absurd notion that grown assed men should be allowed just to declare themselves as women.

The same is true of assisted dying - the settled will of Scotland appears to be that people deserve a choice towards the end of their lives, so long as there are safeguards in place to protect the vulnerable. 

But Nicola Sturgeon is not keen on listening to public opinion on these issues - not through a referendum or even asking a question on the back of Scotland's census which the Scottish Government managed to screw up completely of course.

Yet we hear non-stop from Team Sturgeon about Indyref2 even though all the opinion polls say Scots voters are set firmly against another referendum at this stage - not least because it would be a stitched-up affair between the SNP and Greens.

So what price democracy and the 'will of the people' under Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP?