Labour’s betrayal of Scotland

On Wednesday Anas Sarwar, the branch office manager of Labour’s Scottish accounting unit tweeted: “Every vote matters – and at the next General Election a vote for Scottish Labour is a vote to put Scotland’s voice at the heart of government.”

However less than 24 hours previously Labour MPs had voted against a motion in the House of Commons to bring forward a bill to give the Scottish Parliament the power to hold independence referendums. The proposed bill, which was introduced by Alba MP Neal Hanvey, was supported by the overwhelming majority of Scottish MPs, including most SNP MPs. Both of the two Labour MPs representing Scottish constituencies, Ian Murray and Michael Shanks, voted against the proposal to give Holyrood more powers. There’s Labour’s “putting Scotland’s voice at the heart of government” in practice for you. Those two Labour MPs joined with other British nationalists from the Conservatives and the Lib Dems representing mostly English constituencies in voting down a measure which was backed by the overwhelming majority of Scotland’s elected representatives in the House of Commons. 57 Tory MPs, 147 Labour and 13 Lib Dems opposed the motion.

Despite Sarwar’s claims, which are not borne up by the evidence of how Labour MPs actually vote, we all know that every Westminster seat which Labour succeeds in taking from the SNP will be hailed by Sarwar as ‘proof’ that Scotland has rejected independence. Sarwar will celebrate every vote that Labour takes from the SNP as ‘the death of independence’ and he will be joined in doing so by a chorus of voices from the British media in Scotland. A vote for Labour is a vote to minimise Scotland’s influence in the British Government. It ought to be obvious by now, even though the media in Scotland chooses not to highlight the fact, that Scotland only has influence on the British Government when the Labour and Conservative parties fear the possibility of independence. It was fear of independence that led to the creation of the devolution settlement and the Scottish Parliament, it was fear of independence that forced the Labour and Conservative parties to promise Scotland a slew of greater powers, promises which they were quick to renege on as soon as they thought they could get away with it.

The truth is a vote for Labour vote is a vote to stay out of the EU, refuse any independence discussion, weaken the powers of the Scottish Parliament, and to keep taking instructions from London.

P MP Chris Law has said that the fact all Labour MPs present ,including Ian Murray and Michael Shanks, voted against the bill, “clearly demonstrates that they aren’t the least bit interested in giving the people of Scotland the powers it needs to determine their own future.”

Sarwar talks about “strengthening devolution” but is unable to say what extra powers a Labour government would transfer to Holyrood. The prospect of Labour devolving more powers to Scotland if Keir Starmer wins at the General Election later this year has been deemed far-fetched by some after several notable U-turns. In September last year Scottish Labour MSPs didn’t support a motion calling for the devolution of employment law, despite a Labour manifesto pledge in 2021 to back the policy. Sarwar had also previously supported the devolution of drug laws to Holyrood, but U-turned and backed Westminster control over the legislation.

What Sarwar means by “strengthening devolution” is stripping powers from the Scottish Parliament, which Labour has not controlled for over a decade, and transferring that power to local authorities where Labour has a better chance of being in charge, often by doing deals with the Tories. This weakens the ability of Holyrood to stand up against an overweening and centralising Westminster.

The Labour party always saw the true purpose of devolution as providing a means for the Labour party to wield power even after it had lost control of the House of Commons. Sarwar’s “strengthening devolution” is not about what is best for Scotland, it’s about what is best for the Labour party, it’s about weakening Holyrood in order to make it less of a political challenge to a Starmer government and boosting Labour controlled local authorities which pose less of a political threat to Westminster rule. It’s the classic story of divide and rule, all wrapped up in the typical British nationalist mendacity – telling Scotland that as Westminster reduces Scotland’s ability to stand up to it, Westminster is really “strengthening devolution.” It’s just another in the long litany of British lies.

Let us not forget that Tuesday’s Commons vote was only necessary because the democracy denying anti-independence parties refuse to accept that the current Scottish Parliament has a clear and unequivocal mandate for another independence referendum won during an election campaign which was dominated by the subject of whether to hold another independence referendum. The people spoke but the anti-independence parties are still not listening. Just last week Labour’s Anas Sarwar had the unmitigated gall to appeal to independence supporters to vote for his party and was still trotting out the same arguments that he made over four years ago, arguments which he had put to the voters and the voters had rejected.

But here we are still, trapped in a British nationalist groundhog day. After gaslighting the people of Scotland, aided and abetted by the anti-independence media, by claiming that the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary elections had not after all been about an independence referendum, and that the record majority of pro-independence MSPs was not really a demand from the electorate for that referendum, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament did not have the power to hold an independence referendum. Indeed it went further and ruled that Scotland did not have the right to self-determination.

All of this flew in the face of what the anti-independence parties and the majority of the Scottish media have been telling Scotland for decades about the supposed nature of this so called United Kingdom, yet from that same media there was scarcely a peep about Scotland being voted down yet again by MPs from outwith Scotland, making a mockery of the claim that the UK is a voluntary union. The Scottish media has been far too busy obsessing about ferries and £600,000 donated by supporters to the SNP.

If you want to know why support for independence is not higher, there’s your answer right there.

Neal Hanvey, the sponsor of the bill said: “A clear majority of Scottish MPs voted for this bill to transfer the power to legislate for a Scottish independence referendum to the Scottish Parliament only to see it defeated by the combined votes of Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs in other parts of the UK. This explicit repudiation of Scotland’s national rights is a significant and defining moment. Scottish democracy was dealt a critical blow by Westminster today but the inalienable right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs must and will prevail.”

Tommy Sheppard, an SNP MP who backed the bill, said: “With Labour MPs like Ian Murray and Michael Shanks voting against more powers for the Scottish Parliament and Scotland’s democratic right to choose our own future, it’s clear voting SNP at the General Election is the only way to make Scotland’s voice heard and put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.”

Any independence supporter thinking of voting Labour at the next general election needs to be reminded of the shameful determination of Shanks and Murray to keep Scotland subservient. You can be quite certain that the media in Scotland won’t want to draw attention to that fact.

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