Later today the Speaker of the English Parliament in England Sir Lindsay Hoyle will inform us if there is to be a recall by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. This event will decide the fate not of just Margaret Ferrier but of the entire independence cause for the foreseeable future.
I will not dwell on the events leading up to this, suffice to say it is yet another monumental piece of Sturgeon stupidity. She has not only likely handed over an independence seat to the unionists she has exposed the entire movement to danger and delay. Alex Salmond got it absolutely right when he stated, Margaret was thrown to the media wolves by her own party! It was all so unnecessary and could so easily have been avoided.
Let me also say that one day Scotland will be independent! Depending on what the SNP do later today will determine the timescale of that eventuality. Scottish independence was a certainty from November 1967 when the late, great Winnie Ewing (ironically) won the Hamilton seat from Labour. All that remains for Scotland is the how and when of our deliverance.
The Scottish independence die is cast and now we will embark upon a course that will ultimately end with the dissolution of the union. There are only two ways to achieve our independence, the ballot box or the barrel of the gun! It will not be a ruling in a court or by King Charles or a sudden rush to democracy in the English Parliament. Do not listen to the noise of would be saviours that tell you there is a shortcut that does not involve the ballot box or the gun. The only alternative to the ballot box, the gun, no sensible person wants to see happen. Anyone telling you a third way may be well intentioned, however they are selling you a false prospectus! We had enough of that from Sturgeon!
Humza Yousaf inherited this situation with Margaret Ferrier. He could of course, have chosen to not pursue this recall. Unfortunately, for Margaret it seems Humza listened to Sturgeon and her advisors and just continued on with this stupid strategy.
Humza has a chance to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. The question is though, will he?Should Sir Lindsay announce a by-election Humza must immediately declare this seat as the first Scotland United election. The opinion polls for sometime now have been showing that while independence has remained around 50% support for the SNP has been ebbing away. Last polls showed the SNP around 39% and falling. This 12% gap is what will lead to an SNP disaster.
The only way to bring that 12% to the ballot box is to do as I suggest and unite the entire YES Movement. Sturgeon did everything possible to alienate the SNP from the rest of the movement. That strategy like all her other grand plans has hurt the cause of independence.
In 2017 the SNP fought their worst ever election and lost 21 seats. The independence voters did not return to Unionism they remained at home, unenthused by Sturgeon’s “A vote for the SNP is not a vote for independence.”
The 2017 UK General election resulted in the SNP remaining the largest single party in Scotland, despite losing 21 seats to pro-union candidates. This marked a 13% drop in support for the SNP, down to 36.9% of the vote. Whatever happened to the politicians favourite saying when losing an election, lessons will be learned? It seems Humza, and the SNP has learned nothing!
In 2021 at the last, Holyrood Election when offered the chance of a united independence movement and a Super majority by voting SNP in the Constituency and Alba on the list Sturgeon opted for SNP 1-2. As warned this resulted in 30 odd Unionists being elected to Holyrood instead of an Independence Super Majority!
In 2022 when we had local authority elections the YES Movement again asked for unity with calls to use the STV electoral system to our advantage by voting ‘all independence parties” Sturgeon instead chose to reject the movement and again took to promoting SNP only. The outcome was that the Unionists now control more councils than if she had embraced a united front.
They were warned about the Hate Crime Bill, the GRRB, the DRS and being in government with the Greens. On each and every occasion, the SNP chose to ignore the independence movement. On every one of these the SNP has suffered damage to its reputation and standing with the Scottish voters. Will they listen now?
If they do listen then there is a chance that Rutherglen could be held by a Scotland United candidate. Should they continue on as before they will face a thumping. The fallout will be worse. This will give succour to the political enemies of Scotland and give them the false belief that they have finally slayed the independence dragon. The momentum will carry the unionists into the 2024 UK General Election whereupon the SNP will likely lose 75% of their seats.
The other independence parties will have no other choice but to stand their candidates further enhancing the chances for unionist victories. We only need to look to Edinburgh South to see that in any given seat we have a Better Together alliance. Unionists support the Unionist candidate most likely to defeat the dreaded SNP. The SNP need to learn this lesson!
It seems we Scots are not too wee or too poor we are too stupid! Unity wins elections, not divisions. After Rutherglen falls let me say what I think will happen. The emboldened unionists and their tame corrupt media will go into overdrive. Headlines of SNP implosion and the end of independence will adorn every headline every news broadcast, every current affairs programme. The carpetbaggers inside the SNP (and there are plenty!) will start jumping ship looking for another vehicle to get them to the gravy.
The snake oil salesmen and women in the Unionist media will aid the union by suggesting that independence political parties have failed Scotland and they have a cunning plan to a better Scotland, vote Labour.
The independence movement will be in total disarray and at war with each other. Fingers will be getting pointed everywhere. Meanwhile, the unionists will be laughing at our stupidity! Scotland’s resources and devolved powers will be getting pillaged.
In 2026 an emboldened Better Together will take control of Holyrood and begin the job of dismantling all the good done by the SNP in 2007 -2014. Student fees, prescription charges along with bridge tolls and hospital parking charges will be back. Free Home Care for the Elderly and bus passes will be gone. Scottish Water will be sold off to the City of London spivs. Legislation will be put in place limiting even further what Holyrood can legislate upon.
It will take the independence movement at least a decade to regroup. The SNP will become a hollowed out husk of a party. The long painful journey to independence will have to restart. This time though the unionists will ensure it is even harder for their Scottish colony and cash cow to ever again threaten Mother England.
Those politicians that scorned so many independence opportunities from 2015 onwards will all fade away into obscurity where they belong, along with their fat British Parliamentary pensions! The Scottish population will have to endure more austerity, more poverty, more theft and pillage and less and less democracy.
All because Humza Yousaf and his cabal will not unite the entire movement! In 2014 a united independence movement nearly took us to freedom. The political wing, the SNP we used back then has since shunned the movement and its core support. In Rutherglen and beyond the repercussions will be felt.
The alternative is that as soon as Lyndsay Hoyle makes the announcement Humza picks up the phone, then it is a completely different story!
I admire your optimism Roddy in regard to the likelihood of HY announcing a sudden change of strategy to a Scotland United approach following a “Road to Damascus”. There is close to zero chance of this happening and any hope that it might depends on the belief that the SNP are actually seeking Independence for Scotland. It is my serious contention that under the past and present leadership (same thing) they are doing everything they can to avoid carrying out the task they were repeatedly elected to do. The only hope for 2024 & 2026 is that the membership and a few independence supporting MPs and MSPs take back control of the party and re-instate the goal of independence.
I do not think so either I was laying out what I believe will be the fallout from the hubris and stupidity.
“Should Sir Lindsay announce a by-election Humza must immediately declare this seat as the first Scotland United election.”
I think that we all know that won’t happen – Humza was not the self declared ‘continuity candidate’ in the recent SNP leadership campaign for nothing.
“The independence movement will be in total disarray and at war with each other.”
Sadly, it already is.
As to the ‘when and how’ Independence will be restored.
When? God only knows.
How? Given that the British state is already moving to hog-tie Scotland ever closer to England future generations may well unfortunately opt for the bullet over the ballot box.
I have to say that thought of the gun not the X worries me immensely.
My hope is that Yousaf treats the by-election [if the recall votes are sufficient] as another party-before-country episode and the pro-indy constituents of Rutherglen and Hamilton West abstain leading to an embarrassingly massive defeat for him and his party. Maybe then the complacent members of the SNP will act to do something about Yousaf and his timid policies on independence.
It is nit just Humza though is it? It needs a full clean out of the entire cabal and the advisors and HQ mob.
I agree Roddy, and despair. You would almost think the SNP are sabotagong independence deliberately. If so, they call go to hell and the people need to assert their own way, preferably without bloodshed but with a strong assertion of our ancient right to be a Sovereign people and stand up against Westminster. The Yes movement is still there as the figures show and many are re-awakening and feeling that the SNP has left them by not promoting policies that lead to independence but preferring minority interests without the support of ordinary people.
I will be 77 on Friday , I would like to think I have another decade in me but accept that that is optimistic and all that optimism, fire and get up and go/leave of 2014 seems so far away.
I wanted to see an independent Scotland for the children and grandchildren of Scotland before kicking the bucket , now it seems destroyed by those whose only job was to get what was started by Alec Salmond over the finishing line. As they bad mouth the Yes movement , ALBA and those who dare to voice doubt or criticism they seem to miss the shifting sand under their feet – hell mend them.
I too am in my70s and sadly, I doubt I see it either.
It’s clear the highracy of the SNP are in the control of the British security services they are destroying the SNP from within and the independence movement. The SNP are now a spent force infiltratrated beyond redemption , a Unionist Party in all but name.
Scotland United must now stand AUOB candidates on an independence ticket at the next election and everyone thereafter till we break free. The SNP will do everything to stop this, they will not take part . The Humza cabal are the same old Sturgeon cable , nothing less than Britnat spies masquerading as a independence party, they are preventing our escape from the coercive unwanted Union. This should have happen in 2015 with our enforced removal from the EU. But Sturgeon took the English shilling and played us for fools stringing us along and removing those who where genuinely striving for independence from the political scene. This still continues today under Humza with Margaret Ferrier being an example. We have had enough of our Betrayal by the britnat SNP, and incidently the Theatre and smoking mirrors that have gone hand in hand with the cabal Sturgeon. Why has she or Murrell not been charged. She is to useful to bring out of the closet for the British Media and the Unionists to put of soft voters from voting for independence. The real reason the cabal did not suspend her.
We see today the lies of 2014 exposed Oil , they told us Oil was running out, then but 100 new drilling licences are being allocated to Oil companies by our colonial masters in Westminster. Scotland is keeping their corupt rotten to the core British state afloat. This colonial exploitation impoverishes us while enriching the British elites and corporations. We struck Oil and got deprevation , food banks and unemployment. This is the reality of being tethered together to UK,Ok and what Unionism really means for the indigenous Scottish population . We are the moon caves of the British state, there is no Union , No partnership of equals , there is only a vindictive exploitative Colonialism.
Great comme thanks Alistair.
At the moment, perhaps the best (or only) prospect for the Scottish independence movement winning Rutherglen is if Alex Salmond stands?
If as a Scotland United candidate.
If there is to be a by-election that is my thought too Alf … unless Margaret Ferrier stands as an independence Independence candidate. In the latter event, even Alex Salmond standing would merely split the vote.
When we in the Indy movement questioned Sturgeon and her methods this is when she became hostel and aggressive towards Scotland and its people, don’t don’t have to look any further than the casing point Alex Salmond.
When do we stop extending the hand to the SNP leadership? I’ve seen/heard of no shift in their direction of looking out for party over country. There has also been no, as yet, major defections from their ranks. They are totally captured. We need to swallow the hard truth that we must do what the Irish did against the IPP, and stand against them under a partial Scotland United. Sad but necessary. It could be saved by Humza( unlikely) or by some MPs/MSPs standing up for their country. It is now the time, or as you say, hindering the cause for years to come.
I think the answer to your question Jim will be answered today.No Scotland United then it is every indy party for itself and the SNP then cannot blame anyone for the consequences of their follies.
James a perfect analysis of our situation . Its time to move on an vote for real independence parties.
“In 2026 an emboldened Better Together will take control of Holyrood and begin the job of dismantling all the good done by the SNP in 2007 -2014. Student fees, prescription charges along with bridge tolls and hospital parking charges will be back. Free Home Care for the Elderly and bus passes will be gone. Scottish Water will be sold off to the City of London spivs. Legislation will be put in place limiting even further what Holyrood can legislate upon”
Maybe that is what needs to happen to awaken the people, if things are not bad enough right now for families with HIGH food prices, (getting higher by the week,) high home fuel bills, still leaves me as a 73yr old pensioner on a basic state pension, still not putting heating on, and hand washing out my clothes daily, in the hope we get a dry day to dry them.. Or hanging them over an indoor clothes horse in the hope they would be dry by morning..Sitting here on the 1st August with a teddy bear fleece on to keep warm..
I know we are energy rich as a country, yet NEVER have I heard anyone in the SNP fight or argue that the raiding of our assets has to stop, if anything the SNP hand over or sell to the lowest bidder not just our energy but also our land.. Things have to get really bad before those living here will open their eyes and do anything about it..
I supported SNP for 5 decades, I was a member for 12yrs. I left in 2017, but should have left in 2015, as I saw then that this was not the party of Independence..
People like myself (including YOURSELF Roddy) do not support for that long a party that stood on a platform for INDEPENDENCE, to just walk away after 50+yrs.
I left Before Alba came on the scene.
Because of my admiration for Alex Salmond & all he did do as FM for the people of this country, I joined Alba on the day it launched.
If any POLITICIAN can get us Indy it IS Alex.
However I do NOT agree with him on a few things that did help us lose last time. Using the same franchise where everyone and their dug gets a vote on Scotlands Independence is wrong. NO country does that…NONE…NOT even WM, which did not allow Europeans who had lived and worked in the UK for years/decades even, unless they had British Citizenship and MOST did not, as being in the EU did not require that. Yet when the actual vote was broken down, 52% of Indigenous Scots voted YES, 87% of English living here voted NO, and a huge % of Europeans also voted NO. The Europeans I don’t blame. as they had jobs lives and families here, and the threat of them having to leave the country due to a YES vote was their fear. Just as many Scottish Pensioners were feared of losing their pensions, ALL of course lies.
But the English who voted NO, are people who moved here for the benefits that the SNP subsidised, that they paid dearly for back home, they didn’t come here to be Scots, or vote against their own country. Yes I KNOW we have English people who do vote for Indy.. Many in my own family, but too many English people are moving here all the time for cheaper homes where they can sell their homes down South and get more for their money here, plus free prescriptions and hospital parking, and NO bedroom tax to name just a few, that helps families out..
I do NOT believe at all that Scotland will ever win a referendum, but even more so win one using that same franchise & Alex speaks of doing just that, so sticking to that route is not going to get us nowhere.
Then there is the taking up of seats in WM.. Only the ISP have stated IF they were to win a GE seat they would not take it up.. For me, if you want to get away from this place called WM and the nastiness that oozes out of there. You do NOT stand for election to that Parliament other & if you win a seat take it up..That would be the clearest message ever we do NOT recognise that Parliament..
Scotland MIGHT be Independent one day, but it will NOT be in my lifetime, we have to start over, once the Unionists do all the damage they can, & life gets harder for those that today are quiet comfortably well off. That might be the time people living here take a stand & fight for their country, NOT via a GUN just a ballot box where enough people have the courage to come together..
Right now, there are NON political groups working very hard to waken this country up just as much as ALBA is. we need them every bit as much as we need that rotten SNP party to come to it’s senses. And I very much doubt it ever will now.. It has gone to far down the road of DEVOLUTION.. The state it now as if it is something new, the SNP of 2015 have had devolution for the past 9yrs and done NOTHING with it except corrupt courts, the police, and try hard to destroy female born women..
I will always vote YES for Indy, but I am putting my hopes in the like sod SALVO & Liberation & SSR.. To get us over the line.. As the day will come when THEY & other groups will be the next YES movement..
People are sick of Politicians, sick of parties that break promises and sick of the fact that the one party that could at least IMPROVE life for people living here, is NOT getting the support from the YES Movement it deserves..
The grip of MI5 on the SNP is to much to dislodge this is how the establishment water down politics for their own ends, Labour’s, Starmer is a perfect example of the same infultration model as Sturgeon and the SNP . We need to all get behind Scotland United , the SNP are now a British Unionists party who will drag us down their rabbit hole to nowhere, there is no rebellion against the leadership only capitulation and acquiescence, and Betrayal. We must now move on.
I believe that the SNP wanted Margaret Ferrier out anyway, and her mistake merely played right into their hands. Probably, they have had some party drone set up for time. I think we have to consider these people as we would a parasite that has infected, and is controlling the brain. The SNP/Green coalition will do what it takes to achieve its joint agenda, which is to overturn our entire society, not, emphatically not to achieve independence. When we all get a handle on that fact, we will know what to do. Too many still hope that the SNP can be saved and cleansed. Personally, I do not believe it can. So, we either wait till another Unionist government takes over or we make something happen. That, I think is where the constitutional/legal aspect comes in: to kickstart the campaign which, in turn, will take us to the ballot box. The SNP is not going to change and will utterly destroy the whole independence movement first.
I have no doubt the SNP leadership have been captured, I don’t know if they all know it but I’m quite certain some of them do,they can’t all be half wits, they are willingly and openly colluding with the enemy of our people and nation, some of us might call that betrayal, but can I think of a better word
You do realise Roddy that I don’t wholly disagree with your analysis, but I fear that the electoral reality, in terms of the SNP cannot probably be seen as bowing before the desires of a much smaller party. As that is exactly what the Scotland United concept will be portrayed in the Unionist media.Personally, I’m all in favour of a United platform. However I fear that there isn’t the sustained support for that in Scotland. I also believe that the SNP have made serious tactical and strategic mistakes in the recent past. I would however not admit that these arose out of a complete sense of indifference to Independence by the rank and file of the SNP. In addition, you might remember that regardless of her faults, Nicola was and probably still is a much more popular campaigner than Mr Salmond. Furthermore, despite many in your parties antagonism to the current First Minister do you seriously expect any politician to turn round and do a mea culpa to Mr Salmond and beg forgiveness for his many transgressions. Personally, I would be looking to form a broad based coalition to fight the next U.K. General Election including the Greens as like it or lump it they are the second largest pro-Independence party in the country. I do not doubt for a minute that Scotland faves a well resourced and intelligent adversary. As usual that adversary thrives on division and hatred, not all qualities that we Scots are axiomatically short of. I really wish that I had the ‘Holy Grail’ which would provide all the answers, but unfortunately I do not
Like you Roddy, I do fear that we are heading, for a right doing in both the Rutherglen election and the General Election’s to come. However, unlike you I retain hope in the SNP to turn things around eventually. However , if we are to retain anything of a functioning Independence movement a lot of people must need eat a helluva a lot of humble pie. However, I fear that will likely prove unacceptable.
Mark my friend the SNP are heading for oblivion.Nothibg can save them now as to Sturgeons popularity,not anymore she has been exposed as a vile narcissistic enemy of Scotland.
Ironically, tonight’s full Moon is what is called a Sturgeon Moon. Maybe the SNP have reached peak madness? I hope so but holding my breath I aint.
We need to call out those who have Betrayed us for what they are traitors and spies.
The general public are unaware of our political plight, very few take the time to analyse the facts or find out the relevant information for themselves . This is how our colonial abusers have got away within for so long. To wee , to small , to stupid , the Unionists lackeys mantra. We need to educate our friends, neighbours and colleagues on the true nature of the predatory Union.The truth is for all to see in our economy, our High Streets , our underdeveloped infrastructure. All our assets have been stripped and stolen by our parictical neighbour, everything geared for their enrichment at our expense.
Dissolve the Union.
I wonder if Humza’s been on the phone yet ?!
Margaret Ferrier is out, apparently. How did her constituents go from backing her to abandoning her? Well, of course the answer is simple: the SNP and all the Unionist parties wanted her out, and that is how it works. What is wrong with people? Yes, she made a mistake, but so did many, many others. Yes, she should have set an example. So should have many, many others set an example. No point in crying over spilt milk, though. Who is the SNP standing in her stead? Does anyone know? Some party drone with zero experience and a big woke mouth?
Clr Katy Louden no doubt a true believer of cocks in frocks
Thanks, BB. Saw her in The National today. I could have drawn her with my eyes shut. I have no problem with sensible youth, but most of these are hatched out of the ‘woke’ egg, fully-fledged in nothingness. Not one day goes by now, without The National featuring some ‘woke’/’trans’ neep threatening never to go away because they have “always been with us and there is nothing we can do about it”. Parasites have always been with us, too.
I’d bet my bottom dollar that this lassie was ready and waiting in the wings for Margaret Ferrier to be ousted after a SNP/Green/Unionist campaign against her. Not long ago, her constituents talked of wishing to keep her, and, now, they have ousted her by over 11,000. Something smells. The SNP has probably handed the seat to Labour, and, together, they will traipse down the yellow brick road to ‘transdom’ and independence will be swopped for a (short-lived) devolution because the mainstream British parties are going to try and clip Scotland’s wings in earnest now.
It takes a certain kind of person or group..party to face there oppressor, and defeat them. That never involved being nice n friendly. It involves courage and backbone. The SNP have never developed this. Therefore the strength and power needed to gain Independence will never bear fruit when these compliant cowards are in office
I agree with much of what Roddy says generally , but disagree with the specifics of Margaret Ferrier. What she did was just monumentally stupid and selfish. The notion she could have survived had the SNP stood by her just nonsense. She would still hace rightly been suspended avd recalled., with the SNP in an even worse position that it is currently in. The SNp wax right ti cut her lose, not go down with. And Alex Salmond is just wrong here, is playing to a narrow gallery. Were he still leader of the SNP he would have, rightly. acted exactly how Nicola and Hunza , have. And if Alba’s position in the by electron is that Margaret Ferrier was harshly treated. the by election unecessary, abd 6at Margaret Ferrier should still be MP( the logic of Alex position), they will get slaughtered
And the “Scotland United” idea i like. really like. It is a great idea Too good an idea to be wasted in the Rutherglen by election, that Labour has already as good as won. ‘Scotland United” in Rutherglen in October won’t stop that.
The Scotland United idea needs worked on. And introduced in a positive context, not the grubby mess Margaret has left us in Rutherglen. Holyrood 2026 would be my target, for the deployment of this great idea. But the work to promote it starts now. Just not in Rutherglen in early October b. We neef to box clever here. Not blow a great idea on a lost cause. And Rutherglen in October is a lost cause + Margaret Ferrier saw to that.
Disagree with what specifics about Margaret? I never condoned her actions, I barely mention the incident! That other MPs the length and breadth of UK who did the exact same and worse did not receive the severity of the punishments Margaret has endured while wrong is irrelevant but worth noting. By UKGE time the Rutherglen voters would not have bothered.
The SNP will be decimated at next election not because of Margaret but for a host of reasons. GRRB,HCB,DRS abuse of members, lies over mandates corruption,nepotism and love of devolution. Scotland Unitedis the only chance the SNP have,they wont take it, so hell slap it into them.
Throwing Margaret Ferrier to the wolves was no mistake by Sturgeon.
Sturgeon knew exactly what she was doing. She knew what the likely consequence would be and this was just another action to undermine the independence movement.
And now a by election seat that the SNP can only lose. A seat that they have absolutely no chance whatsoever of winning.
This is Sturgeon’s and deliberate legacy. It’s not just mandates she squandered.