Why don't we
tell the Scots to shove off!
By Simon Heffer
Alex
Salmond's offensive comparison of Scots voting for independence to the ending
of apartheid and blacks being given the vote in South Africa took the rank
dishonesty of the nationalists’ campaign to a new low yesterday.
Mandela went
to prison for his beliefs, something that doesn’t appear to have happened to
any Scottish Nationalists.
And, far
from being victims of a cruel and unjust system, they have been encouraged to
participate in the political process, and to live in a Union replete with
opportunities — unlike millions in South Africa who were excluded from politics
and advancement simply because they were the wrong race.
Alex
Salmond's offensive comparison of Scots voting for independence to the ending
of apartheid and blacks being given the vote in South Africa took the
nationalists’ campaign to a new low yesterday
It was
equally offensive to see Mr Salmond embracing immigrants from Eastern Europe
and telling them that their intention to vote ‘Yes’ would be the culmination of
their own long walk to freedom.
They chose
to come to Scotland not because independence promises an extra layer of
liberty, but because of the hard won, wide-ranging freedoms already available
throughout the UK, and bestowed upon the Scots as they are bestowed upon every
other Briton.
Enough,
frankly, is enough. We have long tolerated Mr Salmond’s mendacity, and his
twisted loathing of the English, largely because many felt he would be the
loser of this fight and should be indulged.
So when he
dropped hints that the NHS would be privatised if there wasn’t a ‘Yes’ vote, or
made up the rules about Scotland’s continuing membership of the EU as he went
along, or exaggerated the wealth from Scottish oil revenues, we felt slightly
patronising towards the old rogue, assuring ourselves of his inevitable
humiliation in the September 18 vote.
Now that
humiliation appears less certain, and the arrogant dishonesty is so
overwhelming, it is time to tell him what some of us really think.
First, this
referendum has been a democratic disgrace from the outset. Not only were
innumerable expatriate Scots in the rest of the Kingdom not allowed a vote on
the Union that has benefited them all so practically, but the English — who
subsidise Scotland to the tune of £17.6 billion a year according to the most
recent Treasury figures — were not allowed a say either, as if the Union were
about Scotland alone.
The sight of
English politicians — and Scottish Unionist ones — bending over backwards to
encourage the Scots to stay in the UK is as pitiful as it is outrageous. And it
has inevitably proven counter-productive.
The Scots
absurdly misrepresent us as oppressors and leeches who have taken ‘their’ oil
money since the 1970s, when the opposite is largely true.
Scotland has
boomed under the Union, Scots have thrived in the land of opportunity that is
England, and much of the North Sea’s oil was extracted only because of English
investment.
So why the
need for further bribes? Couldn’t a perfectly sober, rational case be made
about the massive mutual benefits for both parties — and shouldn’t our
politicians, now in a demeaning state of 11th-hour panic, have been making it
from the moment the devolved assembly opened in 1999?
They should
— but their failure to do so emboldened grasping SNP politicians to push for
independence. It says much for the stupidity and complacency of our political
class that none appeared to have seen this coming.
'The English,
especially, will wonder why our leaders feel the need to suck up to a nation
that sponged off our largesse consistently over the past 307 years, yet is
still not satisfied.'
I don’t know
whether Scotland will vote to become independent. I’m pretty sure that if it
doesn’t the ‘No’ campaign’s victory will be narrow, another plebiscite will be
held within five or ten years, and there will be further self-serving mischief,
strife and instability until the separatists get their way.
Instead of
telling Mr Salmond where to get off after his grotesque misrepresentation of
life under the Union, our politicians have responded with the pathetic stunt of
cancelling Prime Minister’s Questions today so they can campaign in Scotland
for the Union.
Worse, we
have had the spectacle of Ed Miliband gurning in front of TV cameras and
demanding that English town halls fly the Saltire to show their love for
Scotland — I trust most English town halls won’t waste ratepayers’ money on a
flag they would never normally fly from one decade to the next.
But I
suspect that this supine response to Salmond’s lies will be the final straw for
most English, Welsh and Northern Irish voters.
The English,
especially, will wonder why our leaders feel the need to suck up to a nation
that sponged off our largesse consistently over the past 307 years, yet is
still not satisfied.
Hard-pressed
English taxpayers today see Scottish families enjoying free tuition in higher
education (worth £9,000 a year), widespread exemptions from prescription charges
and state-funded care for the elderly, and wonder why they don’t get the same
benefits, even though they contribute to Scotland’s.
We have long
tolerated Mr Salmond’s mendacity, and his twisted loathing of the English,
largely because many felt he would be the loser of this fight and should be
indulged
And only two
years ago, the British taxpayer had to bail out two Scottish banks on the verge
of collapse.
The tragedy
is that Scotland’s enterprise and energy, underpinned by a ferocious Protestant
work ethic and an education system far superior to England’s, enabled the Scots
to be hugely successful in British life — another fact that makes a mockery of
Mr Salmond’s whingeing victimhood.
Scotland
provided England’s monarchs (our Queen is of Stuart descent) and numerous prime
ministers — Gladstone, Rosebery, Campbell-Bannerman, Balfour, Bonar Law, Ramsay
MacDonald, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Blair and Brown were all either Scottish or
of Scots heritage.
The list of
great Scots is endless: the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell,
the discoverer of penicillin Alexander Fleming, the inventor of television John
Logie Baird, inventor of the steam engine James Watt, historian Thomas Carlyle,
philosopher David Hume and economist Adam Smith are just the tip of the iceberg
of Scots talent.
Alex
Salmond's offensive comparison of Scots voting for independence to the ending
of apartheid and blacks being given the vote in South Africa took the rank
dishonesty of the nationalists’ campaign to a new low yesterday
Countless
unsung Scottish pioneers built large stretches of the Empire, notably Canada,
New Zealand and southern Africa, and Scotsmen made a disproportionately large
sacrifice in two world wars.
Yet now
England and Scotland are not merely two different nations, but two different
cultures. The old Scotland was washed away by the tide of post-1945 welfarism
even more than England was.
The
difference was that England threw off socialism in 1979 and, under Margaret
Thatcher, engaged in radical economic reforms.
Those were
never accepted by post-industrial Scotland, whose people in too many cases
preferred to live off the efforts of others, and came to regard Mrs Thatcher as
a symbol of foreign oppression and themselves as her tragic victims.
That gulf is
wider today than ever, and it won’t be bridged by a few patronising Englishmen
flying Saltires or engaging in a rampantly insincere group hug with the
Scottish people. Our two countries now have little in common, with Scotland now
exhibiting the most appalling mentality of dependence.
I am of a
generation of English who grew up considering ourselves British, and seeing no
great difference between the English and the Scots, for whom we had great
affection and admiration. But that has changed over the past two decades with
growing hostility towards the English dripping out of Scotland.
Enough, I
say again, is enough. As an Englishman, I feel my country has done all it can
for Scotland and the Scots, sharing our country and wealth in the most
open-handed way, while being branded as exploiters in return by a people for
whom a vindictive ingratitude now seems to be a way of life.
As far as
I’m concerned, the Scots are welcome to believe the untruths, distortions and
downright lies Mr Salmond and his pals have decided to tell about the Union so
they can get their hands on complete power.
If they
really do feel the English are so toxic for them, there is nothing left to say
except: clear off, good riddance and tell us where to send the bill for more
than 300 years of subsidy.
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