Westminster - what happens next?
Based on today's events, the problem for the Westminster Parliament is not that it can over-rule everything we want to do in the Holyrood Parliament.
It's that Westminster is irrelevant.
In the 2014 referendum, money was a big issue. Now I'm convinced it's not so important, because we have the information we lacked then. Four years on, we have a clearer idea of how Scotland makes its money, how much it makes, and where it goes. We now know that Scotland does not depend on the UK financially: Scotland makes a lot of money from industry, commerce, tourism, farming, etc. We also know that a lot of tax money leaves Scotland and never finds its way back.
And it's not only direct tax. You only have to look at the BBC to confirm the trend: only 59% of the licence fees paid in Scotland comes back to us in the form of TV and radio programming, as compared to - oh, to hell, I can't find the figures but it's a helluva lot more in Wales and Northern Ireland.
As far as I can see, Westminster is useless when it comes to protecting Scotland's interests in business and commerce, not to mention health and education and all the other areas that have - so far - been devolved to Holyrood. Let's be honest: there's no interest in what we do down south. Westminster is in London. All the offices of state are in London. The UK press is based in London. Big business is based - yep, in London.
Where Westminster really holds the whip hand is in finance. The Tory government decides how much of what Scotland pays in to the Exchequer can come back to us. That means that in the Brexit age, Scotland is in big trouble: the Tory government wants to bury us among the statistics, so it claims constantly that Scotland is part of this odd nation called ' the UK.' Theresa May can justify just about anything. Well, she has civil servants to produce the facts to back up her claims.
I don't worry too much about the SNP stomping out of Westminster today. If it was up to me, they wouldn't be there at all. But I'm relying on the SNP to explain to voters what the hell is going on. And I hope I'm justified in trusting them...
It's that Westminster is irrelevant.
In the 2014 referendum, money was a big issue. Now I'm convinced it's not so important, because we have the information we lacked then. Four years on, we have a clearer idea of how Scotland makes its money, how much it makes, and where it goes. We now know that Scotland does not depend on the UK financially: Scotland makes a lot of money from industry, commerce, tourism, farming, etc. We also know that a lot of tax money leaves Scotland and never finds its way back.
And it's not only direct tax. You only have to look at the BBC to confirm the trend: only 59% of the licence fees paid in Scotland comes back to us in the form of TV and radio programming, as compared to - oh, to hell, I can't find the figures but it's a helluva lot more in Wales and Northern Ireland.
As far as I can see, Westminster is useless when it comes to protecting Scotland's interests in business and commerce, not to mention health and education and all the other areas that have - so far - been devolved to Holyrood. Let's be honest: there's no interest in what we do down south. Westminster is in London. All the offices of state are in London. The UK press is based in London. Big business is based - yep, in London.
Where Westminster really holds the whip hand is in finance. The Tory government decides how much of what Scotland pays in to the Exchequer can come back to us. That means that in the Brexit age, Scotland is in big trouble: the Tory government wants to bury us among the statistics, so it claims constantly that Scotland is part of this odd nation called ' the UK.' Theresa May can justify just about anything. Well, she has civil servants to produce the facts to back up her claims.
I don't worry too much about the SNP stomping out of Westminster today. If it was up to me, they wouldn't be there at all. But I'm relying on the SNP to explain to voters what the hell is going on. And I hope I'm justified in trusting them...
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