Letters / It’s all about the SNP
In his letter (Pensioners deserve better; SN 24/6/14) Brian Nugent, in his usual spin doctor mode, claims I would be content with the UKs pension provision. Not so and never said.
He even quotes two newspapers he and other separatists would not allow across their threshold, but any port in a storm, eh Brian.
Just to refresh Brian’s failing memory, what I said was that Steve Webb categorically stated “there were still questions over which government would pay the pension” in an independent Scotland, thereby causing stress to recipients. I then said to cancel out that stress we need to vote No to continue to receive our pension with no hassle from the UK government.
Brian then claimed that the referendum is not about Alex Salmond and the SNP; this is so categorically wrong because after a Yes vote we do not just get independence we get all that comes with it and that could include Alex Salmond and the SNP.
Salmond has just announced that whatever the outcome of the vote he will be there with the SNP to stand as First/Prime Minister. Even though he should resign after a No vote he will be there, so whatever the outcome this referendum is all about him and the SNP.
It’s thanks to the SNP’s manifesto that we’re having this referendum foisted upon us in the first place. It doesn’t matter which party held power in Westminster, as long as the SNP held power in Scotland, there was always going to be a referendum.
It is the SNP’s ideas put forward in the supposed ‘blueprint’ for Scotland’s future. It is the SNP who will be negotiating the terms of separation in the event of a Yes vote. Alex Salmond just can’t help but get himself involved in the debate, despite claiming “it’s not about him”.
SNP donors have provided over 80 per cent of Yes Scotland’s funds. All other parties involved have senior members stating that Yes Scotland is an SNP funded and led campaign; even the SNP bedfellows the Green Party.
You have to ask yourself, why do the Yes campaign go so far out of their way to disassociate Salmond from the referendum and a Yes vote?
What is far worse is that a Yes vote could just as easily be for President Salmond. This threat comes to the fore as a group calling themselves simply Republic will hold a meeting in Edinburgh next month to discuss getting rid of the Queen if there is a Yes vote in September (something we are not voting for).
Members at the head of the Yes campaign along with some ministers in the Scottish cabinet have expressed a desire for a republic in an independent Scotland, along with the Green Party, Tommy Sheridan and Jim Sillars, just to mention a few who have made their views very clear on this matter.
To vote Yes is not just a vote for independence it is a vote for what will and could happen afterwards.
Alex Salmond is already under pressure from an ever growing faction who want an independent Scotland to become a republic. His promise to keep the Queen is just a ploy to sell the idea of independence to a dubious public.
Whatever anyone tells you the vote in September is not just about Scotland becoming independent it is about every possible scenario that would or could happen if we vote Yes or No.
By far the biggest nightmare if we vote Yes and it goes wrong is that there is unequivocally no way out, we are stuck with it. In the event of a No vote and the promises made don’t materialise we are free to democratically make the changes that will make a difference.
That is self-determination.
Gordon Harmer
Brae
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