Viewpoint / ‘Independence for me but not for thee’
Isles MP Alistair Carmichael responds to first minister John Swinney being ‘dumbfounded’ when learning about local frustrations with the NorthLink ferry service. The comment struck a chord, the Liberal Democrat MP observes, but for all the wrong reasons
Fairly or unfairly, a simple phrase or image can often come to define a political moment.
During the ‘Winter of Discontent’, the words “Crisis? What crisis?” seemed to sum up the disconnection of a dying Labour government. More recently the chaos and ridiculousness of the last Tory government was skewered by the infamous Liz Truss lettuce.
I suspect that the first minister’s declaration that he was “dumbfounded” by local frustrations with the NorthLink ferry service during his visit last week to Shetland may prove to be equally emblematic – even if only on a local level.
There is a reason why the first minister’s response – and that one word – struck such a chord. It sums up the mixture of resignation and still-burning anger that people have that after 18 years in government, John Swinney is somehow “dumbfounded” that not all is well with the state of our island transport links.
Mr Swinney and the SNP wanted to use this jaunt to the north to build some political momentum in the isles after years of neglect (or perhaps to tick the box and get the obligatory visit out of the way before the campaign starts in earnest).
Instead it has reminded people just how out of touch the nationalists really are.
Just as in the 2019 by-election, when you had to sweep SNP ministers off your doorstep to prevent drifts, we are only ever remembered when there is a vote on the horizon.
This has not, however, stopped a few eyebrow-raising defences of Swinney’s visit and his recent conversion to island autonomy.
I am not sure, for example, that many in Shetland would be convinced by the argument made by some SNP supporters that past promises over ferries during the 2019 by-election did not have to be honoured.
Apparently ferry improvements are to be held hostage until we vote the way we are told to by the big folk down south. If you believe that the party of government only has a responsibility to its own voters and can ignore places like Shetland that do not vote for the SNP then that says a lot about your politics, and none of it good.
We are told, meanwhile, that the first minister deserves credit just for talking about local autonomy, as though this were day zero of SNP rule rather than 18 years into a government that has jealously hoarded power in Edinburgh and seized control of everything from fire services to policing and ambulances.
For a generation John Swinney has been at the heart of an SNP administration in Edinburgh that has spent its time centralising everything they could get their hands on. Apparently because he came north with a shiny promise to consider island autonomy, we should let bygones be bygones.
Indeed it emerged that while the first minister was happy to talk about island autonomy, he was at pains to make it clear that Shetland has less of a right to autonomy than the rest of Scotland does. The SNP have never been much for self-awareness, but it is comforting to see that the nationalist hypocrisy of “independence for me but not for thee” remains very much intact.
Therein lies the trouble when Mr Swinney and the SNP come with promises to return decision-making power to the isles: neither their record nor their rhetoric hold up to much scrutiny.
When push comes to shove we know – for we have seen it these past 18 years – their first, last and highest priority will always be to grab and centralise political power to push for independence, no matter who gets left behind and ignored as a result.
If Mr Swinney thinks we have forgotten this, he might just end up dumbfounded by Shetlanders again.
Swinney ‘dumbfounded’ that NorthLink passengers cannot book for 2026
