Tuesday, 16 October 2012

The referendum - made in Scotland, regulated by London

So, the great day has come and gone; wee Salmond was talked out of wearing his tartan onesie with his Lion Rampant cape and "Call me Dave" did his best not to smirk.

Apart from that it was all a bit underwhelming. When it came down to it nobody really believed the nats when they claimed they didn't need a Section 30 order and nobody believed the Tories when they said they might withhold it.

The nats gave up their favoured second question and perhaps even more important were forced to accept that the UK Electoral Commission would play a key role in regulating the referendum. The Tories let the SNP decide on the timing and gave them the chance to try and find a way of giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote.

None of these things are likely to affect the result.

The most significant part of the day for me was when, within hours of signing this agreement,wee Salmond declared that if you vote against separation you'll lose your free bus pass.

And that tells us the spirit in which this debate will be conducted by the nats: nasty, scaremongering and mean-spirited.

The sooner this is over the better...


2 comments:

  1. Really Graham? Surely the people who want to take the bus pass off pensioners would suit that description better...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The only people who have suggested pensioners would lose their bus passes are those in the SNP who choose to misrepresent the Labour Party in order to frighten vulnerable old people into voting for their hare-brained schemes.

      It is a legitimate tactic but it cannot be described as a positive one.

      I would be very worried indeed if I supported separation and saw that the leader of the YESnp campaign had to resort to negative misrepresentation and scaremongering within hours of starting the campaign proper.

      Delete