We have all learned to laugh at the term ‘Liberal Democrat’. And little wonder. They have proven themselves neither liberal (they enabled the Tory austerity bandwagon), nor democratic as they repeatedly collude to deny the people of Scotland democracy.
The Lib Dems care nothing for the Parliamentary majority for Independence and thoroughly deserve their tortuous descent into irrelevance in Scotland.
‘Labour’ has also woefully failed live up to its title. What is labour about a party, complicit in, and now supportive of Brexit and the subsequent bonfire of EU workers’ rights?
A party happy go along with the associated work force crisis imposed on business, industry, the Health Service – and to see those working in it put under even more strain and pressure.
Labour’s failure to stand up for those forced to strike is notable, with MPs banned from showing picket line support.
Instead of demanding that our NHS is supported they push the line that more, not less, privatisation is needed. What a shower. They talk the big talk on the value of democracy but are just empty shirts when it comes to the crunch.
They bend over backwards – no contortion too demeaning – to deny the reality of Parliamentary democracy in Scotland.
And now I come to the Tories. The term ‘Conservative’ is supposed to mean conventional, stable even old fashioned… do you recognise any of that from the Tory politicians of your lifetime?
Indeed, since Thatcher, they have gradually, then rapidly, become dangerous, right wing radicals.
With their disastrous Brexit, ‘go home’ vans, creation of the ‘hostile environment’, Rwanda and ‘rape clause’ policies they are openly dangerous, while their toxic, ideological, and illogical, self-harming has been terrible, especially for Scotland.
The Conservative and Unionist Party’s brazen, brass necked, dishonest approach to politics leaves too many examples to list – but I’m about to have a go. And their obvious utter contempt for our nation’s rights are laid bare in the House of Commons on a daily basis.
The other two parties are much the same, just not in government. So cronyism, cash for peerages, law-breaking lockdown parties, dodgy ‘fast lane’ contracts is a story told across all unionist benches.
‘Worse Together’, the Westminster parties have squandered the money that has come from YOUR natural resources and taxes by the countless billions.
Next time they want to talk about Scottish ferries (hundreds of Clyde shipbuilding jobs saved incidentally), they might want to reflect on the £4 BILLION spent on new RAF Nimrods that were scrapped before they ever flew.
Maybe they’ll consider for a moment the now, probably useless, AJAX tanks, described by a Parliamentary committee as ‘beyond a joke’, five years late and at £5.5 BILLION from the original £2 BILLION budget.
Perhaps they will recall the unusable PPE kit at £10 BILLION; £105 million for UNUSED plans for Euston Station; £43 million on the never built London ‘Garden Bridge’ or the financial horrors of the HS2 shambles.
And let’s not omit their recently proposed new royal yacht – a snip at £250 million – now sunk.
There’s much more too, too much, by far, to cover here.
Even though they are brazen, in their denial of Scotland’s democratic right to choose, they reached new heights thanks to Tory top man – the soon to be Lord – Alister Jack, a consistent, if incoherent denier of Scotland’s democratic rights.
Alister (let’s call him Ali), recently produced a new whopper: despite Scotland’s 62 per cent EU remain vote and polls of around 70 per cent for re-joining the EU, he claimed ‘There is no appetite in Scotland for re-joining the EU.’
It’s comical Ali. But all this is no joke. Take my word, keeping tempers and doing our best to represent our country and constituents at Westminster is so difficult in the face of the unionists’ dangerous game: an ever-decreasing circle of obstruction and denial.
SNP stands for Scottish National Party. But that is far more than a just name. It signals we stand for all of Scotland and her right to democracy.
As the year unfolds we will look to all parties and politicians that respect and cherish democracy to support us as we work at Westminster to ensure that democracy, and more importantly, Scottish democracy, prevails.