I wonder how many of those new members of the Labour party who flocked to Jeremy Corbyn and helped elect him leader , will be disappointed that he seems to speaking the same Unionist rhetoric as the Tories by claiming Scotland could not afford to become independent.
Corbyn told an audience of Scottish Labour MSPs and activists in Glasgow that independence would be a serious mistake, and would lead to “turbocharged austerity and a glaring hole in the money required to fund essential services”.
Referring to Scotland’s alleged £15bn public spending deficit after the collapse in oil prices, Corbyn said on Friday the first minister was surrendering to Tory tax cuts and big business by refusing to raise Scottish income tax rates while cutting council funding.
I was un aware that Scotland received this Oil revenue directly and that it went to Westminster instead.
But maybe he is claiming Oil prices will not rise before Scotland becomes independent.
What does Corbyn think Labour in Wales have been doing?
There has been no fight from Labour in the Assembly only acceptance and lethargic government .
There has been no fight from Labour in the Assembly only acceptance and lethargic government .
Corbyn added that while Scotland had “the talent and ability to run its own affairs”, it would be financially calamitous, since so much economic power rested outside Scotland. He said its best option was to fight for overall reforms of the UK economy and constitution.
and yet he added that while Scotland had “the talent and ability to run its own affairs”, it would be financially calamitous, since so much economic power rested outside Scotland. He said its best option was to fight for overall reforms of the UK economy and constitution.
He even in addressing Scotland who voted to Remain he claimed that
“Brexit provides us with the chance [to] fix a rigged system that doesn’t work for the majority of people. It is pointless to repatriate powers and resources from so-called faceless bureaucrats in Brussels if they are locked away in Downing Street,” .which sounds like he wanted to pass powers from the EU directly to Scotland (though I wonder what he would so for Wales). But at the moment Independence looks far more likely that Corbyn ousting the Tories in the next General Election and the Tories may well bei n power for a Generation.
So his contention
“Labour’s mission in the 20th century was to redistribute wealth and reduce inequality. Our mission in the 21st century must build on that by also redistributing power, wealth and opportunity to every part of our regions and nations.”
looks like wishful thinking.
There were signs of a split between Dugdale and Corbyn over the scale of that constitutional reform when earlier this month he failed to endorse her calls for a new “Act of Union” – a reference to the 1707 statute which merged the Scottish and English parliaments at Westminster.
Corbyn brushed off a question on whether they were at odds and insisted it was a difference of language. They both agreed that Labour would set up a UK-wide “people’s convention” to investigate constitutional reform.
“If you’re looking to report some fight between Kez and me, you better look somewhere else. You won’t find one here this morning,”Well your not going to disagree on a shared platform , but nothing I have sen in Corbyn career has convinced me that Corbyn was an enthusiast for devolution,
Indeed if you can be Apolitical then I would describe Corbyn as Adevolutionsonary (have created a new word?)
There is much in Corbyn I admire but in turning his guns on the SNP over the Independence question whilst using a peashooter on the Tories over Brexit , he seems to be one of those on the Left who use to tell me
"I'm not a Nation list , I'm a Internationalist"
And those on the left who think leaving the "Capitalist" EU, is part of the "Road to British Socialism" rather than the Tories turning the UK into a low tax , low income, and no NHS nations that they seemed to have planned.
I hope I'm wrong but I wonder is there anybody on the left of the Labour Party who is prepared to consider admitting the Union is doomed and think of a new approach,
2 comments:
I hope you are right in saying that the Union is doomed. You are certainly right about Corbyn, who is a massive disappointment to me. I want to see an independent Scotland, and believe it can become a better place by that route.o
My fear is that this dreadful right wing UK government will first try to suppress the independence movement with lies, threats, propaganda and all the apparatus of the state, and if that fails I believe they are prepared to suppress it by force unless the international community warns them off.
Remember Ireland. This is the same kind of government as the ones that caused the violence, deaths and tragedies of the fight for Irish independence by their stupidity, greed, arrogance and pig headedness.
Nothing would surprise from this Tory government.
They'd do the same to Wales if resistance flickers there. Totalitarian governments cannot and will not countenance even criticism, never mind opposition.
I really hope I'm wrong, and will continue to work for peaceful Scottish independence, but I do not trust the UK state at all.
This is very disappointing for all of us on the left who have admired Jeremy Corbyn down the years. On key issues - the miners strike, irish reunification, the iraq war, trident, workers rights and many other issues you could always trust jezza to be on the right side of the argument.
Sadly however jezza seems to suffer from that affliction which affects others on the british left - an odd attachment to unity of the british state.
Furthermore ive always found it odd that people like jeremy understand the national aspirations of irish republicans in the 6 counties and their desire to see the british state out of the island of ireland but seem to have little understanding of the same national aspirations of people in scotland and wales.
I think it's fair to say that this ill informed and frankly terrible speech will hasten the end of the labour party as we know it in scotland.
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