Trying to figure out WTF is going on The problem is that there is no party which is even trying to "convince people" on the constitutional issue because they are all solely focused on getting elected. (I discount New Scotland Party as it is not yet in a position to stand candidates in 2026.) Convincing people on the constitutional issue requires three things: (a) A full and honest account of Scotland's current situation. (b) A positive and plausible story about what Scotland might be if liberated. (c) A clear and credible plan to achieve liberation. For nearly thirteen years, the nominally pro-independence parties - mainly the SNP - have been obsessively focused on (b). Only lately has there been any effort to address (a). That effort has fallen very far short of full and honest. None of the nominally pro-independence parties has even attempted (c). Although they often claim to have a plan - and manage to convince the gullible - none of those claims is at all credible. After the sham referendum of 2014, there should have been a rigorous review of the whole approach to the constitutional issue and a reframing of that issue. The matter required a much more assertive mindset which would have informed a campaign which seized the momentum the independence movement had in 2015 and built on that in the lead-up to a proper constitutional referendum in 2018. Instead, more than a decade has been wasted by those responsible for guiding a campaign to restore Scotland's independence. The only silver lining to this dark cloud of squandered opportunity is that while the politicians and parties took to using 'independence' as nothing more than an electioneering device, elsewhere in the independence movement people were doing the serious work of developing nationalist thinking on the constitutional issue. I refer to people such as Sara Salyers and Professor Alf Baird and more recently, Professor Robert Black. There is now a large and growing part of the independence movement which has developed a fresh perspective on the constitutional issue and the campaign to restore Scotland's independence. The politicians and parties have not kept pace with this new thinking. Some ignored it. Some actively sought to suppress it. The result is that we have an independence movement which lacks the essential party-political and parliamentary arm. While people continue to squabble about which party is best and/or which voting strategy will be effective, they fail to see that as things stand, none of those parties is a credible 'party of independence'. To vote for any combination of the parties which are pro-independence in name only is to vote for another five lost years for Scotland's cause. The way the electoral system works and the way the electorate behaves within that system, means that getting a new and genuine party of liberation into a position where it could force a chance of approach (such as New Scotland Party) is not an option. It is not impossible to do so. But success is far too improbable to rely on. The only option, therefore, is to put pressure on all the nominally pro-independence parties such as to force them to embrace the approach to the constitutional issue known as #ScottishUDI and adopt the Manifesto for Independence which commits those parties to specified action within the first year of the new parliament. In an attempt to have the independence movement combine in sufficient numbers to scare the politicians, the Manifesto for Independence Petition was launched. But the largest part of the independence movement that is left after many walked away in despair continues to obsess about the electoral fortunes of their favoured party or the popularity of their favourite 'cunning plan' to elect parties on the basis of their empty electioneering rhetoric about independence. The Manifesto for Independence Petition has not taken off as we hoped it would. Not because it is 'wrong', but because it is new. It requires that people regard the constitutional issue in an unaccustomed way. The only hope for Scotland's cause is in the hands of the independence movement. But just as was the case with the 2021 election, most are just not interested. Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy Peter A Bell, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe.
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Sunday, 8 June 2025
The problem stated
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