Regardless of which way you intend to vote in the Scottish referendum later this month, for the ‘Scottish’ Labour Party to release Gordon Brown’s ’12-Point Plan for Scotland’ on the 9th September is disgraceful to true democracy given how many people have already cast their votes via post. The current Scottish Government (Scottish National Party) released their vision for an independent Scotland back in November 2013, giving a full ten months for the electorate to educate themselves on what the current lead party in Scotland would be offering in the event of a Yes vote if re-elected, with other information coming from the Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party. Obviously the Yes vote is far more than just the White Paper versus whatever the three main UK parties (ignoring UKIP’s success of late) propose, but for the sake of comparison, the White Paper and the 12-Point Plan are night and day apart in terms of concrete plans. And yet now Scottish Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats ‘are set to support a timetable set out by Gordon Brown’ – note that Brown is currently a backbencher under the Con-Dem coalition.
Brown has promised the Scottish electorate that work will begin ‘immediately’ after a No vote, with a timetable to be released on the 19th September (the day after the referendum) that ‘will set out the terms of the agreement’, a ‘Command Paper’, due in October (a month after the referendum), and a ‘New Scotland Act’ to be drafted in January 2015. All of these are just promises as opposed to the concrete vision offered by the SNP in their White Paper. But from a No perspective, if the Labour, Lid Dem and Tory parties truly are backing this timetable and plan then why didn’t they release it ahead of the postal ballots being sent out? Previously the three parties have been giving promises of different powers being devolved to Scotland is the electorate vote No with Labour suggesting the ability to vary tax by 15p and the Lib Dems stating that the Scottish Parliament should have powers over capital gains tax, income tax and inheritance tax. Angus Robertson, the SNP Leader in Westminster, noting that postal votes have already been issued, described the timetable and plan as an “eleventh hour” offer with ‘”no detail on any new powers’
Remember, these promises are coming now, and not when the ‘More Powers Guaranteed’ photos and press coverage took place. Many people have already voted through postal ballots. To now release what the Labour party surely believe to be another ‘game changer’ after they have voted is pretty disgraceful to democracy. Labour and Gordon Brown must believe that this timetable and that these promises will swing voters back to the No side (noting the new polls giving Yes a majority at 51%). The Scottish Government had initially been keen for a two question ballot paper – offering independence from the UK or ‘Devo Max’ (though exactly what Devo Max means seems to be ever changing). However this second option was not followed through, with many pro-unionists keen to avoid being forced into stating precisely which powers would be granted if the Devo Max option won a majority.
It’s worth reading the ‘A List of Nothing’ article published on the Wings Over Scotland website on 9th September, which examines whether any of these 12 points are actually new and not just being repeated from the Labour Party’s devolution proposals back in March of this year. For those that do vote No in the polling booths on 18th September, they will have to cross their fingers that the future Westminster governments actually do deliver on these promises, whatever they may turn out to be, and on a unified platform as no government can bind their successor to carrying out their current plans. In the interests of democracy, this press release has come too late for the Scottish electorate.
inthegardenofedin 