I voted NO to Scottish independence and I am angry

I voted NO to Scottish independence.

My side won - but I am angry

WHY  

For many reasons - most of them residing in England - in Westminster

The YES side so so nearly won. Latterly - It seemed it could have gone either way

Initially it was unthinkable, but as time went on and Salmond orchestrated a brilliant and terrifying YES campaign, it became obvious to all in Scotland that things were changing

Yet – the parties in Westminster either didn’t know or didn’t care.

Neither did the people of England

Even a family member of mine in England was reported as saying “Well who cares” when the subject of Scotland becoming independent was raised.

I know now how the people in The Falklands felt before Maggie Thatcher decided to come to their aid.

To live in part of The UK and to be afraid that your little corner of it may soon be separated from the rest is a horrible feeling. To realise that the rest of the country doesn’t really care about you is devastating.

Some English people took the line – well let them decide their own destiny.

Fair enough one might say. However what they did not realise was that we were being made to decide by a campaign of lies, bribes and intimidation.

Those with a certain level of education and experience could be immune from that. But a very large proportion of Scots are from disadvantaged areas where unemployment and poverty are rife and poor education is now the norm. They were ripe for the big con trick which was the SNP propaganda.

They were held in a form of hypnotic trance by Salmond, in which they moaned at not being given the facts, and yet when given the facts by independent experts, believed Salmond’s constant refrain – “it’s only  scaremongering”.

So here below is why I am angry – with all politicians and their games;-

First – the setting up of the referendum

Cameron did not pay attention - perhaps because he thought he couldn’t lose. It was apparently not put before parliament properly in any way, just pushed through by a nod and a wink.

Why did he more or less force Salmond to hold it?

And

WHY was it arranged that a mere 51% of the vote could break up our country – The United Kingdom.

Surely something as momentous as that should have required at least 75% of the vote.

Why did he allow Salmond to choose the question on the ballot paper in such a way that his campaign was the YES campaign?

Clever Mr Salmond understood the value of a positive YES campaign. Mr Cameron was perhaps either clueless or didn’t care.

Second – the NO Campaign in Scotland – The Better Together Campaign

They were not up to scratch.

Westminster did not help them in the way they needed it.

Labour is the party that should have fought off Salmond in Scotland.  Scotland is /was the Labour heartland in the UK. But Labour was in disarray after their defeat in the UK elections. The two big beasts Blair and Brown (both Scottish) were disgraced. Only the C team was left in Scotland to campaign against the biggest beast and most able politician of all – Salmond.

Their name Better Together became a parody, as all the different parties it comprised disagreed with each other and with Westminster.

The day was saved by the big beast Gordon Brown thundering back last minute and giving the best speech of his career in which he casually mentioned that – by the way – Westminster was going to definitely – cross your heart and hope to die – definitely going to give much more power to Scotland and it would be done by Burns Night (January).

Did he check this out first with Westminster one wonders, or was it part of a cunning Gordon Brown plan?

But – the day was saved. The NO campaign won – just

I personally feel as if I have been on death row and have been given a last minute stay of execution.

Now

Just one day later

The B…….ds are at it again.

Cameron now has a cunning plan of his own.

Cameron has announced that the extra powers for Scotland will be given by Burns Night, but that at the same time, extra power must be given to England in the form of denying Scottish MPs the right to vote in England on English matters

Fair enough you might say – this will at last address The West Lothian Question.

But it is a very clever plan because it will destroy Labour in England just as the Conservatives have been destroyed in Scotland.

The majority of Labour MPs are in Scotland and the majority or Conservative MPs are in England.

If Milliband can’t rely on the votes of his Scottish MPs he will not be able to get through much legislation

So Milliband and his Westminster Labour Party are now fighting this as hard as they can.

If they succeed in blocking it, then Sturgeon – the next fish in line in the SNP party, now that Salmond has swum away into deep waters – will announce that the referendum was invalid and demand that Westminster holds another one – and it might go the other way next time.

It is hard to see how this game can play out.

I feel so angry with all of them – as I think does the whole country.

We are all fed up with lying politicians and their petty games for power.

There is a part of me that wonders whether Cameron, all along, has been playing the ultimate game of games. He knew years ago that, if Scotland became independent, his party would have power for ever after in England. What a tempting thought for him to have! Do I believe all his protestations of love for Scotland? I am not sure.

Salmond convinced those who voted yes, that they would have change. That instead of the Westminster Parliament in London they would have the Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh.

What made anyone think that swapping one lot of politician for another would improve anything?

 Ah – they would argue but at least Holyrood is in Scotland.

Well it feels just as far away and foreign to someone in the Highlands, in Orkney or Shetland as London feels to people in the Central belt.

Those in Glasgow should have known better having witnessed their own Glasgow council recently exposed as being a cesspit of corruption, far worse than anything found at Westminster. And as for Edinburgh Council – well the debacle over the trams tells its own story.

Yes- I would put all politicians in room 101

Pronounced Westminster in English

Pronounced Westminster in Scottish

Who cares?