I said yesterday that I wanted a Liberal Democrat to come out and passionately call Alex Salmond out for suggesting that the case against independence was the case against Scotland. To recap, this is what he said in a Scotland Tonight interview on Tuesday:
..let’s see if we can get the pressure on to make sure we pull the Prime Minister into the ring and then let’s see if he can articulate a case against Scotland because I’ll certainly be articulating the case for Scotland.
And that Liberal Democrat calling him out? Step forward Alistair Carmichael who described his remarks as ludicrous and offensive and called on the First Minister to withdraw the comments. He said:
Alex Salmond’s given the game away with this narrow and cheap remark. It seems even Alex Salmond is prepared to label someone anti-Scottish if they question his independence plans. This nationalist witch-hunt is made all the more nonsensical given the fact that remaining part of the UK offers Scotland the best of both worlds.
This is the negative campaign from the nationalists which says that anyone who questions their plans is fundamentally against Scotland. If they are the kind of battle lines Alex Salmond wants to draw he may very well find even more people turning their backs on his campaign.
It is ludicrous and offensive to suggest that those of us who believe Scotland is better off as part of the UK are making the case against Scotland. The First Minister should withdraw his comments.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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4 Comments
I can’t help noticing that pretty much every Scottish member of the Lib Dems seems to be supportive of policies which are about correcting people’s harmful decisions for them, whether it be about alcohol pricing, cigarettes, page 3, supermarkets suppliers or whatever (my recent comment asking for a single example of where the Scottish Lib Dems favoured moving powers currently with the state back to individuals or businesses got no response).
If you have zero confidence in the people around you to make the right choices to look after themselves then it is not suprising you don’t think they could run their own country as well as pretty much any other nation in Europe, but is it so inaccurate to characterise such views as being ant-Scottish?
It is quite clear that the discussion is about where decisions affecting the people of Scotland are made. Yes Scotland are making the case for decisions affecting the people of Scotland being made in Scotland. It is for the Westminster-led no campaign to make the case for London (and therefore the case against Scotland) being the location of that decision making and for Westminster, where only 4% of the legislators are elected by the people of Scotland, making these decisions rather than a Scottish parliament 100% elected by the people of Scotland.
It is a measure of the lack of arguments that the pro-Trident no campaign can muster that they have to resort to taking such comments out of context to generate faux rage. Perhaps panic is now setting in with the most recent panelbase poll now showing that they have frittered away their lead and that Yes are now ahead 44% to 43% with a little more than a year to go.
The first minister also paid tribute this week to some of the past achievements of Liberal Democrats in government in Scotland such as the abolition of full time HE and FE tuition fees and free personal care for the elderly. He pointed out that these show that the best decisions for Scotland are made in Scotland. It is a sad state of affairs that the party’s own leaders seem embarrassed to even talk about these achievements, leaving the first minister to trumpet them in their place.
Lib Dem UK Business secretary Vince Cable also added his voice to the case for Scottish independence this week telling Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee that there is “no reason a well run Scotland should not do relatively well.”
Absolute rubbish. You may as well say that the people of the Highlands or borderlands ought to declare their independence from Scotland then rather than have their decisions taken by a parliament where they only make a minority of the representatives dominated by the Lowlands.
We are stronger together, not balkanised apart. Plenty of good decisions are made in England, Wales and NI and Scotland is stronger and better from the input of such fine countries.
@ Al McIntosh
You’re really clutching at straws about Salmond’s comments. There has been a nasty thread of nationalism from the SNP, accusing anyone against Scottish independence of being anti-Scottish. Alex Salmond’s comments show that this attitude is sadly well and trluy alive in the pro-independence camp.
Likewise, you’re clutching at straws with Vince Cable’s comment about an indepdendent Scotland “doing relatively well”. You might like to read some of the other things he’s said on the matter, about the massive cost it would add to Scottish taxpayers. There are plenty of small countries around the world, they all manage perfectly well being independent – no-one is doubting that. But the bigger countries have much more political and economic clout in the world. Going alone, Scotland would put at risk a lot – control over currency, its place in the EU, credit rating…