Off the Table — at Your Peril

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197

This week, our new ‘listening’ Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, took both Scottish independence and Irish reunification “off the table”.

Why?

I can only assume that a border poll in Northern Ireland, granted under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, would make Westminster’s refusal to allow Scotland another referendum increasingly difficult to defend — both domestically and internationally.

But there is something else about this that should alarm everyone living in the United Kingdom.

A Prime Minister hiding behind the hope that he can avoid something happening is not a legitimate position to take.

It’s cowardly.

If Westminster genuinely believes Scottish independence and Irish reunification are never going to happen, then fine. Talk about them. Explain why not. Make a political argument against both.

But if there is even a possibility that either could become a reality, simply declaring them ‘off the table’ doesn’t make that reality disappear.

Governments are supposed to prepare for difficult things they hope never happen.

The recent announcement by the U.K. government telling people to stock up on food and water in preparation for extreme weather, cyber attacks or war is just one example.

For Scots, we have endured decades of being warned that Scottish independence would be incredibly complicated. That it would involve difficult negotiations over debt, assets, borders, defence, pensions, trade and countless other things.

The more disruptive Westminster believes independence would be, the more important that preparation becomes.

You cannot argue that something would represent an unprecedented upheaval and, at the same time, refuse to prepare for it because you hope it never happens.

The fire brigade doesn’t refuse to plan for a fire because it hopes nobody sets the building alight.

And the British Government shouldn’t refuse to plan for the break-up of the Union simply because it hopes to prevent it.

I’m not suggesting there is no plan. There may well be one.

But there is remarkably little evidence of a publicly articulated, comprehensive plan for what happens to the rest of the UK if Scotland and Northern Ireland leaves.

Taking independence ‘off the table’ is not a plan. It is simply kicking the can down the road and hoping somebody else has to deal with it.

And this should alarm supporters of the Union just as much as supporters of Scottish independence and Irish reunification.

Because this could be another British Government disaster waiting to happen — and, let’s be honest, there have been plenty of those this century already. 

If Scottish independence and/or a united Ireland eventually happens, Westminster may discover that spending decades hoping the Union survives was never much of a contingency plan.

So, Mr Burnham, face up to your responsibilities as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Or continue to take those responsibilities off the table at the British Establishment’s peril.

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3 thoughts on “Off the Table — at Your Peril”

  1. An Edinburgh Labour MP, Dr Scott Arthur , has a video on his Facebook page (added on the 17 July) of Andy Burnham supposedly “doing politics differently”.

    In the video we see and hear Andy Burnham, who is sitting in a chair outside , taking questions from the public as part of his ‘UK‘ listening tour.

    Guess where Burnham is ?

    Well one would have thought that since Dr Scott Arthur was a Labour MP from Scotland that he would then at least have been able to show a video of Andy Burnham sitting in a chair outside somewhere within Scotland on his ‘UK‘ listening tour.

    But no.

    This video of Andy Burnham that Dr Scott Arthur showed on his Facebook page, with Burnham sitting in a chair outside as part of his ‘UK‘ listening tour, was in the middle of Cardiff, in Wales.

    Burnham said “So here I am in the middle of Cardiff for an in-person ask me anything”

    Why did Dr Scott Arthur not upload a video on his Facebook page of Burnham somewhere within Scotland for an “in-person ask me anything” session ?

    Well that’s because apparently Burnham did not come to Scotland on his ‘UK‘ listening tour.

    He went to England, Wales and NI but not Scotland.

    So that was why Dr Scott Arthur could not add a video of Burnham in Scotland during Burnham’s so called August ‘UK‘ listening tour ( an August ‘UK‘ listening tour that has now ended).

    In fact Burnham was indeed in Scotland, prior to his August ‘UK‘ listening tour, as on July 23 he attended the Commonwealth games opening ceremony in Glasgow , and he did have a (brief) meeting with the FM, but that was really only to tell the Scottish FM that “independence is off limits” (at least that’s what the media here said happened).

    However in his fleeting visit there was no (time for a) video of him, Burnham, taking Q’s from Glaswegians while sitting in a chair outside somewhere in the middle of Glasgow.

    Burnham left the next day, 24 July, and he then went to Manchester. (his old stomping ground that is still, it seems, very dear to his heart, so much so that he put his second English No 10 there outwith London, as in the second one wrongly referred to as No 10 North).

    I mean on the 17 July Dr Arthur added this video of Burnham in Cardiff with the comments “Doing politics differently” but then the fact Burnham was in Cardiff and not anywhere in Scotland clearly shows that as far as Burnham is concerned, well he is actually “Doing politics” in exactly the same way as all previous UK PM’s have done, that is as far as Scotland is concerned.

    Where it is a case of once again a UK PM chooses to #IgnoreScotland.

    (That’s because they prefer to dictate to Scotland and so then tell us what they think we need and want, as opposed to them ever wanting to ‘listen’ to us and so then establishing what it is that we really need and really want and also BTW what we do not need nor want, such as Nuclear power Stations, Trident and also even more lies and broken promises from yet another UK PM).

    I do not think that Dr Arthur, one of the Edinburgh Labour MP’s elected in 2024, adding this onto his Facebook page is the big plus, as in positive, for Labour that he thinks it is.

    It just begs (screams) the Q why was it not a video of Burnham sitting in the middle of a city somewhere in Scotland ?

    Answer being obvious in that he , Burnham, did not come here as part of his ‘UK‘ listening tour.

    Duh to Dr Scott Arthur !

    Liz S

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  2. Some points that are missing from the fall-out from the latest outpouring of Burnhamism with regard to the ‘other three nations’ are these, not in any order of importance, and no doubt TuS readers will have others.

    1. The poor quality of persons who have become Prime Minister, with some examples clearly mediocre, I offer the names Johnson and Truss as examples.
    2. These Prime Ministers have what might be termed a ‘lack of intellectual ability’ problem. We can see this because if they had any coherent response or position regarding the three separate but linked ‘Independence Questions’, they would have produced this and silenced all three of us.
    3. It would appear that the latest colonial sahib has not educated himself on the terms of 2 Treaties, the Treaty of Union, and the Good Friday Agreement.

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