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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/14/the-guardian-view-on-the-snps-protests-signs-of-weakness-and-strength
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| The Guardian view on the SNP’s protests: signs of weakness and strength | The Guardian view on the SNP’s protests: signs of weakness and strength |
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| Scotland was short-changed in this week’s Commons debates on changes to the EU withdrawal bill. Because of the way the timetable for debate operated, less than 20 minutes of the 12 hours set aside for the bill was devoted to the devolution impact in Scotland and Wales. MPs from all sides were angry about that, and rightly so. On Wednesday, the SNP’s Commons leader, Ian Blackford, duly got himself thrown out of the chamber for his protests, taking all the SNP MPs with him, triggering some much-needed good headlines and a surge of new members for his party. On Thursday Mr Blackford promised more parliamentary guerrilla tactics. | Scotland was short-changed in this week’s Commons debates on changes to the EU withdrawal bill. Because of the way the timetable for debate operated, less than 20 minutes of the 12 hours set aside for the bill was devoted to the devolution impact in Scotland and Wales. MPs from all sides were angry about that, and rightly so. On Wednesday, the SNP’s Commons leader, Ian Blackford, duly got himself thrown out of the chamber for his protests, taking all the SNP MPs with him, triggering some much-needed good headlines and a surge of new members for his party. On Thursday Mr Blackford promised more parliamentary guerrilla tactics. |
| There is a big hinterland to this week’s row. Almost no part of it is anything like as black and white as the issue of the absurdly short time allowed for the parliamentary debate, on which Mr Blackford was right to protest. The SNP walkout – a tactic straight out of the 19th-century Irish home rule party playbook on Westminster obstruction – was a bit of a stunt. It has given Mr Blackford and his MPs some visibility they have lacked over the past year. But there are serious issues in Scottish politics that cannot be dismissed as gestures. | There is a big hinterland to this week’s row. Almost no part of it is anything like as black and white as the issue of the absurdly short time allowed for the parliamentary debate, on which Mr Blackford was right to protest. The SNP walkout – a tactic straight out of the 19th-century Irish home rule party playbook on Westminster obstruction – was a bit of a stunt. It has given Mr Blackford and his MPs some visibility they have lacked over the past year. But there are serious issues in Scottish politics that cannot be dismissed as gestures. |
| The UK voted narrowly for Brexit, while Scotland voted emphatically against it. The SNP’s initial hope was that this disjunction would boost support for independence. Things have not turned out that way. Though support for independence remains at roughly 45% and backing for the SNP as Scotland’s main governing party is still strong, Scottish opinion has been reluctant to use Brexit as a reason for a new independence vote. A recent Scottish social attitudes survey revealed one possible explanation: three out of five Scots are in some way Eurosceptic rather than Europhile. Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon’s standing has fallen to its lowest level since she became first minister. Her most important task at present is to persuade more Scots that she has other domestic policy priorities beyond independence. | The UK voted narrowly for Brexit, while Scotland voted emphatically against it. The SNP’s initial hope was that this disjunction would boost support for independence. Things have not turned out that way. Though support for independence remains at roughly 45% and backing for the SNP as Scotland’s main governing party is still strong, Scottish opinion has been reluctant to use Brexit as a reason for a new independence vote. A recent Scottish social attitudes survey revealed one possible explanation: three out of five Scots are in some way Eurosceptic rather than Europhile. Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon’s standing has fallen to its lowest level since she became first minister. Her most important task at present is to persuade more Scots that she has other domestic policy priorities beyond independence. |
| SNP leaders are under pressure from activists to have a second poll. In recent months they have switched their focus from opposing Brexit to opposing the UK’s handling of the return of EU powers to the devolved governments. UK ministers protest that 129 of 153 returning powers are being passed straight back to the Holyrood institutions, with the other 24 temporarily retained and no decision-making power removed from Scotland. Wales, moreover, has agreed to this arrangement. | SNP leaders are under pressure from activists to have a second poll. In recent months they have switched their focus from opposing Brexit to opposing the UK’s handling of the return of EU powers to the devolved governments. UK ministers protest that 129 of 153 returning powers are being passed straight back to the Holyrood institutions, with the other 24 temporarily retained and no decision-making power removed from Scotland. Wales, moreover, has agreed to this arrangement. |
| But the SNP has had success in casting this as a Westminster “power grab”. It has enlisted the support of all the main Scottish parties at Holyrood bar Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives. This week’s Commons walkout is part of that campaign too, as was Thursday’s effort by Mr Blackford to allege that UK ministers have “shafted” the so-called Sewel convention on whether Westminster can legislate on devolved matters. That issue will now be debated – for three hours – in the Commons on Monday. | But the SNP has had success in casting this as a Westminster “power grab”. It has enlisted the support of all the main Scottish parties at Holyrood bar Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives. This week’s Commons walkout is part of that campaign too, as was Thursday’s effort by Mr Blackford to allege that UK ministers have “shafted” the so-called Sewel convention on whether Westminster can legislate on devolved matters. That issue will now be debated – for three hours – in the Commons on Monday. |
| The most striking feature of Scottish politics at present remains the resilience of the SNP in the face of serious political difficulties. At its recent conference in Aberdeen, the SNP was divided over the conservative fiscal policy in its recent growth commission report, while support for independence is stalled and Ms Sturgeon has lost some lustre, especially compared with Ms Davidson. But voters clearly think the nationalists still speak more credibly for Scotland than any of the alternatives. Considering that the SNP has been in power for 11 years, its continuing ascendancy is a remarkable achievement. | The most striking feature of Scottish politics at present remains the resilience of the SNP in the face of serious political difficulties. At its recent conference in Aberdeen, the SNP was divided over the conservative fiscal policy in its recent growth commission report, while support for independence is stalled and Ms Sturgeon has lost some lustre, especially compared with Ms Davidson. But voters clearly think the nationalists still speak more credibly for Scotland than any of the alternatives. Considering that the SNP has been in power for 11 years, its continuing ascendancy is a remarkable achievement. |
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