The Tories are treating the Scottish people like mugs, and many are falling for it.
Before the General Election was even called we highlighted the fact that the Tories were trying to make the council elections all about independence.
They are doing so even though it is hard to conceive of any rational reason you would vote for a local council member based on that issue. Yet every Tory local council election flier mentions independence as the top priority? Perhaps the Tories sense that people want Union Jack livery on their wheelie bins or their pot-holes filled in with English Breakfast tea?
Support AUTONOMYSCOTLAND for FREE by doing your Amazon shopping through the links on our site (bookmark it!). Or DONATE via paypal.
The Tories are playing the same game in this snap General Election despite the fact that May told everyone what the election was for when she called it.
The current General Election was called so that the Tories can get a bigger majority in order to railroad the type of Brexit they want. A Brexit a firm majority in Scotland didn’t want at all. Anyone with even a minuscule knowledge of politics, understands that General Election results in Scotland have little bearing on any decision made at Westminster. They have even less bearing on the independence issue.
As we pointed out last week there is a precedent for holding an independence referendum. The mandate for indyref2 comes from the Scottish Parliament as it did in 2011. Nothing that happens in this election will change that. The amount of pro-independence MPs at Westminster doesn’t matter. There were only six SNP MPs when the last referendum was agreed upon and regardless of what happens in June, there will be a lot more than six next time.
Yet the Tories can’t stop talking about independence. Just look at this flier.
It mentions the SNP 19 times which is more than it mentions their own party. It mentions opposing a referendum 7 times. While it encourages the SNP to get on with the day job in Holyrood, it doesn’t mention one Tory policy at Westminster. Do I really need to remind anyone that this is a Westminster election and has nothing to do with Holyrood? Westminster elections are the ones in which you are meant to elect a candidate to represent your constituency at Westminster. You know that all-powerful parliament in London from where the Tories have ruled over us for the last 7 years.
Independence on the brain.
Now, there are perfectly legitimate if ultimately grotesque reasons to vote Tory in this election.
For instance you may actually think that their policies are great. You may think voting Tory is the best way to make the most out of the Brexit situation. However, voting for them to send some message about Scottish independence is the height of stupidity. It is a policy that can only work on a population that is completely ignorant about the purpose of Westminster elections and the precedent that was set arranging the first indyref. In short the Tory election strategy in Scotland is reliant on the electorate being reactionary and ill-informed.
What should be on a General Election flyer created by a sitting government is a reminder of the great things they have achieved while in government.
The reason they are not sending you this info is because they are trying to distract you from their record by making the election about something it clearly isn’t.
Here are a few reminders of what would be on the flier if the Tories weren’t treating us like idiots.
- How about the 20 Tory MPs including 2 cabinet ministers that are currently being investigated by police for election fraud?
- The Benefits Cap.
- The Bedroom Tax.
- Cuts to Legal Aid.
- National Debt of over £1,849,203,000,000.
- The Junior Doctor Dispute.
- Excluding under 21’s from Housing Benefit.
- Massive increase in child poverty.
- Excluding under 25’s from the Living Wage.
- The reintroduction of Grammar Schools.
- Cuts to Disability Benefits.
- Changing the pension age for women.
- Thousands of people dying after being declared fit for work.
- The Rape Clause.
- Pushing through a hard damaging Brexit
Now you might think these policies and a whole lot more we could mention are brilliant.
In which case you don’t have a soul but you do have a perfectly good reason to vote Tory in this election. However, if you don’t like these, and think some other party has better policies, but are just voting Tory because you think your vote will influence the independence debate, then you need to take a good look at yourself.
The reason the Tories are banging on about independence is because they can’t win by fighting on policies in Scotland. They are instead using a divisive emotive issue to distract people from their dire record in Government. It’s a condescending tactic that treats the electorate like fools. Don’t be a mug. Vote on the actual issues as regardless of how much the Tories bang on about it, a Westminster election has nothing to do with Scottish independence.
Brexit is the key issue here. The Tories told you that themselves. Don’t be as daft as they hope you are by losing sight of that fact.
You can help keep the site going by DONATING via paypal.
Support AUTONOMYSCOTLAND for FREE by doing your Amazon shopping through this link (bookmark it!).
You can also help by sharing the blogs and joining our newsletter.
RSS – Posts
The Tories are also trying to attract anti-EU SNP voters, which are usually anti-globalization voters with a poor grasp of what globalization is and how it works. I read people today describing London city bankers leaving the country as a silver lining. I told them: “And I suppose those cities in Europe are falling over themselves to attract the business because the extra tax income is a bad thing? It will lower UK tax revenue at both the company level and the level of income of the highly paid investment bankers who were never working at the level of ‘ripping… Read more »
Great comment. I generally don’t get the pro-indy-Brexiteers. I understand that the EU isn’t ideal but I don’t understand why you would think being outside of it but within a Tory dominated UK would be better. Also, as a majority of Scots actually voted to be in the EU there is a contradiction saying you are pro-indy at the same time as threatening to take action that would keep Scotland out of the EU.