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Do the Tories want independence?

Boris Johnson, self styled minister for the union now has to fight Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and a more significantly, England and his own party in order to preserve the UK.

By Axel P KulitPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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A recent opinion poll showed that nearly half the population of England and a majority of Tory and Labour voters want England to be independent and that the other nations of the United Kingdom should stand on their own two feet.

Squaring the Circle

This raises the delightful prospect of pro union English ministers having to stand up and argue that England does not subsidise the remaining nations of the UK and needs Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in order to survive while at the same time pro union politicians in the devolved nations argue that Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are too small and poor to be able to survive without the broad shoulders of and subsidies from the United Kingdom, by which they mean England.

Squaring this circle should be child’s play for Johnson who can better the Red Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass by not just believing ten impossible things before breakfast but ten impossible mutually contradictory things before breakfast. His statements that there is no border between England and Scotland and that a blatant grab of powers from Holyrood is an extension of devolution may just be a warm up in his creation of Boris Johnson as the one who saved the union by destroying it.

Brexit is Driving Independence

It seemed likely, in the long lost and relatively idyllic days of Theresa May, the robot politician in a skirt, that Brexit would result in independence coming unexpectedly, that Scotland’s perceived intransigence would lead to England ejecting Scotland from the Union while pretending they were graciously bestowing independence on the tartan dwarves and ginger krankies north of the border Johnson claimed does not exist.

Never Interrupt Your Enemy While They Are Making A Mistake.

Nicola Sturgeon has followed this rule perfectly since Johnson was elected and especially throughout the coronavirus crisis. Neither England nor Scotland are doing particularly well globally in terms of cases and deaths per million of population Scotland, like the other devolved nations, is doing much better than England, is seen, on the world stage, to be doing better and the First Minister is scrupulous about not using the crisis to promote the cause of Independence. She has no need to do do. Johnson and the Tories are doing it for her and only need encouragement to do what they want to do anyway.

There Will Be A No Deal Brexit

It is possible the disintegration of the United Kingdom is now irreversible but the one thing that might delay it, the cancellation of Brexit is politically impossible. Johnson has to deliver a no-deal Brexit in order to survive politically. If he fails to do this UKIP or the Brexit party will again rear its ugly head and pose an existential threat to the Tory party. The recent national decline in support for Brexit can be dismissed as mid term discontent reversible with a few headlines in the Sun.

Do the Tories Want Scotland?

Perhaps Johnson and the rest of the Parliamentary Brexiteers want Scotland at least to leave the United Kingdom and even total English Independence but do not want to take the blame, not yet being convinced that the continuance of the Tory government depends on the end of the United Kingdom and that the end of the UK will mean almost certain permanent Tory rule.

Today a near majority of Englanders, citizens of the nation that fought tooth and nail to establish the United Kingdom and subjugate Wales and Ireland want England to leave the UK and become independent.

Could this be the English straw that breaks the Union Camel’s back. If Johnson and the Tories becomes convinced keeping the UK together would lose home power or worse mean the Tory Party becoming at best a rump like the Liberal Democrats, the Mainstream Media would be instructed, if they have not been so instructed already, to promote Scottish Independence and, if the government does not use its Henry VIII powers to break the union, the next referendum will be guided to maximise the chance of a YES vote.

Paving the Way for the End of the UK

Before England could divest itself of the other nations however the Tories would have to separate from the Unionist party, a party that supported the union between England and (Northern) Ireland and stop pretending that support for that union is tied inextricably to support for the United Kingdom. This would mean that Scotlands Unionists would be told that it is possible to support Scottish independence and the union with (Northern) Ireland. The Tories would then stop being the Conservative and UNionisT party and simply become the CONservative party.

Once that happens, and in a time of pandemic anything can happen, and Johnson may stand up to say that he has always supported Scottish Independence, recognises the will of the Scottish people and has entered into negotiations with Holyrood on the abolition of the Act of Union. Wales may be a harder nut to crack as Welsh independence would leave the status of the Prince of Wales unclear.

Brexit was only the first step. Independence is coming and Johnson is driving it.

politics
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Axel P Kulit

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