Nobody voted for Theresa May to become prime minister, yet she has unilaterally issued an edict that she will refuse to grant the Scottish Parliament the power that it requires to hold an independence referendum.
Scotland did not vote for Brexit – 62% voted Remain, as did a majority in every single local authority area. In 2015 only a single Scottish constituency elected an MP standing on a platform to hold a referendum on EU membership. Despite this we are headed for the hardest of hard Brexits. That is not democracy.
Regardless of the views of the Scottish people, or the Scottish Parliament, the prime minister is ensuring that we will not be given the choice of getting off the bus before they drive it off the Brexit cliff.
This will mean that our businesses will face tariffs, £200million for the oil and gas supply chain alone according to RGU’s Oil and Gas Institute. Our universities face losing vital research funding and the 300,000 EU nationals who have chosen to make Scotland their home may lose their right to live here.
The Fraser of Allander institute predicts that 80,000 jobs will be lost and our economy will be poorer to the tune of £8billion a year by 2030 in the event of a hard Brexit.
I understand that many people who voted No in 2014 do not wish there to be another vote. It is not a position I share, but it is undoubtedly a legitimate position to hold. What I struggle to grasp is the argument that the SNP has no mandate to hold a referendum.
The manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections specifically mentioned these circumstances as a trigger for a referendum. That was endorsed with the highest number of constituency votes any party has received in Holyrood elections.
There is a majority of MSPs in Holyrood that support a referendum. If that is not a mandate, I do not know what is. And what about a mandate to block a referendum? The Tories stood in 2016 on a platform opposing a referendum. They won the support of 22% of voters.
The Scottish secretary has said he has no interest in comparing mandates. That is because he does not have one.
Above all, what this makes clear beyond all reasonable doubt is that the pretence this is a Scotland in a “partnership of equals” is nothing but empty rhetoric.
Finally, just imagine if Brussels had blocked the UK from holding the referendum on EU membership? The fact it didn’t, the fact it couldn’t, shows in the starkest way possible the difference between Scotland’s ‘two Unions’.
