Wendy Alexander’s sudden change of heart on the issue of a referendum on Scottish independence is likely to be a cunning attempt to hijack the referendum in order to pose a frightening question to the Scottish people. Realising that Labour is losing the argument in Scotland, Alexander is attempting to portray the SNP as sluggish in its referendum plans. I imagine that most people in Scotland will see through yet another flimsy attempt to shore up the rotting Act of Union. The phrasing of the referendum question is crucial; the Labour Party and other Unionists must not be allowed to portray the cause of independence as a nationalist or ethnic issue.
The argument advanced by Unionists against independence are beginning to sound worryingly like the arguments used by the British government to secure Dominion status within the British Empire for the Irish Free State, or indeed the arguments used to justify punitive action against the Highlands in 1746; the protection of commerce and trade. With any luck, such arguments are now wearing thin with the Scottish people.
