With the campaign to defeat independence not due to be launched formally until next Monday, the independence campaign could have used this time to its advantage.
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It’s roughly a month since Alex Salmond launched the Yes to Independence campaign in Edinburgh, with a pledge that a million Scots would sign a pledge supporting the efforts to see Scotland an independent nation.
With the campaign to defeat independence not due to be launched formally until next Monday, Salmond et al should have had free reign over the past four weeks to build that treasured possession in politics, namely momentum.
Instead, we have witnessed what could possibly be the start of a new omnishambles with the campaign lurching from one problem to another, with splits across the movement.
Firstly, just days after the campaign launch, Yes Scotland was forced to make changes to its website, after it emerged that those who were merely following the campaign’s twitter feed were being listed as full blown supporters.
Then, following Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s assertions that Scotland would have a guaranteed voice around the Bank of England table as part of their plans to retain sterling, the Treasury made quite clear that this was a no-no, explaining in a statement:
“Scotland using the pound through a sterlingisation mechanism… would have no say over its own monetary policy as set by the Bank of England.”
This was followed soon after by the sight and sound of Scottish Green co-convenor Patrick Harvie deciding to withdraw his party from the formal Yes campaign in protest at how dominated it had all become by the first minister to the determinant of other voices.
Yesterday came the news that, and I kid you not, on the advice of someone called Claire Howell, a psychology consultant who is apparently a long-standing adviser to the SNP, Alex Salmond has urged his MSPs to stop using the term “independence” and instead speak of an “independent Scotland”, which is apparently more appealing to the voters.
• Salmond at Leveson: Was that it? 14 Jun 2012
• “Yes Scotland” campaign in chaos as fears spread of an SNP hijack 11 Jun 2012
• Ed Miliband: The future of the UK is ‘too important’ to be decided only by Scotland 7 Jun 2012
And today comes the bizarre news that the SNP MP Angus Robertson, Campaign Director of “Yes Scotland”, has used an interview with the German magazine Weiner Zeitung to claim that he is not in fact a nationalist.
Asked whether the Queen would remain head of state over an independent Scotland, he argued:
“Yes, I think so, in the context of the Commonwealth. I believe that our overall relationship with England would be a better one: Scots are open and friendly people, we are cosmopolitans – the German translation of my party’s name makes me angry: we aren’t nationalists.”
And the results of all this? One look at the Times this morning will make grim reading for the nationalists, with polling results compiled by Ipsos Mori for the paper showing (£) that 35% said they would support independence, down 4% since January when the very same question was asked. Those favouring the status quo stood at 55%, 5% up during the same period.
What is more, although 53% of respondents said that they were still “satisfied” with the first minister, this remains 5% down from January with the level of dissatisfaction with the job Mr Salmond is doing having risen from 36% to 40% now. Whilst the Yes campaign has sought to dismiss the findings as just one of many which have shown different things, they will be acutely aware of Scottish Labour’s assertion that the more the people of Scotland hear about independence the less they like it.
As Mark Diffley, Research Director at Ipsos MORI. has said:
“This poll reinforces the task ahead for the ‘Yes’ to independence campaign. Despite a high profile launch of their campaign, the public appears unconvinced as yet and support for independence has fallen. The difficulty faced by the campaign is reinforced by the fall in the personal approval rating for the first minister.
“He remains Scotland’s most prominent politician and well liked party leader but his rating has now fallen below what we saw in the immediate aftermath of last year’s election victory and returned to the levels we were recording in 2010.”
29 Responses to “Salmond’s independence campaign lurches from one problem to another”
Wallace1297
Get this thru your thick English skull!, it’s a Scottish referendum, not English or any of the other’s associated with the four nations of Britain!
It seems to me you follow this rags every word, it’s BS, the truth is Scotland does support the view of Independence because the Scots have had enough of the English parliament riding roughshod over us and labour rags like this are not going to make one bit of difference, considering the BS they spout is pure labour/Unionist propaganda
Away and have your wee vote, indeed raise an epetition, have an independent England, you’l feel better for it but stop thinking Scots will not vote for Independence!, it is not a call of Braveheart!, it is a natural progression, and the Scots do want their Freedom back!
Gerard
You are not representative of the majority of Scots. I am Scottish and will vote ‘NO’ and I have yet to speak to even a handful of people who will vote the other way.
Your intemperate comment seems to show the frustration you feel at seeing your regressive dream dying. Also it is just a little more of that ‘progressive’ mask slipping down to show the true face of nationalism.
I suggest you crawl back under the negative rock you wriggled free from and leave those of us who believe in co-operation to get on with making all the nations of the UK fairer and more progressive places to live without the shadow of xenophobia hanging over us.
Solidarity NOT Separation.
Gerard
If those were the options then hardly anyone would vote. Most people in Scotland believe Devolution is the best way forward for the country.
I believe devolution would also benefit England but it’s not up to anyone but the English to deliver devolution (whether for England or by regions of England).
Frankly
It should be borne in mind that Angus Robertson is a German Scot, formerly employed by Austrian Radio, and was interviewed in German within a German-language cultural context. Within that context there is a particular need for a distinction to be drawn between nationalism as understood in the German-speaking world and civic nationalism as it is understood in Scotland. Mr Robertson is highly qualified to do draw that distinction.
The Scottish National Party is entitled to make the point that it is an inclusive party which does not believe in ethnic nationalism and is essentially in fact what is known in some languages as ‘independentist’ or ‘sovereignist’. All that has happened here is that Mr Robertson has legitimately sought to clear up misunderstandings which the looser term ‘nationalist’ can
sometimes give rise to, not least in other languages and in other cultures.
The anglo-media, on the other hand, can be relied upon, as usual, to traduce rather than to clarify. Taking perfectly reasonable statements out of context and distorting them is becoming representative of the nature of the anglo-unionist campaign and is already disreputably representative of the media in England, of course, which are not what they once were, as we should all be acutely aware by now.
There is nothing new in independentists expressing the view that the very loose and widely misconstrued term ‘nationalist’, which has numerous connotations and denotations, is not one which on its own can be entirely relied upon in all circumstances to convey adequately the essential nature of their political convictions. As Mr Robertson makes clear, Scottish independentists, unlike many British nationalists, are cosmopolitan rather than insular and pro-European rather than anti-European.
Incidentally, Wiener Zeitung (not “Weiner Zeitung”), is not, as its name makes clear, a “German magazine” but is an Austrian newspaper published in Vienna. The ‘Anschluss’ didn’t take! Not unlike the anglo-union in a way.
For a more balanced and better-informed account of the pro-independence side of things:
http://rueclementmarot.blogspot.co.uk/
To read the Walter Hämmerle article entitled We Are No Nationalists in the Wiener Zeitung of June 4th:
http://tinyurl.com/c2qnl3n
Frankly
What do you know about reality?