For Scots it is normal to be governed by people they didn’t vote for…
THE TORIES
…Namely, to be governed by the Conservative and Unionist Party – with their enduring lack of popularity in Scotland counting for little in the UK system. The rare, speedy, secretive, nature of ministerial visits north of the border (almost always to a military base) have a flavour of the colonial and are blinking neon signs that the democratic system not working.
This broken democracy has had a seriously damaging effect on generations of Scots as their country and communities, have been held back by an out-of-touch government with very different priorities.
“I’m 42 years old. 29 years of my life have been ruled by a government that I didn’t vote for, my family didn’t vote for. My country didn’t vote for it.” – Susie McCabe
Margaret Thatcher declared “I am an English nationalist — and never you forget it!” and she thanked Scots for the oil billions by ravaging Scottish society. John Major diverted ‘assisted areas’ money from the Highlands to the southeast of England for votes.
David Cameron began the deadly austerity cuts and held the disastrous Brexit referendum, we didn’t want. Theresa May ignored calls for a bespoke Scottish EU deal and, perhaps, wrongly, apprehensive about the Scottish media’s reaction, nervously rejected the referendum Scots voted for – ‘just until the deal with the EU was completed so Scots can see what the choice is between’.
Boris Johnson argued that government spending should go to London rather than Scotland, on the principle of ‘effectiveness’. He invented a new position and (despite his own unpopularity in Scotland) made himself ‘Minister for the Union‘. Liz Truss said she’d ‘ignore‘ the Scottish FM, only lasted 49 days – yet still managed to tank the economy. Rishi Sunak continues the story of ignoring election results in Scotland.
Regardless of how determinedly Scots vote against them, it’s the Conservative & Unionist Party who are most often in charge of the Scottish economy – with predictable underperformance results. This priorities mismatch is highly problematic, even before considering the nature of a party involved – caught out, repeatedly, favouring friendly (Tory voting) areas over, poorer, Labour voting areas of England.
Scots might well wonder how that instinct has translated, over the years, to a whole country that has been voting solidly against them since the 1950s.
The continuing success of the SNP (and worry about the future of the Union) has seen the Tory UK government establish a presence in Edinburgh in an attempt to address the problem of distance and disconnect. ‘To remind Scots they have two governments’. The problem is, they only voted for one of them.
How it works in the UK: Millionaire Tory donor, Malcolm Offord failed in his efforts to get elected as an MP. His party simply made him a Lord in the biggest unelected chamber outside of Authoritarian China
