Tuesday 10 June 2014

Darling: Vote NO and we'll decide what you really want.

If you want proof of the dishonesty of the Better Together campaign then it comes from Alistair Darling's speech yesterday.

He said
"And now with just 100 campaigning days left, the Nationalists are running out of arguments - and they are running out of time.
"So I suspect in the remaining weeks they will give up on the evidence and simply go for the emotion.
"That is where we, the quiet but resolute majority, each have a crucial role to play.
"Together in the days ahead we must, and we will, meet and match them in emotion as surely we have mastered them on the evidence."
The Labour MP also stressed that "with 100 days to go, the terms of trade have changed" as a result of the proposals from the pro-Union parties to hand more powers to Holyrood.
"It is now clear that a No vote will bring more powers to Scotland within the UK," he said. "Now all three of the Scottish parties backing a No vote have put forward broadly similar proposals for further powers."
While he said there is "much that divides us on other issues", he argued that when it came to the constitution, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are "all now pretty much on the same page".
Mr Darling pledged: "I want to use these 100 days not to see Scotland divided further but to bring together most of us in this nation around a common vision of Scotland leading the United Kingdom after September 18, not Scotland leaving the United Kingdom.
"I want to use these 100 days to plan for Scotland's positive, possibility-rich future as part of the United Kingdom and with the substantially enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament which all three parties have committed to.
"It is a vision that the overwhelming majority of us want.

Now I support Scottish Independence but I am also a Democrat  and except there are a number of different views in Scotland 

They may include


  • Independence
  • DevoMax
  • The Status Quo
  • Powers transferred back to Westminster
  • The abolition of the Scottish Parliament.


But according to Darling at Better Together.  If you vote NO you will be deemed to be in favour of some form of  DevoMax even if you wish for something else.

If Darling and Cameron, wanted this then they should have put it on the ballot paper.

The argument that if you vote No to a proposal you are deemed to have voted for something else to be decided by those leading the NO campaign   is ridiculous.

It may well be the preference of the majority of Scots including some who intend to vote Yes but that's not on the ballot paper.

It is a sign that the Yes campaign is winning the argument that Better Together make such a promise of more powers of more powers to Holyrood.

But of course its a vague promise.  There's no real blueprint for DevoMax so even if you want this as a preference and intend to vote NO you are voting in the dark.

Indeed whilst Independence is something that is a major step it is at least clear what wil happen voting NO leaves  no trsal indication of what will happen.

Indeed this must be the first referendum when people voting against a proposal have no idea what will happen if they win.

Ther's nothing on paper that guarantees and spells out what powers would go to Holyrood after a NO vote and it may be that this would depend on the strength of the YES vote.

It is to be noted that BBC 2 News yesterday afternoon covered much of the salient points of Darling's speech live abandoning all pretence of impartiality.

They did the same in February where Cameron held his staged "We would be deeply diminished without Scotland,"  to an n audience in the "London velodrome used for the 2012 to a hand picked audience.

I am not aware of the YES campaign having their events covered in such a way.






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