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The Scottish Conservative (and Unionist) party has enjoyed something of resurgence in recent years under the energetic leadership of Ruth Davidson.
The party’s opponents are convinced that Boris Johnson as prime minister could put an end to all that – and could even put an end to the union between Scotland the rest of the UK.
It’s true that Mr Johnson could hardly be more different from the down to earth, plain speaking and Remain-voting Ms Davidson. The two are not friends and have vehemently disagreed before.
Some observers like to speculate that Boris will appear to Scottish voters to be the very epitome of the upper-class English ruling caste that Scots so dislike. But policy may well prove to be more important than personality.
Mr Johnson appeared to have a weak grasp of the dynamics of devolution when he proposed tax changes that take no account of the fact that income tax rates in Scotland are set by the Scottish Parliament.
But since then he has promised Scottish Tory MPs he will set up a “union unit” inside No 10 to check every policy. If he knows what he doesn’t know, then maybe he can avoid these gaffes as PM.
It’s Brexit that may be his undoing, in so many ways. In Remain-voting Scotland, his problem is that the idea of a no deal Brexit is far less palatable than it is in the rest of the UK. The harder the Brexit Boris delivers, the more the Tory party in Scotland could suffer.
If Prime Minister Johnson [he will officially take on the role this Wednesday] pursues a Brexit policy at odds with what most voters in Scotland would like to see, then it’s possible they may change their minds about whether remaining part of the UK is in their best interests. Some recent polling evidence suggests as many as 60% of voters could vote “yes” to independence if we leave the EU with no deal.
In the end it may not be the precise details of any Brexit deal that stokes desire for independence – or indeed the character of any individual politician – but a sense that Scotland has different aspirations from the rest of the UK, which can’t be reconciled within the current union.
If Mr Johnson wants to keep the kingdom united, he will need to take care not fan those flames.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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Be careful what you wish for.
Fastest-growing UK terror threat ‘from far-right’
The fastest-growing terror threat in the UK comes from far-right extremism, police have said.
Neil Basu, the UK head of counter-terrorism, said seven of the 22 plots foiled since March 2017 have been linked to the ideology.
He said far-right terrorism had gone from 6% of the caseload two years ago to 10% today, adding: “It’s small but it’s my fastest-growing problem.”
But, he said, the biggest threat still came from jihadists.
Mr Basu, Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, said some of the right-wing plots they disrupted were “designed to kill people” – and methods mimicked those seen in jihadist attacks, with some even using Islamic State materials.
Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Mr Basu said about 10% of around 800 live terror investigations were linked to right-wing extremism.
Children as young as 14 have been involved in extremist activity, the briefing was told.
He also said the government’s terrorism-prevention programme, Prevent, which aims to stop people being radicalised, has seen referrals nearly doubling since 2015/16 to 18%.
“Despite the increases, right-wing terrorism remains a relatively small percentage of our overall demand, but when nearly a third of the plots foiled by police and security services since 2017 relate to right-wing ideology, it lays bare why we are taking this so seriously,” he said.
“As a proportion of our overall threat it’s definitely increasing, whereas the Islamist threat is staying the same, albeit at a very high level.”
Mr Basu added young people and those with mental health issues were particularly vulnerable to becoming radicalised.
Image copyright Thames Valley Police Image caption White supremacist Vincent Fuller, 50, was jailed for more than 18 years last week
Last week white supremacist Vincent Fuller, 50, was jailed for 18 years and nine months for stabbing 19-year-old Bulgarian Dimitar Mihaylov in what a judge called a “terrorist act”.Three other right-wing activists are due to be sentenced in London and Leeds on Friday.
But Mr Basu said police “can’t arrest ourselves out of this problem” and called on the public to come forward if they fear a friend or family member is becoming radicalised.
“I have been called ridiculously idealistic, but I believe more than ever that evil triumphs when good people do nothing,” he said.
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Teen neo-Nazis jailed over terror offences
Asked whether the police’s approach to right-wing threats has changed in recent years, he said: “I would say that some of the criticism that we did not look at white supremacist, right-wing violence as terrorism in the past is probably justified.”He said investigations into the banned group National Action “have broken that organisation”.
National Action was proscribed in 2016, becoming the first neo-Nazi group to be outlawed under terrorism legislation.
The briefing was also told the threat comes from a “spectrum” of right-wing ideologies.
They range from far-right groups that are anti-immigration and anti-Islam and so-called white nationalists through to neo-Nazi white supremacists, such as National Action and its spin-offs, System Resistance Network and Sonnenkrieg Division.
Since last year the Security Service MI5 has been working closely with counter-terrorism police to tackle the threat.
Interesting that you’ve attached that to the Brexit thread, Brydo. And also that the article makes clear the biggest threat is from jihadists. Are you trying to associate the far right threat with Brexit?
Surely not Brydo ?
The UK is a Sovereign State, as is France, Ireland, Spain, Germany etc.
The phrase no deal brexit, or clean break, has to be something of a misnomer as we are intrinsically tied to the EU, there simply cannot be a ‘right we are off – we will sort this out once we are free’ situation, that is not how the world works any more – thankfully.
The deal that is on the table is stacked in the EU’s favour, of course it is – the UK negotiating team were taken to the cleaners, or wanted it this way so it would not be passed by Government. Either way a slight tinkering of this deal is the best that can be achieved prior to 31st October, or 31st January 2020, delete as applicable.
There is no masterplan and despite himself thinking so Bo Jo is not a white knight riding in to save the day and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, sadly he is just a cad and a bounder.
I agree that 40 years of entanglement will take time to remedy, but politically there is no soft option left. The Withdrawal agreement, which the EU see as a Treaty and have signed, is not acceptable to the Eurosceptic MPs of whatever party, nor to the Brexit Party. Attitudes have hardened as a result of the behaviour of Brussels and it’s unlikely Johnson will be able to sell it to Parliament, if he tries. And then a GE will see a further polarisation, being fought on the issue of Independence (Brexit if you like).
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/every-remain-voting-constituency-with-a-pro-brexit-mp-509736
Every Remain-voting constituency with a pro-Brexit MP
Quite a few Tories could lose their seat at the next election, some are in the ERG, interesting times.
Th potential loss of £39b will focus minds sharply, particularly as the eurozone is basically bankrupt. Unfortunately many of our MP’s who believe their, probably, flawed, ideologically views and opinions are right have made negotiating a deal far more difficult. I agree with Wigwan, re the post at 1.37am.
So, fwipperie, wigwam what should BJ do about the three months extension?
And 4 labour seats Brydo. Cons are going to have to think carefully how they deal with the Brexit party, assuming we haven’t left without a deal before the GE.
Fwipperie, I think for Brussels now it’s about saving face and pushing the blame for a potentially no deal Brexit onto the UK . And of course persisting with the WA Treaty as the only deal available to discourage the other members from considering leaving.
We are intrinsically tied to the EU? Why do you believe that, wmcforum?
Look up the origin of the word intrinsic and it’s antonym extrinsic. wmc uses the right word in the right context.
We should put aside history in the context of this debate and deal with the situation we are in as of today Friday September 20th 2019. We have been a member of the Common Market and then the EU for the last forty four years in which time we have become constitutionally embedded within it’s structure. We have become arterially connected within it’s legal, trade and demographic framework. Leaving such a body requires major delicate surgery, not just a few weeks of threats and bluster.
Interesting piece by John Redwood:
BY JOHN REDWOOD
I did not expect so many MPs to devote a whole Parliament to trying to thwart the referendum result. They are infuriating Leave voters, letting down the many voters that voted Conservative or Labour on the understanding those parties were pledged to get us out on time, and bringing Parliament into conflict with the public.
Why do they do this? Few of them ever dared make a positive case for our membership of the EU all the time we were in it. During the referendum the Remain campaign was almost entirely negative, concentrating on what they thought would go wrong if we left. When challenged about the EU they often accepted Eurosceptic criticisms of it, and said they wanted to reform it, and it was not perfect. When we asked why they had not been able to reform it over the last 40 years there was often a painful silence.
There are several possible explanations of what has made them behave as they do. Some clearly had a hidden passion for the EU and like its drive to political, economic and monetary union. They had worked out the UK voters were never going to vote for that, so settled for getting there by stealth, more slowly than the committed pro EU and pro Euro countries on the continent. Some clearly believed the silly false forecasts of Project Fear, and decided to stay in an imperfect institution, seeking to limit its power over us and taking advantage of what they saw as a good set of trade arrangements. Ironically this latter group held a particularly pessimistic view of the EU, claiming it would make the UK pay for daring to leave and inventing all sorts of ways the EU might try to damage our trade with them, at a larger cost in damage to their trade with us. They ignored the fact that we successfully trade with the rest of the world mainly on WTO terms and could do the same for the EU if we have to when we leave. Some claimed to believe the current EU is just the common market we were told we were joining in the 1970s, choosing to forget all the subsequent treaties, directives and court judgements that have so expanded EU power over us.
The main advocates of Remain in the Commons now wish to distort our constitution and use any means they can find to stop us leaving. Most of them claim to want delay rather than cancellation of Brexit, but fail to tell us how we could get a better deal through delay. We have after all had two delays so far, with an EU still saying it will not use a delay to renegotiate. The Prime Minister is trying to get them to see if they do not offer a better deal we will just leave. The Remain forces undermine him at every turn, helping prevent a better offer coming from the EU. The hard core now admit they just want to revoke our Article 50 letter of resignation from the EU. The Lib Dems say they could live with a second referendum but would want to ignore it if it reaffirmed the first!
The Remain MPs now unite to stop voters having their say in a General Election, presumably out of fear that voters would give the majority to parties that do want to implement the referendum. Worse still they want to drag the courts into Parliament’s proceedings. They cannot be serious to suggest that the UK’s exit or delay to exit from the EU could fall to be decided by a few Judges. After the referendum, after a General election which swept the board for parties advocating Brexit, how could they think the right answer is to lean on judges to get them to deny voters our wishes and to undermine our decision.
So you think BJ will resign wigwam, would you be OK with him breaking the law?
I would not be Ok with anyone breaking the law, especially anyone in high office , but unfortunately they do it all the time. If Johnson doesn’t deliver on his promise, I think he will stand down.
I’m glad to hear that wigwam.
I doubt he will stand aside by his own volition. He has wanted to be PM, by all accounts, most of his political life so I can’t see him going easily.
unless he realises he is not up to the job.
Brydo, remember he was elected by the Conservative membership on a promise of leading the country out of the EU one way or the other on the 31st October. No matter what his ambition, I can’t see him wanting to defend his position if he fails.
If a deal is agreed soon it can only be Mrs May’s deal minus the backstop. Obviously it will include some sort of backstop, but not using that word.
Farage is clear this is not a deal he can accept so an early GE will be interesting with the Brexit party up against the Tories.
Interesting to hear the queen got involved in the Scottish independence vote.
Brexit Party up against the Tories? Maybe not.
A deal is close I can feel it
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