Referendums and Ulster Unionists

One hates to be overly partisan, yet cannot help but be utterly baffled by the 'running scared' rhetoric which the SNP utilised against the Unionist parties in Scotland, before apparently running scared from their own independence referendum bill.

The subtext to this accusation is that Nationalists understood, however unlikely it seemed to the rest of us, that Unionists believed they may lose in such a referendum. With the SNP poised to lose the vote on their Referendum Bill, however, did they not 'run scared' from introducing it to the Scottish Parliament? Was utter confidence in the persuasiveness of their position not the bar which the SNP set for the other parties?

Perhaps now Nicola Sturgeon et al will acknowledge that politics is a tactical game, where it is frankly odd to accuse a party of operating at a tactical disadvantage. In this case, I do not believe that is what the Scottish Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties were attempting - but that is, quite evidently, what the SNP have now done. The embarrassment here is not simply that they did not introduce a referendum bill - it would be a foolish waste of time, resources and party morale if they did not stand a chance of winning - but rather that the party hierarchy lacked the foresight and perspective to see this, and foolishly pledged repeatedly to introduce the bill.

A learning-curve in terms of political tactics, certainly, but one which will not go down well with the fundamentalist wing of their grassroots support. But there is an underlying issue here: the SNP cannot and should not expect the pro-Union parties to further their ambitions without first making a Unionist case for an independence referendum. Whilst this humble correspondent rejects the idea that such a case can be made, the SNP should not be excused by Nationalists for their failure to try.

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To keep up a thin facade of balance in this article, I feel obliged to also put the boot into the Unionist cause somewhat. To this end, I draw attention to Mr Tom Elliott MLA - the new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who was elected on the 23rd of September with virtually no-one on the mainland noticing.

I had already heard it noted that Mr Elliott was a regressive step to the old community-based Unionism of the past, a market already saturated by the DUP, but nothing could prepare me for just how utterly boring and uninspiring this man is.

Elsewhere: UUP on life support as party goes down traditional route - from the Irish Independent.