CommonSpace columnist Fraser Stewart says Scottish Labour can't have it both ways when it comes to which union Scotland continues to be a part of
AND SO, at long last, Scottish Labour has come out of hiding and presented us with its post-Brexit plan for Scotland.
It wasn’t actually terrible – but it wasn’t very good either.
Of these plans, the call to bring forward infrastructure spending was perhaps most practical. Others lacked a basic grasp of constitutional reality, as ambitious as they undoubtedly were.
Needless to say, Scottish Labour has adopted quite an obviously untenable constitutional position.
Plans to guarantee the residence of EU nationals who live, work and study in Scotland is, as well Labour knows, at the behest of the UK Government: calls to guarantee workers’ rights likewise. Yet the Labour hierarchy remains as vehemently dedicated to the United Kingdom as ever.
Needless to say, Scottish Labour has adopted quite an obviously untenable constitutional position. It wants a Scotland committed to the United Kingdom, but also committed to the European Union that the United Kingdom is no longer committed to. Got it?
If its failing during the last Holyrood election was a lack of clarity on the union, its lack of any ounce of realism on Scotland in Europe will see it vanish into the abyss before we get anywhere near another election.
As appealing as the idea may be to some, Scotland simply cannot remain a part of Europe within the United Kingdom. Of all interested parties required to approve such a setup, there are few likely to agree – least of all the UK Government.
To think that Theresa May would allow for two separate immigration policies, or endorse Scotland joining the single market with unfettered access (and hence reaping the benefits thereof), is the stuff of diplomatic fairytales. Scotland in Europe is categorically not in the UK’s best interests.
It wants a Scotland committed to the United Kingdom, but also committed to the European Union that the United Kingdom is no longer committed to. Got it?
But Scottish Labour knows this. It knows that we cannot realistically guarantee workers’ rights, because those rights are fundamentally out of our control, and that, so long as we are part of the UK, they always will be. A systemically exploitative city-centric government is unlikely ever to want its hand forced by a Scotland with fairer employment legislation.
Likewise, as much as we all unquestionably would like to, we cannot guarantee residence of EU nationals, because it is again outwith our legal remit. It will never be within our legal remit, because a separate immigration policy in Scotland would undermine the UK Government’s ability to meet its own wildly prejudiced targets.
Such is the reality of the situation we find ourselves in. We can discuss balance and options and reversing Greenland until we realise that these are unrealistic at the very heart, all things considered. There is no middle ground.
But alas, this is not a conundrum or unsolvable equation. In fact, Scotland has two very clear options: accept that this is our lot, that a morally desolate and increasingly callous Westminster is as good as we can get, or pull the trigger on #indyref2.
As appealing as the idea may be to some, Scotland simply cannot remain a part of Europe within the United Kingdom.
Anyone paying attention can see which of these two roads we are travelling down, and indeed anyone listening to voters can hear historic tenets of Scottish unionism eroding.
Which begs the question: why does Scottish Labour remain so dedicated to a United Kingdom it knows cannot deliver the stipulations set forth in its post-Brexit plan? Even on the astronomical off-chance that Scotland was to remain both in Europe and the UK, does Scottish Labour genuinely believe that this would not simply serve as a fast track to independence anyway?
Part of me wants to attribute this dallying to grievance politics: ask for the moon and stars and then hammer the nats when they don’t deliver. Another part of me thinks that Labour simply doesn’t know what it is, now more than ever in a Scotland framed by not one but two constitutional debates.
If the Tories are the party of the union, the SNP the party of independence, and all parties supportive of Europe, where does that leave Scottish Labour? The party of ALL unions? The party of togetherness and international group hugs?Or is it simply a party afraid of change, clinging desperately to a status quo in which it was once important, but that no longer exists?
Whatever the case, Scottish Labour must move on and come to terms with the reality of the situation we now find ourselves in. It’s time to pick a side – Scotland in Europe, or Scotland as part of the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately, you can’t have both.
Picture courtesy of Paul
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