Articles by Jill Stephenson

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, if at times a depressing one. It enables me to see now that one man has been responsible for the dire state that Scotland is in. His name is David Cameron. As British Prime Minister, he played a strong hand as if he were on the defensive, and has consigned us to Neverendumland. He did much the same over Brexit, but that’s another story.

Cameron took the SNP’s electoral win in 2011 at face value and did not consider its detail and ramifications. Indeed, the SNP won a majority of seats, a result which the – now widely disparaged – D’Hondt system had lumbered us with. But this ‘landslide victory’, as Alex Salmond the showman characterised it, was less than it seemed. It amounted to a win of 45 per cent of the votes on a turnout of 50 per cent. That is, 22.5 per cent of those entitled to vote supported the SNP. Further, only a mere half of eligible Scottish voters could be bothered to turn out to vote in an election for their own parliament, about whose creation there had been so much song and dance in the 1990s. The other half demonstrated their lack of interest with their feet.

Time was when people could disagree about politics and remain civil. Taking a different view was a matter of opinion, not of moral superiority. Certainly, there were some politicians who cast moral aspersions (in Scotland, Labour against Tories), but public personal insults were not the norm. The referendum of 2014 changed all that. 

The tone was set by Nicola Sturgeon, whose idea of debate was to shout down opponents such as Johann Lamont and Alistair Carmichael. This was done on TV, with the ‘moderator’, Rona from STV, doing nothing to restrain her. No wonder some of us called it ‘Salmond TV’ at the time. I mention this because I am in no doubt that the deterioration of public discourse has been the result of SNP politicians deliberately giving a nod and a wink to their followers. 

I hate Nationalism. The damage it wrought in Europe in the twentieth century should have inoculated us all against it, but, once again, it has raised its ugly head. In Scotland, it has become a virulent force and made many converts in the last ten years. 

I do not hate Scottish Nationalists on principle. Those who want Scotland to leave the UK are entitled to their opinion, and I respect those who say that that is what they want, no matter the consequences. If they would accept living at a singularly lower standard of living than we currently enjoy – which is what would happen – in order to leave the UK, then that is their choice. 

Commentary by Jill Stephenson

First a couple of definitions.

‘We’ are the good, solid people of Scotland who voted to remain in the UK in 2014. 

‘We’ were relieved, rather than triumphalist, about having won the referendum. 

‘We’ didn’t rub the losers’ noses in it but tried to appease them. 

‘We’ sat back and let the UK government make concessions to the side that had lost. 

‘We’ believed Salmond and Sturgeon when they repeatedly told us that the referendum was a ‘once in a generation’, ‘once in a lifetime’ event.