The stench of panic is rolling out of Downing Street as the lazy British Prime Minster David Cameron has finally woken up to the fact that he may be about to preside over the break up of the United Kingdom, undoing centuries of political gain in one swift moment of casual political stupidity. It is typical of his miserable attitude to the whole campaign that he started the final week with the cheap gimmick of flying the Scottish flag over Downing Street, which can fool no-one north of the border.
Cameron finally headed to Scotland to support his lackluster pro-union ‘No’ campaign and to try and reverse the gains made by the much more committed and dynamic pro-independence ‘Yes’ campaign. The Conservatives have been deeply complicit in running a negative campaign that sought to threaten the Scots to vote to stay with the Union, without campaigning on the solid virtues of the UK and glorying in the diversity that combined to make Britain the liberal and dynamic nation that it has been for more than 400 years.
But there is still a week for Britain’s serious politicians to make an effective case and show up Scottish Nationalist leader Alex Salmond for the empty showman that he is. It is essential that the pro-union camp stops basing their efforts on threats. They need to rethink their efforts and speak to the shared British patriotism that all citizens of the UK can cherish.
No one in Scotland can like being treated like children, such as when former UK chancellors imply that the Scots are too stupid to understand the full implications of the debate over the currency and national debt, but add that the simple point is an independent Scotland certainly cannot use the pound sterling. Or when English politicians make empty threats about a future independent Scotland being expelled from the European Union. Such arrogance is typical of Westminster politicians and the English regions suffer from it as much as the Scots. But it would be a tragedy if the Scots’ fury at Cameron and his arrogance leads them to end the United Kingdom, rather than reforming it.
