It’s Christmas Eve, so the compliments of the season to you all.
The UK and the EU have a Brexit deal and, no doubt, we will see how this works out over the decades ahead. However, disappointingly, but rather in confirmation of our suspicions the Scottish Government have rushed through something called the UK withdrawal from the European Union Scotland bill. If I’ve got the name wrong sorry, but I don’t really care as, (in a crowded field) this is the most pathetic piece of legislation passed in many years. It seems that, after producing very little constructively to the Brexit debate (all 4 and a half years of it), and, more importantly having failed to produce a single idea of what Scotland might be able to do better outside the E.U. the Scottish Government have now decided that, irrespective of the issue, any legislation coming from the E.U. will be better than that originated in the U.K.
This not only demonstrates an uncanny ability to predict the future on every issue, it also confirms our suspicion that the Scottish Government have nothing to say on the key challenges that the country faces – namely how does this country compete in a changing world economy? It seems that they have given up and decided, as someone else said, to be simply a rule taker, with a devotion to, and an uncritical view of, the E.U. that simply defies belief.
It must surely occur to reasonable people that Scotland has underperformed in recent years – the West side of the country continues to struggle. We need ideas, we need economic change, and I want to hear from the Scottish government soon. If they want a free start they could have a think about shipping construction (beyond mucking up the construction of two ferries), making a better fist of the service aspects of the wind industry (they’ve missed the opportunity on construction), and shorter and secure supply chains in our key industries. Ideas on high street regeneration and proper land reform would also be helpful.
We live in hope.
Make Scotland Better 