Shooting yourself in the face

[andrewducker]

Apparently David Cameron is being advised to take control of the Scottish situation by preempting the Scottish government holding a referendum and announcing it themselves.

Right now I feel pretty much neutral about Scottish Independence. I can see positives and negatives.

But if a Westminster government starts trying to manipulate what happens because of the election up here, I'm going to be voting in favour of it, and so will an awful lot of other people. Because it's exactly that kind of behaviour which has a fair chunk of the population wanting independence in the first place.

Comments

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

OK, so David Cameron might be about to do something that would piss a whole load of people in Scotland off so badly they'd vote for independence?

And, as mentioned elsewhere, if Scotland goes independent the UK is basically one-party in perpetuity, and that party's the Tories?

So David Cameron, whilst making lots of noises about "I want the UK to remain intact", is doing stuff that looks very likely to encourage independence?

I mean, I know "never assume malice where stupidity could be the cause", but doesn't that sound a bit like he's, y'know, manipulating the situation?

[andrewducker]

As David Cameron has worked in PR for so long that he's effectively unreadable, I have _no_ idea.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

I'm working on a "follow the money" principle with Cameron at the moment. He seems to have more to gain from an independant Scotland than to lose, so I assume he's for it, and whatever he says is designed to achieve the end he's looking for.

Horrible thought - maybe that explains the whole AV malarky too. As another commenter said, if Scotland goes, the rest of the UK either has to embrace a PR system or be a one-party state. So when's the ideal time for the Tories to have a referendum on whether to change the voting system? Just before they become the One Party. Should give them 20 years in power.

[andrewducker]

Labour will kick themselves a _lot_ if that happens.