Facilitate The Rise

We all know what Tony Blair's biggest mistake was, and it was not Scottish devolution, for all the faults of that. Neither main party in Scotland believes in devolution. They believe in diametrically opposed alternatives to it, and they are both more or less committed to making the best of it while it is there. But neither of them really believes in it.

That differentiates Scotland from Northern Ireland, where the DUP has always believed in a Stormont, just not in either of the ones that have ever existed. But it is worth repeating, because it is as important as it is remarkable. Neither main party in Scotland really believes in devolution at all, while the Labour Party in Scotland has also always been fairly ambivalent, and what remains of it now divides between adherents of the Nationalist and the hardline Unionist positions.

Tell me another country with five million people, or thereabouts, that has anything like Scotland's levels of Covid-19. Tell me another European country that is ruled by a married diarchy, one the chief executive of the state, and the other the chief executive of the massively dominant governing party. Yes, George Galloway can be difficult. But someone has to provide a meaningful Opposition. The Alliance for Unity will have a list in every region, and it will deserve support.