No democracy for Scotland in English decisions – Christine Grahame

There’s being old fashioned, and there is sometimes nothing wrong with that, but Brexit has exposed how completely Westminster is a historic relic, not only the building but the UK parliamentary system itself crumbling.

What have we experienced in the last decade? Under Labour a free-for- all of the unregulated banks has left us propping up the likes of the Royal Bank of Scotland which has thanked us by closing branches right left and centre. It has led to over ten years of austerity where those with low incomes, on pensions or on benefits are sometimes choosing between heating or eating and led to the only growth area I see: the food bank.

To compound this financial and political mismanagement, benefits are being cut and folk with serious long-term disabilities are being put through assessment hoops by private companies to see if they “deserve” their benefit, to keep their mobility vehicle. Did you know that 60 per cent of appeals in this area are successful? Tells you something about those “assessments”.

Add to that now the fiasco of the referendum three years ago and three years on we are invited to be spectators to a beauty parade of wannabe leaders of the Tory party as some 100,000 members choose for us the next Prime Minister. How many now? At the time of writing, 11. Indeed the Scottish National Party has more members than the Conservatives have for the whole of the UK and at least Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership was put to the voters in the Scottish Parliament elections.

Then add to that mix the recent EU vote, where the political border between Scotland and England could not have been more obvious. In England the Brexit Party (pretty well formerly UKIP) topped the poll, but not so here where the SNP was well ahead of the field. Of course we voted 62 per cent Remain all those three years ago and that’s where Scotland has stayed.

But all that is irrelevant. Come October, or indeed later in the year if there is yet another extension, we are out of Europe lock, stock and barrel. We may be destined for those trade deals with the USA with their foodie flagship – chlorinated chicken.

There is also a threat in Scotland to our NHS. In England privatisation is already there but not so here. There is a negligible proportion of NHS funding to commercial firms. I’ll have to mention in passing, however, the exception of the Private Finance which built the Royal Edinburgh Hospital under Scottish Labour, which unlike the Western is not publicly owned and the reason why you pay for parking at the RIE and not the Western and why the current Scottish Government cannot abolish charges.

Back to my point, however. If US companies start taking contracts for NHS England there will be a consequence for Scotland. Those Barnett consequentials, that is when the UK government allocates money for their public services such as NHS England, then we must get proportionate funding (some 10 per cent) from Westminster for our NHS.

The key word is public. It follows that if that public amount is reduced by privatisation down South, then we lose out too ,no matter what the Scottish Parliament wants. Is this your idea of democracy for Scotland? It’s not mine.

Christine Grahame is the SNP MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale