Bankrupt Britain or Scottish Independence?

Standing around looking pretty doesn't get you into bed with the electorate. At some point you have to do some chatting up.

Das Herald Sturmer finally has a genuinely bad SNP story. The headline is about an opinion poll that shows a surge in support for New Labour for the upcoming Westminster elections and screams:

"Salmond poll blow as voters shun SNP"

Labour is pumping the message that voting SNP might let the Tories in by the back door. Let's look at what the English papers are saying. Jackie Ashley of the Labour leaning Guardian writes:

"Some Labour people may think I'm sounding too gloomy, but those who have been privy to recent private polling are a lot more than gloomy. This suggests that Labour could return to the Commons with just 120 MPs or thereabouts, taking the party back to 1930s territory. As ministers look for jobs to keep themselves going after politics, a Miliband move to Europe looks sensible."

In The Times we hear that Labour can't afford to run a full election campaign. Polling in the South of England is particularly catastrophic for the prudent money-printer Brown.

Now, normally in Scotland we hear about how Scotland is too poor and too small to have any influence on the world. When it comes to Westminster elections though, Labour propaganda magically transforms. Apparently, the outcome of the next general election will not be decided in England but in Scotland and voting SNP will let the Tories in by the back door.

Pernicious propaganda? Yes, but what do we expect from said source. And it works. The SNP is down to 25% and Labour up to 39% in voting intentions for the next UK election. 43% are still undecided and that will help the SNP but only if they help themselves.

So, in the cut and thrust of the battle for hearts and minds, what is the SNP's strategy? Eh, stand around and pout. The British economy is bankrupt and Labour are getting slaughtered in England. This is an open goal; a sitter. No, the 'message' is that increasing the number of SNP MPs will send a strong signal that blah blah blah blah.

It's a little late for a thingy, what do you call it, oh yes - a campaign strategy. However some ground can be made up and the foundations of the Holyrood and referendum elections laid.

So, where and how is the SNP taking a beating and what can be done? Robbie Dinwoodie, an actual real-deal Scottish journalist, writes in Das Herald Sturmer that the SNP government:

"has been under heavy fire over the Glasgow Airport Rail Link cancellation, the planned clampdown on alcohol, failure to reduce class sizes and job losses such as those planned at Diageo – all giving opponents a sense that a corner is being turned."

Technocratic rebuttals ala Swinney isn't going to cut it. People don't realise that unemployment, house prices inflation, tax rises and so on are a consequence of economic policy set in London under Gordon Brown.

TELL THEM! John McFall and the BoE MPC have admitted that Britain's entire financial system is insolvent. International investors are talking about a sterling currency crisis, the OECD says that Britain is 'uniquely vulnerable' in the economic crisis. The SNP should be telling people that they fear the future because of the union - it's bankrupt.

TELL THEM! The SNP core policy of independence is a soft target. Unionists will forecast hell in an independent Scotland. Well, the SNP must forecast hell with the union. The disadvantage that the SNP had before was that you can't really provide evidence of the viability of an alternative future. That can now become an advantage in that the SNP can prove that the union will not provide a viable economic future for Scots. This should be a visceral battle. Offer the bright future of independence and an economic reason for leaving the union. This way you can exploit all that positive capital that has been built up without losing it. The truth is that Britain's finances are seriously minging. The UK faces the combination of an economic, currency and monetary collapse. There is no manufacturing base to dig the UK out of depression and so generations are going to be stuck with debt that they can't pay back. They'll emigrate if they can. The TRUTH (not propaganda) is that Britain is going bankrupt.

TELL THEM! Robbie's interview with the pollsters brings out interesting observations:

"Chris Eynon of TNS-BMRB said the poll showed no evidence of a Cameron effect north of the Border, nor “any particular disenchantment with Gordon Brown,” adding: “It is the SNP who have most to be concerned about in these results."

Brown should be getting hammered. His economy is impacting on the Scottish government's finances but by holding back on the 'Bankrupt Britain' campaign the SNP are allowing their opponents to blame them for their opponents' problems. This is monumentally naive! The reason that Labour's propaganda works is because Scots distrust the Tories and because Labour is an old habit. Well, if you want to make the SNP the Scottish party then this bad 'habit' must be kicked. Scots should know that it's not Tories nor Labour, it's London government, that's the problem. The choice is bankrupt Britain or Scottish independence. The SNP must turn this corner. It must refocus the minds of the Scottish electorate away from an anti-Cameron celebrity UK tabloid election. The SNP must seize the agenda - it has a fantastic opportunity.

Scots need to be informed that the Tories are going to win anyway and that if the election is a 2 horse London race then it's a two horse race to bankruptcy.

TELL THEM!