Red Barons

Jack McConnell is the latest 'noble' lord to throw his weight behind a No vote in the Scottish independence referendum, but I think that he and others like him ought to be declaring their self-interest in the outcome. 

Because if Scotland votes Yes on 18 September 2014, Lord McConnell and his fellow peers would be out of a job and would have to look elsewhere for a nice little earner which pays them £300 a day (tax free) plus generous expenses for lording it over the rest of us. 

Scottish independence: McConnell backs ‘Home Rule’

Lord McConnell will address a Better Together meeting today. Picture: Donald MacLeod

By ANDREW WHITAKER - The Scotsman

FORMER first minister Jack McConnell will back Scottish “Home Rule” within the UK with an extension of devolution to Holyrood as an alternative to independence as he makes his first intervention in the official No campaign.

Lord McConnell will use a keynote speech today, on the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Scottish Parliament, to state that devolution within the UK is the “best and most positive system” for Scots.

He also evokes the mantle of Home Rule – a demand originally made by Keir Hardie, one of Labour’s founding fathers, as part of the forerunner of the modern pro-devolution movement.

The former first minister, who is widely seen as one of the architects of devolution, pledges that he will “fight to save Home Rule inside the UK” and signalled he would step up his involvement in the No campaign ahead of the referendum on 18 September.

Lord McConnell will make his first formal campaign speech at a Better Together event in Edinburgh, where he will appear alongside Lib Dem peer Lord Wallace, who served as his deputy first minister in the last non-SNP administration at Holyrood up until 2007.

The Labour peer, who served as first minister for six years, will talk about the “relentlessly positive” case for devolution within the UK, highlighting flagship laws introduced since 1999 including the smoking ban and land reforms from Labour-Lib Dem administrations.

Cruel Deceit (28 April 2014)

Well if this is the best the Red Barons can come up with, I think they are all better off staying their expensive retirement homes, also known as the House of Lords.

Because the 'cruel deceit' being perpetrated here is coming from Lord John Reid with his suggestion that only independence poses risks and dangers to Scotland's future.

Who would have predicted, for example, the great economic crash which occurred in 2008 under a Labour Government, Prime Minister and former chancellor in Gordon Brown who famously claimed to have abolished 'boom and bust'?

Now Lord Reid is an intelligent man and was a resourceful government minister in his day,  but I wonder if he sees any irony in a former member of the Communist Party ending up in the unelected House of Lords.     

Because it's one thing to renounce a failed political ideology, based on you empirical experience, but quite another to abandon the democratic political principles by which you claim to live. 

Reid accuses SNP of ‘cruel deceit’ over referendum

John Reid says there are huge dangers involved in Scotland becoming independent. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

JOHN Reid today makes his most high-profile intervention of the referendum debate so far, claiming the SNP is ­engaged in a “cruel deceit” by pretending there are no risks involved in independence.

Writing in Scotland on Sunday, the former Labour Cabinet minister argues that the positive case for remaining in the UK is based on the reduction of financial risk through pooling resources.

Reid claims that independence campaigners have to be more “honest” about the consequences of independence.

The former UK defence secretary’s foray into the battle for Scotland’s constitutional future is a sign that he is to become more involved in the Better Together campaign as the referendum approaches.

Reid’s involvement comes as Better Together attempts to ramp up its faltering campaign in the face of polls suggesting that its lead over Yes Scotland is narrowing.

Yesterday, Better Together announced that Frank Roy, the MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, has joined the Better Together team.

Long recognised as a formidable campaigner for Labour, Roy has been appointed to give “political co-ordination” to the grassroots Better Together campaign.

Roy undertook similar work for Scottish Labour in the 2010 general election, when the party’s share of the vote in Scotland increased from the 2005 election – despite losing the count overall.

In his article, Reid argues that the SNP wants to “gamble” with people’s livelihoods on the “pretences” that “separation from the UK” will be “all reward and no risk”.

He writes: “There are huge risks involved – in terms of our economy, finance, investment, employment, pensions, defence, security and in many other areas.

“People have a right to argue their case for separatism, but I would respect them more if they did not pretend that there are no risks involved. That is a cruel deceit.”

Red Barons (15 April 2014)

In an opinion piece for The Observer newspaper at the weekend, Kevin McKenna drew my attention to the Labour 'legends' who are apparently being asked to ride to the rescue of the Better Together campaign - in the following terms:  

"The week before Robertson made his speech, it was revealed that the Better Together campaign is now asking Labour's so-called "legends" at Westminster to lend a hand. The Unionists were responding to the latest set of opinion polls which suggest that the Nationalists require a swing of a mere handful of points to achieve independence. Thus we can expect to hear more from George Foulkes, Jack McConnell and John Reid between now and September. Once, these three and Robertson were Labour machine politicians in Scotland. Now, in the House of Lords, these ermined four are known as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale and Baron Reid of Cardowan."

If you ask me, the four 'noble' lords should be forced to declare a financial interest before they speak on the subject of whether Scotland should become an independent country, because if the country votes Yes they will all be out of a job.