"All during the independence referendum, there was this whole atmosphere of joy and optimism but I couldn't get involved in that because I saw myself as British. Now I've got something I can join in, something happy that I can be a part of!"
He then thumped the air, waving his beer about (yes, it was early but any excuse to hold a party - and it was a Saturday), a look of such happy excitement on his face it was as if he'd just ate a bucket of magic mushrooms and was now out-happying the YES movement at its referendum height.
And this is the biggest danger Corbyn represents to the SNP - he offers a message of hope to those who see themselves as British but hate the Tories. If they just hold on, Corbyn will become Prime Minister and fix all that's wrong with Britain.
If we were hoping that five more years of Tory rule would be enough to convince NO voters to back independence, that hope has gone. Even if Trident is not being debated at the Labour party conference, even if some of his policies are being modified, the wave of hope he's generated is not going away.
I like to tell my NO-voting friends that they voted for the Westminster system and that, since that system includes periods of Tory rule, then their NO vote was a vote for periods of Tory rule. They get rather angry when I point that out to them.
Now, it has less impact. Corbyn is going to save them, thus justifying their NO vote. Unless Corbyn gets defeated - either by party coup or at a general election - we'll have little chance of moving NO voters to the YES side.
Sadly, Corbynmania is an independence killer.
Completely disagree. Corbyn makes independence an inevitability.
ReplyDeleteOnly the Labour can govern the union with any semblance of legitimacy. Corbyn makes the Labour party unelectable in England (where Westminster elections are decided) and therefore ensures another Tory government, thus creating the optimal conditions for indyref2.