It may seem obvious, but it is essential to stress that solidarity does not end at borders. In recent years, UK politicians and many celebrities have been given a public stage to describe how disappointed, even ‘sad’, they would be were Scotland to succeed and become a fully independent state – see The Independent’s ‘Love letters to Scotland from writers who want it to stay in the union’ (September 2014), David Bowie’s “Scotland, stay with us” comments via Kate Moss (February 2014), or The Herald’s ‘200 celebrities and public figures sign letter backing indyref No vote’ (August 2014), writes LUKE CAMPBELL.
Within the UK, Scotland has a shared recent history with England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. So too, Scots have a record of international solidarity with the likes of Chile and Spain. In 1974, whilst then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a personal friend of the Augusto Pinochet, 4,000 workers at the East Kilbride Rolls-Royce factory refused to repair the dictator’s Hawker Hunter aircraft used in the attack on the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende.
A fan boycott campaign even took place when in 1977 the Scottish Football Association decided that Scotland’s men’s team would play at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago. The stadium was used as a detention centre during the military coup, with more than 40,000 people having been held prisoner. During the Spanish Civil War, more than 2,000 volunteers from throughout the UK fought for the International Brigades against General Franco’s fascist regime.
International solidarity has never stopped at political borders, nor has it been dependent on the permission of governments. In 2003, 3million people protested in Rome against the Iraq war (a country of 57.3million at the time, the protesters representing 5.2% of the Italian population), 1.5million protested in Madrid (42.7million, 3.5%), 1million in London (50million, 2%), and 100,000 in Glasgow (5.1million 2%). Likewise, within the political union of the UK, borders have never prevented class solidarity. When the Conservatives trialled The Community Charge (the Poll Tax) in the UK ‘region’ of Scotland in April 1989, the Scottish and English working classes protested side-by-side as they sought to abolish the charge, and prevent its implementation in our neighbouring states.
Indeed, some 1,000 people travelled from Liverpool to Glasgow for the anti-poll tax demonstration. More recently, we’ve witnessed large turnouts at demonstrations in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s Executive Order barring citizens from seven Muslim majority countries from entering the US, along with an indefinite suspension of their Syrian refugee programme.
We are already witnessing efforts to reduce the effectiveness of Trade Unions. Having introduced employment tribunal fees, and in doing so created a financial barrier to social justice, May’s Government pushed through the Trade Union Bill in May 2016. Whilst solidarity of the working class was a fundamental aspect of demonstrating participation on the global stage, as outlined above, the passing of the bill marked a “dark day for working people” according to Unite’s General Secretary Len McCluskey (May 2016).
He added that “it is the workers of England, who will bear the brunt of the Conservative government’s measures, for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all stated this law has no place in their countries or workplaces”. In addition, despite Theresa May’s promises to “ensure that workers’ rights are fully protected and maintained” her inaction in the face of withdrawal from the EU risks further reduction to workers’ rights.
UK Labour Party MP for Great Grimsby, Melanie Onn, who’s bill to ensure that workers’ rights remain the same post-Brexit was met by Tory filibustering, has likened May’s willingness to discuss workers’ rights post-Brexit to ‘radio silence’ (January 2017).
Onn noted that were the UK to leave the EU without replacing the European Communities Act, legislation including parental leave, the working time directive, and equal rights for part-time and agency workers would disappear. Even the Great Repeal Bill results in a scenario whereby ‘hard-fought protections could be scrapped with just a simple vote of Parliament’ (Kentish, January 2017).
An Inclusive Country?
UK records state that at present, approximately 181,000 EU nationals live in Scotland. On 13th March 2017, Westminster rejected a House of Lords bill amendment that would have guaranteed the rights of EU citizens following the Brexit process. The UK Government’s desire for any referendum on Scottish independence to be held post-Brexit may, therefore, arguably be down to a desire to prevent EU nationals from voting, just as they were denied the right to vote on Brexit itself – this being despite eligibility to vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Only those aged 18 and over from the UK, Ireland, or the Commonwealth could vote in June’s Brexit referendum. Sixteen and seventeen year olds, legally able to leave school and get married in Scotland, were permitted to vote in the 2014 referendum, they too were ineligible. The Brexit vote saw all 32 local council authorities in Scotland vote to remain in the EU, a Scottish rate of 62% to remain compared to just 48% UK-wide. At the SNP’s Spring Conference in March 2017, Aberdeen South and North Kincardine branch tabled a motion that read, “Conference believes extending voting rights to all those who make their home in Scotland would send an important message that we are an inclusive nation that believes in equal rights.”
The motion was passed unanimously, highlighting the stark contrast in approaches taken between the UK Conservative Party and the SNP. Whilst the former Scottish Labour leader Johan Lamont may have stated on the STV that Scottish people are “not genetically programmed to make political decisions” (February 2014 – aye, seriously!), as a nation, we in Scotland voted overwhelming to remain in the EU.
Immigration was a central theme during the Brexit campaign, and since the success of the leave vote, the likes of The Guardian and The Telegraph have regularly run articles noting the concern of workers from other EU countries living in the UK regarding their right to live the lives they have built here for themselves. The Guardian (January 2017) stated that the Home Office has faced ‘a 50% increase in the number of applications [from EU citizens] seeking permanent residency since the Brexit vote on 23 June’ (56,024 in June 2016, up from 36,555 in April 2016).
In March 2017 academics at the University of Oxford stated that ‘staff would go if they were not reassured about their future’, whilst similarly The Times reported that the ‘NHS could lose 25,000 workers because of EU vote’ (March 2017) representing two-fifths of EU citizens working UK-wide in the NHS.
We have witnessed the dismantling of the NHS in England – outsourcing of national services to Virgin Care, Care UK, and Bupa, letters have been sent by NHS Trusts to asylum claimants that ‘contravene NHS guidelines’ regarding maternity care, and the passing of the Health & Social Care Act which removes the UK Government’s responsibility for the NHS (El Gingihy, 2015).
The NHS was a rarity, a British system that we could be proud of, now south of the border it has been eroded beyond recognition. With the UK Government dictating the size of the Block Grant received by the Scottish Government, little stands in the way of increased pressure being placed on the Scottish Government to follow suit. Despite assurances over the protection of “our most cherished public service”, the SNP can’t hold out forever.
Conclusion
With The Times stating that Whitehall officials are intent on forming ‘Empire 2.0’ (March 2017), remaining in the UK seems to signal an inward looking political entity, determined to relive its history. Becoming independent may be our only chance to create a modern fit-for-purpose political state, one that values the 181,000 EU nationals who have chosen to make this country their home.
The mass exodus of workers that looms over the Brexit negotiations lends itself to metaphors of rats fleeing a sinking ship. The risks posed to workers’ rights in light of the Trade Union Bill, the precariousness of the Great Repeal Bill, and the Tory mockery in the face of efforts to protect the rights of EU citizens demonstrates that despite a desire for progressive and inclusive politics from some, in the face of the current UK Government these efforts are futile.
In March 2017, the Scottish Conservative Party posted to Twitter that ‘A referendum cannot happen when Scots have not been given the opportunity to see how our new relationship with the EU is working’.
I don’t have to have experienced homelessness to know that I won’t enjoy it, and I don’t have to have lived in an isolationist UK to know that I would rather fight for an internationalist and outward looking Scotland. The people of Scotland may have a chance to break away and rebuild in the 21st century. I firmly believe we should take it.
LUKE CAMPBELL
