WE asked Scottish independence supporters how they feel about Keir Starmer’s plans for a "Take Back Control" bill as a way to appease both Brexit and Yes voter demands.
During a New Year speech in east London, the Labour leader said he wanted to “embrace” the “Take Back Control” message as he admitted he sympathised with the “basic case” Leave voters made during 2016 and the not “unreasonable demands” Yes voters made in 2014.
Starmer said people who voted Yes to an independent Scotland in 2014 had not put forward an “unreasonable demand” and pledged to devolve more powers to communities and modernise central government.
He said: “It’s not unreasonable for us to recognise the desire of communities to stand on their own feet. It’s what 'Take Back Control' meant. The control people want is control over their lives and their community.”
"We will spread control out of Westminster and devolve new powers over employment support, transport, energy, climate change, housing, culture, childcare provision and how councils run their finances. And we’ll give communities a new right to request powers which go beyond this.”
Here's what campaigners had to say when we asked if Starmer’s announcement would be enough to pull Yes and SNP voters to the No and Labour side?
Ignoring Scotland’s 'real wishes'
James Aithie, a Yes supporter living in Lewis, said: “Straight away this sounds like he's doing the Tory thing of saying ‘I think what the people of Scotland really want is ...’ whilst completely ignoring what they actually want.”
Aithie then cited a Panelbase survey from August to illustrate Starmer’s ignorance of Scots’ wishes which shows 72% of Scots want to rejoin the EU.
One Yes supporter said: “’The real wishes’ would be that Scotland is an independent country, free to fulfil our need to be egalitarian. We’re not perfect. We’re not a homogenous blob. But we Scots have rejected what the Tories have been doing for decades. We’re just not like that.
She added: “When I say Scots, I mean all people who live here, born here, moved here, sought asylum here. We’re all Scottish.”
Another Yesser reacted by asking if Starmer was equating Scotland and independence with communities in England having devolved controls.
Winning Votes
Mark McGeoghegan, a researcher in Glasgow, commented: “For Labour's part, they'll probably hope that this line secures enough votes from Scottish Tories to win 10ish seats, but if they start losing any considerable number of Yes or 2019 Labour voters to the SNP, it'll balance out with the SNP a net beneficiary.”
Connor Cloughley from Falkirk said: "It’s a double-edged sword for Labour at this point because they refuse to back Scotland's right to a referendum. If they don’t dangle new powers, the Union will continue to weaken. If they do end up delivering more powers, in whatever form, we’ll just be left asking why we aren’t independent anyway."
Removing Westminster’s power?
John Hodges, who lives in Lanarkshire, said: “‘Control’ would still be in the hands of a Westminster parliament dominated and controlled by MPs from England absorbed by the interests of England and the relegation of issues important to people in Scotland, Wales and the North of Ireland.”
Steven Marwick, a Yes activist from Fife, said: “Of course it isn’t, because ‘Take Back Control’ means taking it away from the Scottish Parliament and giving it to Westminster.
“It is never about empowering the Scottish Parliament as an institution, but always about degrading the one institution that represents the aspirations of Scots.”
One supporter summed up what most of Scotland is thinking after Starmer’s speech: “I mean, there is one definitive way of finding out the real wishes of Scottish independence voters…”.
