How will Labour ever understand the independence movement if they don’t move beyond the same old tropes?
Imagine asking politicians from other countries which example most comes to their mind when they think of “nationalism” in its most negative sense. Scottish independence? Or the hard Brexit supported by Labour and embodied by the ever more obsessive displaying of outsized flags by both the main parties? Starmer might not like the answer. He certainly wouldn’t like the laughter. He might learn that one man’s patriotism is another man’s nationalism.
And what of the future if Scotland one day does become independent? Will it really be in anyone’s interests if much of the population of the UK has been encouraged year after year, by Labour as much as anyone, to believe that the people who have delivered it are driven primarily by the worst sort of nationalism? Or would it be better if they were just seen as grown-ups who took a different view on how Scotland should be governed, so that all parties could focus without anger on what would matter most – how to ensure the best possible relations between London and Edinburgh post-independence?.