Scottish Self-determination: What does the 8th June 2017 hold for Scotland?

Scottish voters are faced with a complicated choice on the 8th June 2017. We haven’t seen the parties manifestos yet but Scotland has to know that their votes can send the clearest of messages to Westminster’s politicians. If Scotland returns 59 pro Independence MPs to Westminster on the 9th June then Scotland will have called Theresa May’s bluff over Scottish self-determination regarding the EU. So that means returning SNP or Green MPs. Scotland’s strongest hand will be to return 59 SNP MPs, voting as a block for Scotland, and wiping out all of the Westminster parties.

Scotland will have an opportunity on the 8th June 2017 to make a statement about Scotland’s future. Scotland’s voice must be heard with regards determining Scotland’s future through Scottish self-determination.

A weakening of Scotland’s position in June will play into the hands of those seeking to undermine Scotland’s voice for Scottish self-determination over EU membership though, ironically, strengthening the hand for Independence. By returning 59 SNP MPs to Westminster in June, Scotland will position itself as an important coalition partner. If Wales follows suit and ousts its Tory MPs, in favour of Labour of Plaid Cymru, then all the better. If Scotland and Wales turf out the Tory interlopers, they reduce Tory MPs in Westminster by 12, presuming that those MPs aren’t among the Tory MPs guilty of election fraud in 2015.

The fear is that Scottish voters could be swayed to think of the election in June as a proxy Independence referendum, just as the Tories referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in 2016 was mistakenly treated as a proxy Tory leadership battle. The confusion over the issues in the EU referendum permitted Leave to campaign without being subjected to a spotlight on the lies on which it was built. The election on the 8th June 2017 is an election judging the Tories, their disastrous ‘brexit’ and their even worse management of the economy, the NHS, social care, education, prisons, housing, transport, human rights abuses against those with disabilities, attacks on the elderly and vulnerable, rise in homelessness, household debt, reliance on foodbanks, while enriching the wealthiest in society and facilitating tax avoidance.

It is unlikely that a party will emerge from the 8th June election with a majority, presumably the Tories will not engage in the same level of fraud that they did which helped them win the shock majority in 2015. If Scotland and Wales throw the Tories out and are followed by English voters turning to Labour, the LibDems, and the Greens (for those who can’t stomach voting for the Tory enabling LibDems) then Britain could see the formation of a progressive coalition.

The 8th June 2017 is an opportunity for Scotland to underline it’s case for Scottish self-determination.