An Open Letter to the Prime Minister: 3 Easy-Win Policies to Build Up the Union
A hard-copy of this letter and a copy of Do More Together: 102 Ways to Keep the UK United has been sent to the Office of the Prime Minister, dated 25-9-22.
Dear Prime Minister
Congratulations on your appointment.
A Force For Good is Scotland's premier pro-UK campaign organisation and think tank.
We know that the integrity of the United Kingdom is a concern for you.
We've put together 3 essential, urgent and easy-win policies which will help you to strengthen the Union of the United Kingdom.
Firstly, the aim of these policies is not to "delay a referendum" but rather...
THE AIM is to BUILD UP the UNITED KINGDOM and DEFEAT SEPARATISM
The aim is to bind the UK together politically, economically, socially and culturally, and to defeat the separatists, whether SNP/Greens or Sinn Fein.
Winning for the UK, is the message.
Claiming that "Referendums are once in a generation" or "Now is not the time", might knock things down the road, but it doesn't get to the nub of the matter.
Time will pass, and a generation will come and go, and what would be said then?
So please avoid rhetoric which might make it sound that a referendum "every generation" is some kind of accepted parliamentary convention.
Such rhetoric implies that the integrity of the United Kingdom should be regularly called into question, and that breaking up the country is a position which should be regularly appeased.
"Once in a generation" or not, we don't want the existence of the United Kingdom to be called into question in the first place!
YOU HAVE a MANDATE to HOLD US TOGETHER
Please don't be threatened by the nonsense that the UK Parliament, and the Government it forms, "does not have a mandate" to hold the UK together.
The Union Parliament has a constitutional mandate to keep us together because everyone in Scotland who voted for MPs to be sent to the British Parliament at the General Election in 2019 – including all those who voted SNP/Greens – were giving their authority to Westminster to continue to govern for all the UK. Otherwise, they would have been abstentionist candidates like Sinn Fein.
Furthermore, the Union Parliament has a democratic mandate because the majority who voted at the General Election in Scotland did so for parties which want the UK to stay together. Here are the stats:
The Union Parliament also has a popular mandate in the sense that a far greater proportion of the population voted in the 2019 British General Election than voted in the 2021 Holyrood election. As we can see from the graphic below, this has always been the case!
It is our collective Union Parliament which has the natural right, duty and responsibility to hold the UK together and to make the decisions on its collective future.
Those of us who love the UK rely utterly upon our British Parliament to make that plain and to defend the integrity, cohesion and stability of the UK.
You, and those of us who love the UK, definitely have a mandate to keep us together!
Having said all that...
HERE'S 3 EASY-WIN POLICIES to BUILD UP THE UNION
1. Ditch the Northern Ireland Protocol
The SNP/Greens and Sinn Fein want to re-join the EU.
Those of us who want to keep the UK together need to ensure that it becomes as hard as possible for these parties to advocate this policy.
That means we have to ensure that there is the maximum convergence on trade and travel and social and cultural matters, between all parts of the UK.
If Northern Ireland remains within the authority of the EU, then any divergence between the rest of the UK and the EU will increase the divergence between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland.
This will make it harder for Northern Ireland to "re-join" the rest of the UK, and easier for Sinn Fein to promote convergence with the EU, and integration with the Republic of Ireland.
If we are to keep the UK together, then Northern Ireland must be moving in the same direction and at the same pace as the rest of the UK.
Similarly, in Scotland: As the UK moves away from the EU, then it makes it harder for the SNP/Greens to argue to re-join the EU, since the upheaval of re-joining would be much greater.
However, if the UK does not substantially diverge from the EU, then it will make it easier for the separatists to advocate re-joining because "nothing much would be changing".
2. Stop the British Civil Service Promoting the Indy Agenda
The role of the British Civil Service in Scotland is to help the SNP/Greens run the country, not break up the country.
Too often, it is being allowed to help the SNP/Greens promote matters outside the devolved remits; or create publications and propaganda for separation; or grandstand on reserved matters which are "contrary to the UK Government's position" – and all of which, we're paying for!
For example, the First Minister has instructed members of the British Civil Service in Scotland to work on new plans to hold a referendum in October 2023.
The present rules which allow such civil servants to help "their ministers" pursue their policy objectives were not put together in the expectation that "their ministers" would be working to break up the central British state itself!
This anomaly has never been corrected.
We are now at a point where pro-UK people in Scotland are struggling to promote our positive message of unity and solidarity in the face of the combined forces of the British Civil Service, who are being paid by ourselves, to work against us.
The situation is absurd!
But it can be easily fixed.
The Head of the British Civil Service is the Cabinet Secretary. He sits at your Cabinet Table.
We've looked at the arguments for and against making changes, and we've even written the exact law to stop them pushing the Indy Agenda. You can read it here or on page 13 of our magazine Do More Together: 102 Ways to Keep the UK United enclosed.
Sorting this out is an easy win for your premiership.
3. Brand UK Payments Clearly – which means Overhaul HMRC's Bland Communications!
The positive power of the British Treasury to create money and to get it to people in Scotland is not being properly explained and promoted.
The British Government must stop getting the easy things wrong.
For example, during August 2022, personally-addressed letters were sent out in Scotland – from HMRC – informing people on low incomes that they were to receive a £650 "Cost of Living Payment" by the end of the year.
Yet there was no indication that this money was coming to such economically vulnerable people – who are also voters – from the British Government.
There was no indication (other than the web address "gov.uk") that this was coming to us as a result of being part of the United Kingdom.
The letter mentions the phrase "Government support" twice, and "the Government", but it doesn't clarify that it is the British Government. Therefore, many people will just presume it is "the Scottish Government".
This is a result of the confusing "Scotland's two governments" rhetoric which your Party has been using for several years now. It ultimately works against the British Government! We mention this problem on page 12 of Do More Together and also here.
As a result, many people who received this direct and personally-addressed communication from your Government department – who are exactly the sort of people that we want to support the Union – would not have understood that it was the UK "to thank". Many people would just presume that the money was coming from "the Scottish Government", and from the SNP.
This is especially so now that taxes have been complicated by a separate HMRC "Scottish tax rate".
Yet, imagine if this money had come from "the Scottish Government".
There is no doubt that the paper itself would be branded with a blue and white Saltire through its entire length. There would be plenty of references to "the Scottish Government" and its largesse, for which we would be encouraged to give thanks.
There might even be a big picture of Nicola Sturgeon in the corner, with a speech bubble coming out of her mouth saying "Please remember, I am giving you this free money". We exaggerate a little…but not much!
We speak about this in relation to the Furlough Scheme – another wasted opportunity – on page 17 of Do More Together.
It is important to clearly brand where the money is coming from.
In that regard, all HMRC communications – hard copy and online – require a complete overhaul as a matter of urgency.
That's another easy win, entirely within your ability to deliver.
So, those are 3 absolutely essential, urgent, and easy-win policies which will help strengthen the Union.
And finally...
A BRITISH DAY BANK HOLIDAY
Let's always be looking for ways to promote Britain and Britishness, socially, culturally, and educationally.
For example, with the death of the Queen, and with the Coronation next year, the time seems right to announce a "British Day Bank Holiday".
It could be called "Queen Elizabeth Day". It would have the purpose of enabling us to reflect on our British history, our constitution, our accomplishments, our British identity, and with that, the value of our United Kingdom.
It would need to be mandated UK-wide, otherwise the SNP/Greens will not allow it in Scotland.
The obvious day for such a holiday is the Friday or Monday of the Monarch's Official Birthday Weekend in June. We explain why on page 28 of Do More Together and also here.
This may seem to be a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but it is all the little things that the British Government is not doing, or not encouraging, which creates the big problem of separatism and which allows it to dominate.
We have plenty of these ideas, many of which are mentioned in Do More Together.
We wish you the best of British luck in your efforts to defend and build up our wonderful United Kingdom.
Yours sincerely
Alistair McConnachie
Secretary and Director, on behalf of the Directors and Team at A Force For Good.
Published on our Website aForceForGood.UK/blog and on our
// SUPPORT A FORCE FOR GOOD //
Comments