Without Thatcher, there'd be no independence referendum

I noticed yesterday the Daily Mail made the claim that Margaret Thatcher "saved Britain".  That really is a most absurd claim to make, not least because she oversaw - and was largely responsible for - the decline of her party in Scotland.

Having given it a bit of thought, I also arrived at the conclusion that Thatcher is also responsible for the independence referendum. How, you may ask.

Without Maggie Thatcher there would have been no "democratic deficit" for the Scottish Constitutional Convention to address in the late 1980s.

Without the convention, there would have been no Scottish parliament.

Without the Scottish parliament, there'd have been no SNP majority.

And without that SNP majority there'd be no independence referendum.

If Scotland does vote "yes" in 2014, I guess Mrs Thatcher will have had a hand in it. I wonder if she ever realised it?

Like much of Thatcher's legacy, it is an unintended consequence of ill-conceived actions. Politics really can be very strange at times.

Comments