Scottish independence: MPs gripped by the question: was Rabbie Burns a Nat or a Unionist?
Prime Minister David Cameron looked to Burns for ammunition. Picture: AFP
A BATTLE emerged in Westminster yesterday over which argument in the independence debate Scotland’s Bard Rabbie Burns would have supported as both sides tried to claim him as their own.
As the two sides prepare their campaigns, names from outside politics are being considered to help lead the respective campaigns. However, it was clear that, in an appeal to Scottish sentiment, both wanted a signifcant figure from Scotland’s past to help boost their support.
The day after SNP First Minister Alex Salmond declared in a major speech in London that Burns was a “great Nationalist and Internationalist”, Conservative Scottish MP Eleanor Laing declared that he was a Unionist.
The debate came as the UK government appeared to try to boost support for the Union by handing Glasgow a tax break for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Mr Salmond said in his speech that Burns’ song For A’ That contained the line which showed independence was inevitable.
“For a’ that, an’ a’ that, it’s coming yet for a’ that,” he told the audience at the Hugo Young lecture.
But during Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Laing quoted from Burns’ poem The Dumfries Volunteer, describing it as an “impassioned plea” for the Union. “Be Britain still to Britain true, amang oursels united; for never but by British hands, maun British wrangs be righted!” she quoted.
The recital was met with disgust among the six SNP MPs, but Mr Cameron, who is half Scottish, said Ms Laing had made “a good point”.
He went on: “Burns Night will be celebrated not just across Scotland but across the whole of the United Kingdom and in many parts of the world.”
And in a clear aside to the events in Edinburgh, where Mr Salmond was launching his consultation on the referendum, Mr Cameron also turned to Scotland’s Bard to attack the SNP.
He said: “When I hear the Scottish Nationalists, who are so keen to leave the UK yet so anxious about having a referendum, I think that perhaps they should remember Burns’s words when he referred to the “Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie, O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
The Prime Minister was almost immediately under attack in the Twittersphere for failing to pronounce “breastie” correctly, but the quote brought a cheer from MPs across the House apart from the six Nationalists.
The SNP members appeared to be shouting out “a parcel of rogues”, a quote from a Burns poem describing the members of the old Scottish Parliament, who voted themselves out of existence in the union with Westminster.
But battle commenced later in PMQs on whether the Westminster coalition government should continue to interfere in the Scottish referendum.
Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil challenged Mr Cameron on his government’s attempt to influence the date of the referendum and push for one clear question.
The attack came as a result of the UK government’s own consultation on using a Section 30 order to grant Holyrood temporary powers to be allowed to run a referendum.
The UK government contends that under existing powers in the 1998 Scotland Bill, it would be illegal for Holyrood to hold a poll. But the SNP disputes this.
Mr MacNeil asked: “Does the Prime Minister agree that in Scotland the people are sovereign, and therefore for improvement they have the right to determine their own constitutional future as they see fit?”
However, Mr Cameron said that he was just trying to help the people of Scotland get what they wanted.
He said: “Of course this is an issue for the people of Scotland, and I think we should bring forward the date when we put to the Scottish people the question of whether they want to stay in the United Kingdom – which I dearly hope that they do – or to leave the United Kingdom.
“But the point that everyone needs to understand is that options for further devolution – options for changes across the United Kingdom – are matters for all of the United Kingdom, and matters that all of the United Kingdom should rightly discuss.”
In a move which appeared timed to coincide with the consultation launch in Edinburgh, the Treasury also handed Glasgow a tax boost for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
It means that athletes resident outside the UK who compete at the Glasgow Games will be exempt from income tax. The decision mirrors a similar exemption in place for this year’s Olympic Games in London.
Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander will say in Glasgow today: “Everyone wants to see the best athletes compete at Glasgow 2014 and this exemption will make that more likely.”
The move will be welcomed by SNP sports minister Shona Robison.
Meanwhile, the growing debate has seen a continued interest by bookmakers.
Yesterday, bookmakers William Hill offered odds of 7/1 that Scotland will secure independence by 1 January, 2020, but also offered 1/16 that it will not.
“As yet, even the date of the referendum is in doubt, let alone the outcome,” said Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.
William Hill has also cut its odds for the referendum to take place in 2014 from 4/5 to 4/6, and for a Yes to independence majority when it does happen from 7/2 to 3/1.
“It seems that the more Westminster tries to get involved, the more Scots decide they are in favour of independence” added Mr Sharpe.
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Comments
There are 27 comments to this article
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expat
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:56 AMIf Rab was here now he would probably remark how nothings changed. There is still a parcel of rogues in a nation. Probably to the power of ten!!!
Hearthammer
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:29 AM#25, well said!
Broon Bairn
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:58 AMBurns was a member of the Friends of the People, and was a radical. He sent a present of a cannon across to France when the Revolution broke out. He explained, in his poem "Scots Wha Hae", that he wasn't referring to Bannockburn when he wrote it, but modern-day "battles closer to home" (ie, the radical weavers, and embryonic trade unions, Chartists and the like). Burns was no Tory (or even Labourite). It always amuses me to imagine all the tartan-clad bluerinse Tories attending the Burns' Suppers around the country, extolling the parises of a man who would spit in their faces, and send them packing, if he was there in person.
Jo'Burg Jock
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:39 AM#20 bamboo says :- "only celebrated by Scots descendants" __________________________________________________________ That's where you are wrong, He's also Celebrated by Scots, --- not just their "descendants". __________________________________________________________ You ask "does it matter?" Well it obviously matters enough for you to make comment. How smart are you Ya wee diddy?
Hamilton2
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:38 AMPolitical economy has changed in the past few hundred years. . . American political consultant and strategist James Carville summed up the present day political problem. If he was reincarnated, he said, "I’d want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.". . . Whether Scotland aligns first with Ireland, the devolved territories of the UK and the rest of the EU - or sides with England and the US, effective political opposition to 'creative destruction' by the market is essential.
Hearthammer
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:34 AM#20, troll!
Jo'Burg Jock
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:29 AM"England in thunder calls, "The tyrant's cause is mine!" ________________________________________________________ That hour accurst how did the fiends rejoice ________________________________________________________ And hell, thro' all her confines, raise the exulting voice, ________________________________________________________ That hour which saw the generous English name, ________________________________________________________ Linkt with such damned deeds of everlasting shame! ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Thee, Caledonia! thy wild heaths among, ________________________________________________________ Fam'd for the martial deed, the heaven-taught song, ________________________________________________________ To thee I turn with swimming eyes; ________________________________________________________ Where is that soul of Freedom fled? ________________________________________________________ Immingled with the mighty dead, ________________________________________________________ Beneath that hallow'd turf where Wallace lies" ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ---------- FROM "Ode For General Washington's Birthday" By Robert Burns
bamboo
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 08:58 AMDoes it matter what a dead tax collector and not very good poet thought? He's a bit like Irn Bru. Nothing great and only celebrated by Scots descendents because he's Scottish
Jo'Burg Jock
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 08:43 AM"Wae worth the loon wha wadna eat, ________________________________________________________ Sic halesome dainty cheer, man; ________________________________________________________ I'd gie my shoon frae aff my feet, ________________________________________________________ To taste the fruit, o't here , man. ________________________________________________________ Syne let us pray, auld England may, ________________________________________________________ Sure plant this far-famed tree, man; ________________________________________________________ And blythe we'll sing, and herald the day, ________________________________________________________ That gives us liberty, man." ________________________________________________________ ---------- FROM "The Tree Of Liberty" by Robert Burns
Jo'Burg Jock
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 08:33 AM"Let Britain boast her hardy oak, __________________________________________________________ Her poplar and her pine, man, __________________________________________________________ Auld Britain ance could crack her joke, __________________________________________________________ And o'er her neighbours shine, man __________________________________________________________ But seek the forest round and round __________________________________________________________ And soon 'twill be agreed, man __________________________________________________________That sic a tree can not be found __________________________________________________________ Twixt London and the Tweed, man" __________________________________________________________ ---------- FROM "The Tree Of Liberty" by Robert Burns
Viewed From Afar
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 08:26 AMOnly a unionist @r$e like M.A.D.D.O.X could come up with $h!te like this.
Family guy
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 08:03 AMBurns was a drunk and a womaniser (a true Scot then) and did what any man would do to support his family. He took the Kings shilling to police excise revenue. However, history can show he wasn't particularly bothered about collecting the excise and was more bothered by not having to graft so hard so he could exercise his keen creative mind while the absynthe, whisky and opium raced through his blood stream. He was an idealist but also he could tap into the zeitgiest of the time. If he was asked about independence, he'd most likely reply "whit do ah git oot of it"?
AULD REEKY
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 05:43 AMWho better than a Tory Toff trying to pronounce "properly" the words of Burns and failing miserably in its delivery!!! I feel he and his Multimillionaire Eton Bully BoysBullingdon Club Members and Shirtlifters Brigade are no match for Jowly Eck and neither is the dazzled by the headlights leader of the Labour Party as for the Leaders of the Opposition parties in Scotland, they are a bunch of second rate jumped up town Councillors (if even that!!) - Alex Salmond has them all beat hands down.
The Harder They Come
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 04:02 AMUnionist campaign clearly fapping, can't wait to see who they trundle out as their 'outside politics' team and hear them argue against greater powers.
BillDunblane
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 01:43 AM"Conservative Scottish MP Eleanor Laing" - Jings, stretching it more than just a bit. Possibly born Scottish, but representing an English constituency, and displaying her red white and blue colours.
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