Scotland: "it's time for you to go" says Tory
A Tory who wrote a column accusing Scotland of “fleecing” English taxpayers and claiming that Scotland remaining in the UK would be a “catastrophe” for England had later tried to distance himself from his views by claiming it was "just a joke".
In a 2014 article for Conservative Home, Ryan Henson wrote that, except for its contribution to Britain’s armed forces, “Scotland’s single biggest offering to the union over the past 50 years has been to provide the Labour party with parliamentary lobby fodder.
“In exchange, the people of England have seen the cost of their prescriptions and their university fees rise, while in Scotland both have been abolished – using English taxes to pay for it.”
A year before the SNP’s huge gains in the 2015 general election, he wrote: “Like a marauding tribe from the Dark Ages, Scottish MPs have travelled south every four years to pillage their hard-working, wealthier and more politically sound neighbours. Enough is enough.”
“Scotland will face economic ruin,” he added, “should it continue with its community spirited politics if they vote Yes and lose the power to fleece Tory-voting taxpayers in England. It is we English who bankroll her free health prescriptions; fund the entirety of her children’s four-year-long university courses; and subsidise her bloated, private-enterprise-killing, left-leaning public sector.”
He also said that, after Scottish independence, the English economy would thrive and that the English should say “what everyone’s really thinking: Scotland, it’s time for you to go”.
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| SELF LOATHING: In the 1997 devolution referendum, the Scottish Conservatives campaigned against reopening their own country's parliament, under the belief that Scotland can be managed better by England than it can by its own government, even one run by their own party. Scottish voters have never forgiven them |
Henson tried to desperately back pedal by saying the article had been intended as satire. “This was intended as a light hearted take on the Scottish Referendum campaign, and was taken as such at the time by some people. Even though it was me who wrote the piece, it doesn't really reflect my views – I passionately believe in the importance of the Union especially at this time.”
The revelations about Henson come at a difficult time for the Conservatives in Scotland. Boris Johnson was jeered loudly when he last met Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in Edinburgh.
The SNP’s constitution spokesperson, Pete Wishart, said in a statement: “These comments are typical of the contempt for Scotland that is increasingly in the mainstream of the Tory party – right up to, and including, the prime minister, who himself has spread the subsidy myth.
“Indeed, a recent poll found that – far from being the party of the union – most Tory members would now be happy for Scotland to become independent if that meant delivering Brexit.
“The Tories under Boris Johnson are completely out of touch with Scotland. No wonder more and more people are concluding that independence is the only way forward.”
Labour’s Lesley Laird, said: “This is just yet another example of the dangerous nationalism taking hold within the Tory party under Boris Johnson.
“Labour’s message is clear, the real division in society is not the division between Scotland and England. The real division is between those who own the wealth and those who, through their hard work and endeavour, create the wealth.”
The Conservative party did not respond to requests for comment.
The arrogance of many Tory Party members is utterly astonishing. I might have added ignorance to arrogance, descriptive for the use of. But they're not all ignorant, they know precisely where the butter for spreading on their crumpets come from. So not content with denials of the truthful facts of the matter, they lie about it and in doing so ......they attempt to subvert us Scots to being liars all.
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