The one man political pollutant that is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson doesn’t want the Scottish First Minister anywhere near the climate summit planned for Glasgow next year. It’s a British summit for British people. Scottish people will only be allowed anywhere near it if they adopt an accent like Jeauw Sweynson’s or Michael Gove’s and produce photographic evidence that they attended last night at the proms wearing a union jack bowtie or frock.
The last thing that Lyin’ Bastert Johnson wants is the Scottish Government to get any credit for the steps it has taken to tackle climate change. I’d say that was because he’d be embarrassed by the fact that Scotland is miles ahead of the rest of the UK, thanks to Scottish Government policies, but that would be silly. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born without the genes for shame or guilt. He just wants to take the credit for Scottish efforts himself. That would be those efforts which his predecessor David Cameron promised during the independence referendum would benefit from millions of pounds of UK investment if Scotland voted No, and then after the 2015 General Election he cancelled the Renewable Obligation subsidy scheme. That move cost Scotland 5500 jobs in the renewable energy sector and an estimated loss of £3 billion in investment.
“Faugh faugh waffaugh waugh!” Lyin’ Bastert Johnson told an audience of adoring fan boys and girls at the Scottish Tory fringe meeting during the Conservative party conference. If we could only harness the powers of self-delusion contained in that room we could save ourselves a fortune in energy production. His speech contained some old gags that weren’t especially funny when he trotted them out in the House of Commons. At least we should be grateful that he didn’t promise us 40 new hospitals that turned out to be some building repairs on a half dozen existing ones.
Then he went on, “Lots of union flags faugh waugh fafaugh!” The way for this Prime Minister to ingratiate himself into the hearts of the Scottish populace isn’t to change tack so he’s not actually taking the UK into an authoritarian nightmare where the rule of law is merely a serving suggestion for a Prime Minister. It’s certainly not to take Scottish concerns about Brexit into account. It’s to stick loads of British flags on things. His audience of Scottish Tories all cheered, the same people who scoff at independence rallies and marches saying that seeing Scottish flags won’t change anyone’s mind about independence. So now we know how the Tories propose to fend off their impending electoral disaster in Scotland. Voters in Scotland will be happy to accept a box of crap, as long as it’s presented in union flag themed wrapping paper.
And there you were thinking that the problem with Westminster rule was the democratic deficit, which means that Scotland more often than not doesn’t get a British government that it voted for. Oh no. It’s not that. It’s not Brexit and Scotland being taken out of the EU by the very same people who told us in 2014 that the only way to ensure Scotland remained in the EU was to vote against independence. It’s not even the way that the Vow was trashed and Scotland has been lied to and treated with contempt. No. It’s nothing that can’t be solved by sticking more Union flags on things than you’ll see at an Orange Walk. When they said they were going to bang the drum for Britishness, we didn’t realise they meant a Lambeg. But it’s the SNP which is sectarian, according to that oil stain on politics that goes by the name Michael Gove.
Anyway, the way that Lyin’ Bastert Johnson’s career is going, it’s quite likely that he won’t be at the summit either. This is the worst Prime Minister in British history since the last one. At the rate at which he’s currently haemorrhaging supporters, by the time of the summit he’ll be left solely with the backing of Jackson Carlaw. Jackson would still be telling Gordon Brewer that Boris is doing a marvellous job, even if video evidence were to come to light showing the Prime Minister decapitating a kitten and making a deal with Donald Trump to sell the NHS to Macdonalds in return for a lifetime’s supply of chicken nuggets for the cabinet. You won’t be able to afford a hip operation, but you will be able to get a Happy Meal with a plastic model of a nurse.
Naturally even this would be just fine and dandy with the Scottish Conservatives, whose sole reaction to being told to bend over and make ready to be shafted by the British government would be to inquire just how far up their rectums would Westminster like them to shove whatever it is that passes for their self-respect. Although, to be fair, the Scottish Conservative definition of self-respect is what a normal human being would interpret as the submissive role in a kinky sex-scene. Scottish Conservative patriotism means wearing a union flag themed gimp mask and ball gag.
Johnson doesn’t want Scotland anywhere near the summit because it will only show up the gulf between the achievements of the Scottish government and the British government when it comes to tackling climate change. The British government talks about tackling climate change. The Scottish government does something about it.
Scotland has been leading the way within the UK on climate change. In 2018, renewable sources produced 74.6% of Scotland’s electricity consumption. Scotland’s vast potential for renewable energy production continues to be developed. Last year, this country’s electricity exports almost doubled compared to the previous year, rising from 12,868GWh in 2017 to 24,379GWh in 2018. And Scotland has done this despite, not because of, policy decisions made by Westminster. https://www.power-technology.com/news/scotland-renewable-energy-record/
By way of comparison, total renewable electricity production for the entire UK in 2018 made up just 33% of total electricity production. This figure includes the Scottish figure, so the proportion of energy produced from renewable sources in the rest of the UK without Scotland is considerably lower. https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/uk-renewable-energy-percentage-2018/
In 2016 (the last year for which I was able to find statistics comparing the nations of the UK), Scotland produced a total of 42.92% of its electricity from renewable sources. England’s much larger electricity generation capacity only managed to produce 23.15% of its electricity from renewables. The figures for Wales (12.33%), and Northern Ireland (25.33%) were also considerably behind those for Scotland. The British Government has little to boast about when it comes to its commitment to renewable energies. It’s only because of Scottish efforts that the UK isn’t regarded as the polluter of Europe as well as its political basketcase. https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2018/03/renewable-energy-in-the-united-kingdom
Scotland leads the way in the UK on tackling climate change. We could do a lot better. We would do a lot better if we weren’t being held back by a Westminster government whose greatest contribution to renewable energy is the amount of hot hair it produces.
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