Is SNP exceeding its reach with UK pledges in General Election manifesto?
The nationalists unveil promises that are eye-catching, popular, and entirely unachievable by a party standing only in Scotland.
Wednesday 31 May 2017 07:56, UK
There are any number of curiosities in the fertile, occasionally febrile, world of Scottish public affairs and politics.
The strange relationship (or absence thereof) between patriotism and nationalism, for example.
The recent penchant for tearing up the textbooks and tearing down long established truths about political affiliation and fealty.
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One might also mention the unveiling of a United Kingdom manifesto by a party standing in only one small part of it.
The SNP delayed publication of its policy portfolio because of those hideous events in Manchester, and no one would blame them for doing so.
But in its absence the party was often limited to semantics, to arguing, again, that only they could represent Scotland's best interests in Westminster. A strong Scottish voice, a stronger Scotland.
Similarly, they continued to repeat that every vote their way increases the chances of an SNP majority north of the border, and with it their political mandate for a second independence referendum - especially when combined with the results in the General Election of 2015 and the Scottish parliamentary elections of last year.
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But recently a number of people, including party members and supporters, began to point out that mere sophistry wasn't enough, especially in an election that had moved, nationally at least, away from a focus on leadership to a debate over policy.
And we did get plenty of policy commitments - yet this is where things get tricksy.
Take the SNP pledge to raise the minimum wage to bring it into line with the Real Living Wage.
Eye-catching, popular, and entirely unachievable by a party standing only in Scotland, given that the minimum wage is set by the UK government.
Some have accused the SNP's reach of exceeding its grasp. But even they have no designs on Downing Street.
Nicola Sturgeon spoke of her "support" for a UK-wide 50p top rate of tax.
Yet again she needs much more than twice-yearly access to Number 10 to achieve that, and is certainly not in favour of doing it unilaterally in Scotland, despite having the power.
In truth, all of the smaller parties articulate positions and policies they will never have the opportunity to implement.
It serves to define them and their approach from the opposition benches.
But there are three key differences.
First, the SNP does have power in that it forms the Scottish Government - there often *is* something they can do unilaterally.
Second, that they're only standing in Scotland. Third, that their ultimate ambition is for Scotland to be independent.
Theresa May says there will be
For all the SNP talk of a political mandate the constitution is one of those reserved matters on which Westminster has authority, which means indyref2 will not happen until the 2020s.
Not what many of her supporters want to hear, of course, so a door to working with Labour has been left if not open then certainly ajar.
All the while repeated references to democracy and the will of the Scottish people will echo around the House of Commons chamber.
And perhaps the calculation is this - that against a backdrop of bruising Brexit negotiations, with a strong Scottish voice booming away about democratic deficits and the iniquities of Westminster rule, the most curious thing about Scottish politics would be if support for a second independence referendum did not rise, and significantly.