GORDON & NICOLA TAKE US FOR MORONS

David Miliband wasn't the only New Labour figure to re-emerge this week.  Gordon Brown also resurfaced to lecture us on Brexit, using the spectre of Scottish independence as his own personal Project Fear.

Brown was always a passionate advocate for the Union, it's one of his saving graces.  However, this speech was driven more by his hatred of Brexit, rather than love for the Union.  He bemoans the Tories for attempting to respect the 2016 result and labels them the "Conservative & Brexit Party".  Why on earth should any UK-wide party be opposed to Brexit?  The UK voted for Brexit.  We joined the single market (as it was then known) as the UK and we voted to leave it as the UK.  We will, possibly, leave the European Union and subsequently prosper as the UK.  The SNP argument that Brexit somehow subverts the will of the Scots is nonsense.  Sturgeon and her comrades are always moaning about being ruled from London, but London voted to Remain also Nicola.  Should they secede from the UK also?

Ironically in the 1975 referendum there were only two areas in the UK that voted against our continued membership and they were both in... yes, you guessed it, Scotland.  Sturgeon is clutching at straws and her crusade for so-called IndyRef2 is fatally flawed.  Despite all her posturing there is no significant polling shift towards independence.  She continually conflates Brexit with an increase in support for independence, but there is simply no evidence for it.  This was highlighted recently on the BBC's Question Time where the only Brexit supporter on the panel was also an advocate of Scottish independence - a "Leave Leave" voter you might say.  There are also "Remain Leave" voters, "Leave Remain" voters and "Remain Remain" voters.  Sturgeon's assumption that every single SNP voter is a hardcore Remainer is just plain daft.

For all his faults we shouldn't dismiss Gordon Brown altogether.  As a former British (and Scottish) Prime Minister, he is a valuable asset in the fight to maintain the Union.  However, when he conflates Brexit and Scottish independence we've got to call him out on it.  After all, we all know that the 2014 Scottish independence referendum was a 'once in a generation' event.  The SNP told us this countless times!  It's not as if there would be another Scottish referendum any time soon.  Sound familiar?