WHAT YES NEED TO DO TO MAKE THINGS EQUAL FOR INDYREF2

THURSDAY IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR YES

There is a lot more at stake on Thursday than just determining who is going to be represented in Holyrood, no what is at stake is going to determine the ground rules for how the media, TV in particular, treat and balance their programmes in the event of any future referendum.

As this election has demonstrated beyond any doubt the BBC and other media outlets can be hugely creative when it comes to stopping pro Indy voices being heard. The blanket ban on Alba has been a democratic outrage. We are calling for our nations Independence but all too many in Scotland are happy to go along with letting the BBC DETERMINE who voters in Scotland should hear from.

Alarm bells should have been ringing in everyone’s ears at the pathetic excuse given as reason for Alba’s exclusion. They had never won an election to the Scottish Parliament. Really? The Party was only a few weeks old at the time, how could they ever overcome such a rule? It is a future can of worms that will unfairly impinge on any future political development in Scotland. I say Scotland because it only applies here. Different rules were applied in Wales and indeed in the London Mayoral Election where no such controls were applied.

Just think how this rule could have influenced elections in the past. What about when Roy Jenkins Social Democratic Party was formed.? Should they, as a new Party who had never won a seat at Westminster be excluded? Not a bit of it. Or what about Nigel Farage, his Party never won a seat at Westminster but he was never off the telly, indeed he had his own seat on Question Time? Then we had the creation of the Liberal Democrats when that new Party was formed. Were these BBC Scotland rules applied then? Of course not, none of them threatened the Union in the way Alba does.

The shame for Scotland is that the other supposedly democratic parties, out of naked self interest, went meekly along with it. Too scared or not principled enough to say to the BBC this is not on! We need considerably more courage and principle if we are ever to win Independence. It should be Scotland decides….not the BBC.

So what voters do on Thursday has added importance. If sufficient voters support Alba and they win representation at Holyrood and help form that Supermajority at Holyrood then it would be unthinkable for there to be anything other than equal balance on any Indyref programmes, three parties Tory, Labour and the Liberals supporting the Union and three parties SNP, GREENS AND ALBA supporting Independence. This would be hard for the BBC or anyone else to argue against, IMPOSSIBLE against a background of a supermajority in Holyrood.

So all Independence supporters need to realise what they do this Thursday could have a huge outcome in determining how fairly the programmes are organised in any future Referendum.

The polls are quite clear, the SNP will not win a single list seat on Thursday because their overwhelming success in the constituency seats divides their list vote by so many times they become meaningless. 

However, if instead of wasting their list vote and letting Unionists in the back door, sufficient SNP Indy supporters vote for ALBA then the BBC will have lost any opportunity to rig future Indyref debates or programmes in favour of the Union.

So instead of wasting your vote I would urge SNP voters to recycle it by voting for Alba on the list and severely tying up the BBC from being able to rig future programmes in the Union’s favour. Doing so will create the equal platform where the strength of our arguments in favour of Independence will win the day. It really is that important.

Let’s move Scotland forward on Thursday. We need to take these opportunities if we are ever to be successful. We need to stop squandering opportunity. We need to think strategically and recognise opportunity when it is presented before us. We really do!

Please share this everywhere. People need to understand this is much bigger than individual parties!

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland

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