By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Anyone who tuned in to Parliament TV last night to watch the debate on the Scotland Bill saw Westminster at its finest. In fact, the spectacle was so revealing that some online commentators suggested that the SNP should simply make every person in Scotland watch a recording of the entire debate and so ensure that Scotland becomes independent immediately. The contempt for Scotland was evident in every word spoken by the Unionist MPs, by every facial expression and every farmyard braying noise they uttered although, to be fair, this noise was not particularly loud since the Lib Dems could not be bothered to turn up at all and the Labour and Tory benches were packed with as many as hardly any MPs. When those few souls did stand up to speak in the debate, they spent most of their time talking about English Votes for English Laws.

It all changed when it came time to vote, of course. Then, miraculously summoned to vote on something they hadn’t bothered to listen to, Tory MPs arrived in their hundreds to march through the lobby voting down every change the SNP had asked for. Labour, to be fair, only really voted against giving Holyrood the right to control Tax Credits, a hypocritical stance given the hullaballoo Kezia Dugdale and her cronies have been making over Tax credits but that’s Labour for you. On the rest of the issues under discussion, Labour adopted their usual position of abstaining.

So it was that Scotland was graciously granted power over Road Signs but denied any control over things like Tax Credits, Human Rights, and Gender Equality legislation.

The entire thing was a farce. Scotland was denigrated and derided at every opportunity, so much so that Angus Robertson, SNP leader in the Commons, was unable to finish his summing up speech because the Speaker cut him off in mid-sentence, presumably because the Unionist MPs had run out of insults and wanted to go home.

Naturally, we will now see Unionist MPs proclaiming that the Vow has been delivered yet again. That Vow has now been delivered so many times it’s beginning to resemble a pile of junk mail being shoved through Scotland’s metaphoric letterbox.

It’s not all over yet, though. The House of Lords, that bastion of democracy, has still to go over the Bill and approve it. Not that anyone with any sense is expecting them to reject or even slightly amend it but the Bill is not yet law and so absolutely nothing has been delivered yet, not even the power to design Road Signs with Saltires on them.