By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Boris Johnson’s Tory Government have only been in power a few days, and already we’ve had insights into how they are going to operate. Over the past few days, we’ve heard:

  • People will need to get used to an Insurance-based healthcare system.
  • Police will be given powers to seize and destroy the property of Roma families who do not park on approved sites.
  • An investigation is to be launched into the roles of pro-Corbyn websites – allegedly on the grounds that they may have helped spread anti-Semitism.
  • Disabled people are not worth the minimum wage.
  • The Government are considering boycotting Radio 4 because of what they claim was anti-Johnson bias.
  • Commitments to maintain standards on Workers’ Rights and trading standards will be scrapped.

Where do you start with those sort of things? The one thing they all have in common is a strong authoritarian streak, which is what you should expect from a Government, and increasingly a society, which ticks so many boxes on Umberto Eco’s list of traits of a fascist regime. They are designed to demonise and marginalise vulnerable people, and to place even more people into situations of vulnerability. Coercion of media sites, whether mainstream or independent is also clearly high on the list of priorities. Sadly, I expect all of the above, and more, to become reality before too long.

Of course, some of the points listed were foreseen as probabilities before the General Election, and a lot of people who voted Tory are eventually going to discover they were lied to, but one other potential move was also predicted. That is the intention to repeal the Scotland Act and / or neuter or abolish the Scottish Parliament. It hasn’t reared its head yet, but you can be sure it is being considered. They didn’t acquire offices in Edinburgh and hire all those staff just to sit about doing nothing. Once the Withdrawal Bill is passed and the UK leaves the EU at the end of January, the power grab will begin.

Whatever plan Nicola Sturgeon has, she’s going to need to act quickly before she finds the rug pulled out from under her feet.