The 1918 Election: Ireland’s Rejection of its Failed Nationalist Party

Cathal Brennan and John Dorney of the Irish History Show Podcast have a remarkable knowledge of the events that led to the momentous election in December 1918. 

That election was a referendum on the achievements of the nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party, who, eight years on from their huge majority in the 1910 election, hadn’t achieved even their most modest demand for home rule. 

It’s probably fair to say the IPP had reached an accommodation with the colonial power. It had caved in time after time, hoping that supporting England’s war against Germany, and indicating a willingness to accept a form of ‘temporary’ partition in the north, would get home rule over the line. But London never made good on its commitment. For we Scots, there are lessons to be learned. 

Although our history as a colonised/annexed nation is different from Ireland’s, there are a number of parallels, not least between the IPP and our own SNP. Both failed at Westminster despite a huge majority of nationalist representatives, both reached an accommodation with the ‘imperial’ power, both ‘played the game’ and got nowhere. There are others, see how many you can identify during the podcast. 

In  some ways, the 2015 SNP landslide was Scotland’s verdict on devolutionary Labour. Labour in Scotland were shown to be nothing more than willing lobby-fodder with no interest in any constitutional change that would affect their comfy seats on the Westminster gravy train. 

However, GE 2024 is a chance to pass our verdict on the failed party of independence. The SNP keep telling us that independence cannot be achieved without them, but it is now all but certain that it will never be achieved with them. They’ve played the game and are now about to become an irrelevance. The British state sees its chance to move in for the kill. 

Whether Sturgeon and Swinney have been willing ‘agents of influence’ for the British state in all of this, only time will tell. However, before our very eyes Sturgeon has laid the SNP, and with it, a huge section of the independence movement, in a coffin supplied by the British state. Swinney, along with others, is about to nail that coffin shut. 

Scottish voters returning to Labour is a political-tribal equivalent of a dog going back to its own vomit. After the betrayal of 2014 it is mind-boggling that Scots would turn to Labour again. The entire national betrayal by the Scottish mercenaries of the colonial English ‘uniparty’ must not be forgotten. That is no doubt the reason for the 24/7 media blitz, featuring rictus-grin selfies of Labour candidates and activists holding placards with the word ‘change’. The exact same thing Gordon Brown promised in 2014 – if we voted No to independence. We know how that ended. 

Like the Irish Parliamentary Party during the second decade of the 20th century, the SNP has played the Westminster game, during the second decade of the 21st century and lost. As long as our representatives march off to London we will continue to lose. But we have alternatives, candidates from Alba, ISP, Indy1st and SSP are standing. It is a huge disappointment that there has been little or no cooperation between these groups. Those who’ve spurned the chance to do that know who they are. 

Many voters will reject the SNP out of apathy, anger or sheer exasperation. I can’t think of one of them that deserves re-election, as those MPs still in the party remained mostly silent during the excesses of Sturgeonism, remained silent during the character assassination of Alex Salmond. In fact, after his victory in two court cases many SNP MPs continued, and indeed stepped up, their attacks on Mr Salmond, without whom almost none of them would be sitting comfortably at Westminster raking in salaries far in excess of their pay grade and abilities. 

Only one of the new parties born out of frustration with SNP failure has embraced the concept of abstentionism — that is, of course, the ISP. They also have a clear understanding of the fact that Scottish sovereignty lies with the people of Scotland – not their elected representatives. Elected representatives are chosen on the basis of a political agreement with the voters. We elect them to carry out our wishes. It is imperative that we the people do not tolerate politicians, who, once elected, ignore the instructions we gave them. The six-time mandated SNP are no longer fit for purpose. They are in cahoots with the British state as Labour were for much of the 20th century. 

You may want to just bypass the 2024 election. However, apathy could allow English uniparty candidates from Labour, LibDem and the Tories to replace the failed SNP without much of a fight. But even though the SNP hardly deserve a single MP returned, we can still pass our verdict on their failure by voting for one of the alternative independence candidates standing. Enough of a vote transfer to a more radical indy party would be snatching a significant victory from the jaws of defeat. This in turn can be a forerunner of the Holyrood 2026 election that could see the English uniparty completely marginalised in Scotland via a sensible use of Scotland’s proportional representation rules.