SCANDAL and this Tory UK government seem to go hand in hand. We are in the midst of one of the most sleaze-ridden Westminster governments in recent memory and the backhanders and brown envelopes continue to pile up.
From the early days of Boris Johnson’s government, we seen that he does not believe the rules apply to him and his government, such as when Dominic Cummings took a wrong turn on his way to Specsavers and ended up at Barnard Castle. From that moment and Boris Johnson’s insistence on defending Cummings, the groundwork was set that the Tory government thought they were above the rules.
The scandals since then have continued to pile-up. Whether it is the Owen Paterson scandal, Tory donors being handed an ermine cloak for the House of Lords or Boris Johnson’s cash for curtains. As each day passes more and more incidents of sleaze pile-up.
On Monday, the House of Commons carried out a three-hour emergency debate on MPs and how they behave outside the Commons. Boris Johnson did not even bother to turn up for the session, he just does not care about scrutiny and standards in public life. Once again, he has shown utter contempt for the people in this country and how he believes that the rules are for other people to follow, not him and his government.
READ MORE: Pete Wishart asks police to investigate Tory ‘cash for honours’ scandal
Do not think Labour and the LibDems are squeaky clean on this either. The LibDems called Monday’s debate, but them and Labour continue to hand out peerages to their donors like sweeties too.
The SNP does not take peerages in the House of Lords. It is an archaic, bloated institution that has no place in a modern democracy. It is the second biggest non-elected chamber in the world, just behind China, and it needs to be abolished.
An independent Scotland would be able to get rid of the House of Lords and the £300 a day that Tory, Labour and LibDem peers are paid.
Despite this, the House of Lords still has a role to play in law making. So, we have hundreds of Tory, Labour and LibDem pals and party donors paying millions of pounds to political parties and being rewarded with a life peerage in the House of Lords. This is blatant corruption and it absolutely stinks of it.
I have made a formal complaint to the Metropolitan Police calling on them to investigate Boris Johnson and his Tory government.
READ MORE: 'This is behaviour we see in Moscow, not Commons': Tories slammed over sleaze
We are returning to the dark days of cash for questions. The Tories are abusing the system and the Metropolitan Police should launch a fresh investigation into cash for peerages to determine whether a criminal offence has taken place.
This saga once again raises serious questions about the future that Scotland wants to build for itself as a nation. Do we want to continue to be under the control of a Westminster government that is sleaze-ridden, hands out peerages to their pals and tries to re-write the rulebook to get away with blatant corruption?
Labour and the LibDems are as culpable for this future for Scotland too, as they continue to support the union, implicitly supporting Scotland being subjected to a corrupt government that thinks the rules apply to everyone else apart from themselves.
It is time for Scotland to forge its own path away from the corrupt corridors of Westminster and create an independent nation that can shake off this broken system. The sooner we can do that then the better it will be for the people of Scotland.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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