JOHN McGURK

In the battle to find Britain’s most “Bloody Difficult Woman”, it does appear that Brexit Means Brexit Theresa is way ahead on points while Nicola Queen of Scots still remains in the “Nippy Sweetie” category.

There was certainly an upbeat reaction from Remainers in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum because the only politician who seemed to care about the consequences of the UK leaving Europe was indeed our Nicola with her claims that Scotland could scupper the vote.

But as the weeks have passed, it appears that she has continually been outmanoeuvred and outflanked by the new occupant in Downing Street who, so far, has hardly put a foot wrong although the jury must still be out on Boris as Foreign Secretary.

Nicola, of course, has been rumbled. What she was really talking about was using the decision by the majority of Scots to stay in Europe as the trigger and the platform for the grand plan to launch a second independence referendum.

Now the reality is finally hitting home: Brexit, in fact, has made it more difficult for Scotland to become an independent nation.

The idea of a hard border with England and the uncertainty and instability which would be caused by no guarantee of an independent Scotland getting into the EU is a very unattractive prospect even for many nationalists.

Scottish nationalism and the independence crusade appears to be in trouble.

Since the June 23rd EU referendum vote, it’s been all downhill for Nicola and Scottish independence provoking the thought that after nine years in power the SNP is finally running out of steam and that their rule, like all governments, is doomed to end in tears.

That GERS report, revealing a £15 billion black hole in Scotland’s spending because of the slump in North Sea oil and gas, was followed by a series of body blows which have served to rip the independence argument into pieces.

We were soon to learn that Scotland’s budget deficit was 9.5%, more than double that of the UK, and even worse than that basket case Greece.      …You must be joking!

Despite the SNP predictions that North Sea revenues would reach £7.9 billion this year, we learned that production had fallen to a measly £60 million…Oops!

Then it became clear that not all nationalists were unhappy about Brexit when the likes of Alex Neil, the former Scottish cabinet minister, suggested that we could be better off without Europe…Shut up Alex!

But when Joseph Stiglitz, the American economist who advises Nicola, announced that the SNP’s pledge in 2014 that an independent Scotland would keep the pound would have been a mistake, her head must have dropped into her hands …Now he tells us!

Stiglitz also said that the only way an independent Scotland could deal with its financial black hole would be to adopt a Scottish pound and devalue it  …No way!

To top off a horror summer for Nicola, a YouGov poll for The Times concluded that she was less popular in Scotland than the Tory leader Ruth Davidson … Aaaaaargh!

What next… Alex Salmond joining Ed Balls on Strictly Come Dancing?

Nicola’s reaction to all of this has been to launch a three month “listening” exercise involving a new website, many boring town hall meetings and the setting up of something called a “Growth Commission”.

This latter initiative is apparently to work out how Scotland could be economically independent and what currency we would use. One wonders if Joe Stiglitz will be invited to pitch in?

Then there was the Stirling “awayday” for all SNP MPs, MSPs and MEPs presumably to try and figure out how to rescue the independence project. Has anyone got any ideas?

These action plans may well sound very plausible to those already converted to the nationalist cause.

But don’t forget that “Bloody Difficult Woman” Theresa.

The last time the constitutional procedure was checked, she still has to agree to a second referendum and she is clearly no David Cameron. Oh dear!

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