FORMER Labour PM Harold Wilson once said a week could be a long time in politics.

If that’s true then five years is an eternity.

5 Former First Minister Alex Salmond says Prime Minister Theresa May is an Empress with no political clothes whatsoever

Five years ago to this day, Prime Minister David Cameron popped up on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show to say he was granting Scotland the right to have a referendum on independence.

Cameron was, at first, super cocky about his chances of winning.

Independence support was at 28 per cent and nobody believed that a Yes campaign could prevail.

But by 2014 he was in a state of panic, abandoning Prime Minister’s Questions to rush north and deliver a last minute “vow” to keep Scotland in line.

Scotland had our referendum and we just missed our chance.

I resigned as First Minister but the huge political change just kept on coming.

Labour were eviscerated by the SNP at the 2015 General Election, punished by the people for colluding with the Tories to do Scotland down.

Then came Brexit and the demise of Cameron, while Scotland voted overwhelmingly to keep our millennium-old European connections.

This is important.

During the Scottish referendum the Better Together side — the Tories and Labour — argued that a Yes vote would see Scotland booted out of Europe and a No vote would keep Scotland in Europe.

5 Alex Salmond rallies the people to stand behind First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Credit: PA:Press Association

For example, Tory leader Ruth Davidson promised “No means we stay in” on September 2, 2014 during an STV referendum debate.

With Brexit, the opposite happened. Scotland now faces being dragged out of Europe because we are not independent.

One of the big lies of the No campaign has been exposed for all to see.

There are plenty of others, of course, ranging from austerity economics to sanctioning the poor.

But Europe is the biggie.

And now comes Nicola Sturgeon’s manifesto pledge to keep Scotland in Europe.

We could do this by helping to keep the whole UK in the single market but given Westminster Tory prejudice and Labour’s weakness this doesn’t seem very likely.

We could also do it by gaining a special status for Scotland.

This is much more possible.

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After all, there are going to be special deals for Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and the car industry in Sunderland. So why not for Scotland?

Such a deal is both feasible and would make Scotland super attractive for investment and very prosperous.

And the more the Tories fear Scottish independence then the more likely they are to bow to Scotland’s will.

But what happens if Westminster still refuses to meet Scotland’s interests and turns its dismissive Nelson’s eye to Scotland?

That is where a second independence referendum comes in.

Five years ago Cameron claimed he was granting Scotland the vote.

But it was never Cameron’s right to grant, like some medieval Lord of the Manor.

5 It's been five years since former Prime Minister David Cameron threw down the gauntlet to Alex Salmond over Scottish Independence Credit: PA Archive

It was the right of the Scottish nation to demand a referendum — and it still is.

Cameron’s hand was forced by the votes of the Scottish people and our parliament.

And exactly the same thing would happen to current PM Theresa May if the Scottish Parliament so determines and so votes.

Remember David Cameron wasn’t half the politician that Harold Wilson was and Theresa May is not even of Cameron’s calibre.

Wilson was a political magician who won Labour four out of five elections and a European referendum.

In contrast, Cameron almost lost Scotland and bungled the EU poll. He is now on the after dinner speaking circuit.

5

But in No10, May makes Cameron look formidable.

At least Cameron gave the impression of being in charge — and that puts him one up on his dithering and swithering successor.

Theresa May is the Empress with no political clothes whatsoever.

For months she has been pretending that she was keeping her top secret Brexit plan under wraps.

In fact, after this week’s shock resignation of her top Euro negotiator, we now know the plan is not a secret or being strategically concealed.

The Great British Brexit plan does not even exist.

5 First Minster Nicola Sturgeon is the woman with the plan for Scotland Credit: PA:Press Association

The contrast with Nicola Sturgeon could not be greater.

The muddle of Westminster is replaced with clarity in Scotland.

She is the woman with the plan, the worked out strategy to protect Scotland’s place in Europe and the determination to see it through.

The country needs to get behind our First Minister — and prepare for a second independence referendum.

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