Interference By The UK Government
The party was accused of being paranoid when it claimed that it was being spied upon by government agents. The SNP's paranoia was justified when leaked government files proved that the government had in fact spied on the SNP. The Labour Party, which controlled the government in this time, has drawn consistent Scottish support since Labour's founding had seen the SNP become much more than a protest vote in the 1970s. Labour continues to ridicule the SNP for their claims of government interference. "The SNP appears totally paranoid. All the evidence shows they are absolutely no threat whatsoever to the British state," said a Labour spokesperson in response to the SNP's complaints. Despite these words, the Labour government has had several files on the SNP sealed for fifty years, citing reasons of national security.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Scottish National Party
Famous quotes containing the words interference and/or government:
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The government is huge, stupid, greedy and makes nosy, officious and dangerous intrusions into the smallest corners of life—this much we can stand. But the real problem is that government is boring. We could cure or mitigate the other ills Washington visits on us if we could only bring ourselves to pay attention to Washington itself. But we cannot.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)