Social commentator and lockdown loudmouth Toby Young seems to have tipped the scales in favour of independence for many people after proclaiming to have become an English nationalist thanks to “ungrateful devolved nations”.
The Spectator columnist, who recently set up a dating site for ‘lockdown sceptics’, accused Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of behaving like “irresponsible students” during the coronavirus pandemic, “running up massive debts on their credit cards because they can count on the bank of mum and dad to bail them out”.
He takes particular issue with Scotland, saying the First Minister has placed large chunks of the country “under virtual house arrest” to “whip up nationalist sentiment”, rather than protect people from a highly infectious illness which has already killed at least 44,000 people across the UK this year.
Young also claims that Welsh FM Mark Drakeford simply wants to enhance the standing of Keir Starmer’s position on a circuit breaker lockdown with the latest restrictions announced.
“All of which has left me feeling like an angry, red-faced gammon,” he adds. “Up until now, I haven’t minded subsidising our lower-income neighbours, even though they’ve never exhibited the slightest flicker of gratitude.”
Previously Young wrote that spending to “prolong the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people is an irresponsible use of taxpayer’s money”.
Needless to say the reaction to his latest piece has been far from complementary:
Well, everyone else anticipated it pic.twitter.com/XxYy23TdDo
— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) October 22, 2020
Hold on, Toby Young is against Welsh independence?
— Simon Price (@simon_price01) October 22, 2020
Right, that's it, I'm down off the fence. Fortify Offa's Dyke NOW!
(Working name: The Ieuan Curtain.) https://t.co/cmyeYBr6rQ
Toby Young is doing a great job advocating for independence here. Cheers!https://t.co/ELjLBbgMG6
— The National (@ScotNational) October 22, 2020
Related: Tory MP quits government job over free school meal vote