Share this page!

Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
Twitter logo
30 Mar, 8 tweets, 2 min read
To be clear - i'm signalling my intention, if elected to stand as presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament. I'm doing it now to make clear my intent. An independent as PO means nobody from any yes party giving up their membership to become an independent to be PO.
That means no lost votes on the floor of parliament.

Secondly, and some might disagree, but I feel I have proven I can walk the fine line down the middle of party politics.
Thirdly, let's face it, that skill will come in handy because my impression is that parliament is definitely going to need a referee. And better it be a yesser than a unionist.
Fourthly, when the SNP put their bill to the floor, a declaration of competence will be required from the presiding officer - and let's be clear here. There's one thing nobody can say about me - namely that I don't understand the complexities...
...of the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament to legislate for indyref 2 - It has literally been my life for the better part of a year with the #PeoplesAS30 AND over a decade and a half with relation to independence in general.
So the primary mandate I will be standing on is this

Martin Keatings for Presiding Officer!
#MartinKeatings4Referee
Politicians do love a good mandate.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Martin J Keatings #MK4PO

Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MartinJKeatings

Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
31 Mar
For 22 years, politicians have failed to answer a simple question. When 10,000 ordinary people sought to have it answered, they proclaimed that only politicians should be allowed to answer the question they have failed to.
We live in a nation where the people are supposed to be sovereign. The literal definition of sovereignty is "where power is derived". Telling 10,000 people and their representative you don't have the right to ask a simple question about your own country is not respect...
...for that sovereignty. It's a statement that you believe yourself to be above the peoples right to ask questions - that's just a fact.

But then to use the tax base of those same people to waste time, money and energy...
Read 11 tweets
Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
31 Mar
Politicians make promises and often they break them. I don't. I made a promise to do everything I possibly can to protect the peoples action and to push for the voices of the 10,000 who backed it.
It's extremely easy to criticise when you're not in full possession of the facts, and trust me, if you were, your hair would probably curly. I've asked people to give me a better option. They haven't. I therefore must take the least bad option to try and protect the case.
I do note, however, that those who have used the case for electoral advantage over the past year seem deafly silent on this and have also failed to come up with an alternative. Or should I say have avoided doing so. Go figure.
Read 8 tweets
Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
31 Mar
To be clear - my primary message in Mid-Scotland and Fife is going to be this:

1. Vote SNP on the constituency ballot.
2. In each household place one vote to Alba and One to me as an independent.

So if there are 4 in a house. Thats 2 to ALBA and two to myself.
With a large enough swing of Yes Voters in Fife. That's more than enough to ensure the election of me and multiple ALBA candidates.
It's a strategy that while meaning I am standing in Mid-Scotland and Fife and so are alba, if yes supporters in the region step up to the plate - it will MAXtheYES.
Read 4 tweets
Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
30 Mar
My announcement today has annoyed people - and I want to be upfront and tell you I understand completely. I also want to be upfront and tell you it is that I tried and failed to find a win win option.
The only thing I could do, and which seems to be a recurring theme in the UK, is to select the least bad option.
There are those who will rightly say that my standing as an independent betrays the fact that AFI stood down or ISP stood down. And for some part of that, you're probably right. But when push comes to shove. My first promise was to the 10,000 backers of the #peoplesas30.
Read 20 tweets
Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
30 Mar
If there's one thing the peoples' action has taught me, it is that if you leave it to politicians, you'll be waiting 20 years for an answer and still not get one.
Then if you try to get that answer for yourself, you'll end up being told it's not for the people to ask reasonable questions of law about their parliament that politicians have continuously failed to answer.
Simultaneously, you'll be told that politicians love a good mandate - So that's what I am doing.
Read 13 tweets
Martin J Keatings #MK4PO Profile picture
29 Mar
I face a dilemma, and I am going to say from the outset that I do not want SNP supporters fashioning this into a tool to beat ALBA supporters and I do not want ALBA supporters doing the same - and that goes for all other yessers as well.
Last night I had cause to update the backers in the peoples action - and let me make this clear to the lord advocate and the advocate general - the idea that ordinary citizens don't have the right to ask reasonable questions of the court on matters regarding their own....
....parliament is the single most self-entitled, narcissistic, egomaniacal and ludicrous thing I have ever heard and I will defend to the death the right of the ordinary person to do so - because we're right - politicians work for us, not the other way around. And so do you!
Read 14 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @MartinJKeatings has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @MartinJKeatings!

Read all threads by @MartinJKeatings