Celtic Alliance gets ready to rumble

It took a while...

From: "Mr O'Neill"
To: "snp hq"
Sent: Sunday, 14 March, 2010 11:55:19 AM
Subject: Negotiations with N.Irish Parties

Dear Sir-Madam,

Two weeks ago, your party mentioned that you were planning negotiations with both Plaid Cymru and the Northern Irish parties about some kind of informal pact in the case of a hung parliament.
I was wondering if there had been any progress with the N. Irish parties?

Thanks,
Mr O'Neill

...but two weeks later, I got my answer:

from SNP HQ
to Mr O'Neill

Dear O'Neill,

Many thanks for your e-mail.

The SNP has set out it's joint proposals with Plaid Cymru today, details of which are available on the BBC website:

www.bbc.co.uk

Neither the SNP nor Plaid have made agreements with any of the Northern Irish parties.

Best wishes

SNP HQ

Whether negotiations took place with the one party whose narrow, regionalist economic priorities would have tied in with those of the Celtic Alliance (ie the DUP), is something we're not going to find out, I guess.

As I have mentioned before, from a nationalist point of view the Alliance makes perfect sense, even if we are not to be lumbered with a hung parliament:

"A Celtic alliance of Plaid and SNP MPs would be in a position to negotiate real benefits for the people of Wales and Scotland," Jones said. "The greater the vote for Plaid and the SNP, the better the deal for Wales and Scotland. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference."

The new nationalist coalition, called 4 Wales 4 Scotland, commits the two parties to press for "fair funding" for the devolved governments, protecting local services and the most vulnerable, help for the green economy and support for business growth.

Yes, officially. Unofficially, any rise in blood pressure suffered by the English electorate due to such pork-barrelling would also, no doubt, be a welcomed bonus.