AS the most significant US election in over a century is now upon us, the world holds its breath to see who will emerge as the most powerful politician on earth.

A win for President Trump will doubtless witness four more years of populist government that makes Sauron, the Dark Lord from Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, look like a liberal. A win for Joe Biden may witness a return to more traditional and less divisive US internal and external policies. Crucially though, a victory for the Democrat will force the UK Prime Minister to reassess his relationship with the USA and possibly even his increasingly haphazard policy on Brexit.

Mr Johnson has signalled that a no- deal Brexit, what he euphemistically terms an Australian solution, now looks to be a formality. Scapegoating the EU and attempting to appear as an honest broker only damages Mr Johnsons national and international credibility further and rings urgent alarm bells regarding the months and years ahead.

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A No-Deal solution has been the clear objective of the Westminster government for some time. It is the route by which their ultimate goal of a laissez- faire market economy can be achieved. The onset of the global pandemic has been regarded by government advisers like Dominic Cummings as an inconvenience or even a useful deviation from his long-term strategy to inflict a libertarian capitalist regime on to the UK, irrespective of its social, political or economic effects on the mass of the population.

Mr Cummings is an admirer of the American president and his unpredictable ignoring of democratic rules and precedents.Like Nigel Farage, he recognises that a defeat for President Trump will damage his political ambitions, as Trumps unfettered populist blueprints would be consigned to the history books.

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Mr Cummings thrives on conflict and division and will advise the Prime Minister to continue to stick to an agenda that openly flouts accepted practices. The flagrant breaking of international law witnessed in the controversial UK Internal Market Bill are irrefutable evidence of this. Not only do they openly declare war on devolved administrations but they also adopt a dangerous and cavalier attitude to the fragile peace on the island of Ireland.

The Westminster government would argue that the end justifies the means, irrespective of the effect this may have on others pure Trumpian philosophy in action.

A No-Deal Brexit is a vehicle for increased isolationist individualism, emasculating devolution and eroding the ethos and practices of the welfare state in Britain. It is a gateway to privatised healthcare, widespread dilution of workers rights and the advent of an Americanised social Darwinism wherein the poorest and most vulnerable are discarded as unproductive. The CBI and the TUC have jointly condemned any notion of a No-Deal for two years but have been summarily ignored or scorned by those in power.

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With just two months left we are now on the cusp of leaving the EU without any deal and trading on World Trade Organisation terms, with tariffs and quotas reinstated which will, in the short and long term, prove disastrous for industries such as hospitality, farming, the car industry and fishing. Animal welfare, food and environmental standards will be jettisoned amidst a rogue government running a rogue economy. An estimated 85% of companies will not have necessary documentation in place by January 1, meaning massive border queues for up to nine months with an obvious impact on food and medical distribution in the UK. HMRC estimate that they will spend upwards of 15 billion more on paperwork as we witness a massive increase in bureaucracy.

To make matters worse, if that were possible, it is predicted by most reputable economists that Scotland will suffer more than the rest of the UK under a No-Deal Brexit. Our GDP will decline by around 5% over the first five years of a process that Jacob Rees-Mogg said would take 50 years to settle. As we anticipate a dramatic fall in the pound, increased prices, panic buying and stockpiling it is a puzzle to me why the latest polls put support for an independent Scotland at only 58%.

A No-Deal Brexit will represent the culmination of Cummingss grand plan for a right-wing libertarian state that could lose its main ally and ideological sugar daddy in the coming days. Regardless of how he and Boris Johnson steer the Westminster ship of government, it appears to be irreparably wounded in Scottish eyes by the continuation of a self-harming, disastrous No-Deal Brexit in the midst of a ruinous pandemic.

As Nicholas II and Rasputin are remembered for their part in the end of the Russian monarchy, so Messrs Johnson and Cummings will be remembered for being the harbingers of an independent Scotland.

Owen KellyStirling

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US election outcome will determine what kind of Brexit we get - The National