Scottish Political News

Salmond's judgement as a leader questioned again

Just when the SNP were doing do so well in the polls, Alex Salmond demonstrates once again how they continually peak too soon in the polls and then blow it.

Great potential out of the debate on Iraq in Westminster today then Salmond goes on YouTube to announce that the motion will impeach Blair if passed.  As Iain Dale points out, all this will do is simply  ensure that Blair receives more support from Labour MPs who otherwise might have considered voting against the government.

See the clip here.

Good old Alex.

Scottish Conservative Policy Conference

Tomorrow (Friday) Annabel Goldie will address the Scottish Conservative Policy Conference.  Here's hoping that this conference will actually come up with policies that will get the public interested in the Tories again.

On the face of it you would think it was encouraging.  Annabel will say tomorrow:

"I applaud the vision of David Cameron in making us examine what we are as a party and how we are seen by others.  He was spot on when he said we had spent far too much time talking about what was important to us rather than what was important to ordinary people. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Scotland.  Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Conservative Party are back, slap bang in the mainstream where we belong."

So, that's encouraging, she has accepted that much of what the Tories are saying in Scotland is irrelevant to most Scot's every day lives.  They haven't provided evidence that they have really moved on.

However, I was disappointed when I read how she thought they were back in the mainstream with policies already announced:

• a drugs strategy to take people off drugs
• help for pensioner households with their Council Tax
• a robust sentencing proposal for repeat offenders
• an eco bonus scheme

Hardly new positioning that demonstrates a change in direction!

Hopefully tomorrow's policy conference will deliver some new policies that really do speak about what the average punter is concerned about.  However, they need to ensure that some normal every day people become Tory MSPs next May too.

The Scottish Secretaries

Tonight is the launch of David Torrance's (ex-STV Politics Now) new book "The Scottish Secretaries" which charts the history of those great people (well, some of them!) who have filled the post of Scottish Secretary since  1885.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it will be a fascinating read.  This is David's first book and I wish him all the best.  David is currently working for David Mundell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and David Cameron's "man in Glasgow".  Not too convinced yet that he will be the next that David can write about!

Get on with the job?

Jack McConnell's speech at the JP Mackintosh Lecture last night concluded with the statement "It's time to get on with the job".  You could say that he has rarely been so right.  Shame he's waited nearly eight years to realise that!

However, the main point that the First Minister was making was that he thinks the devolution settlement is about right and that we should just get on with it.  You can see where he is coming from.  Eight years isn't long in terms of major constitutional change and devolution does need time to bed in properly.  However, there is no doubt in my mind that the system isn't quite right.  Personally I wouldn't have had devolution in the first place, but it needs to be accepted that it is what the vast majority of Scots wanted.  So where to from here?

I think the Union is important and that we need to maintain the UK.  There are so many things that bind us, relationships, culture, finance, infrastructure etc etc.  It would seem stupid to divorce the countries for purely a political reason when so many other things bind us together.

However, devolution, and especially the financial settlement, will not work in the medium to long term.  This will become even more apparent when there are different parties in power north and south of the border.  I'm no fan of the Lib Dems in the slightest, but I'm rapidly coming round to the conclusion that some form of federalism may be the right way forward.  Maybe we should have a UK Parliament that looks purely after foreign affairs, defence and projects of national importance (arguably social welfare too) while national parliaments (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) look after all other affairs and are responsible for raising taxes.

I think this model would certainly work for Scotland politically.  However, what I haven't looked at and maybe someone can help, is the financial impact of this and how would the UK services be paid for?  Would it be a UK tax or a cost to be paid for by the national parliaments?  What would happen if the national parliament wasn't too pleased about a UK decision, eg nuclear weapons.

So, not an answer here, just some thoughts.

McConnell's full speech can be read here: Download in_the_interest_of_our_nation.doc

Iain Dale has some interesting comments on the English Parliament questions here

Scotland needs a Lord Harris

Lord Harris of High Cross, founding director of the Institute of Economic Affairs and "chief architect of Thatcherism" died yesterday. Lord Harris played a leading role, through his work with the IEA, in guiding Thatcher's government on many a policy issue.

Scotland needs figures like Lord Harris to play a key role in developing policy. The Scottish Tories are not alone in being devoid of any sensible progressive policy development. However, the Scottish Tories do seem most unable to come up with any development at all.

Speaking to a leading academic, during David Cameron's visit to Edinburgh last week, he told me how he was dismayed when he offered to help contribute to the Tories policy development in Scotland. He was bluntly told that his efforts would be better spent down south where the real policy development is going to take place.

Annable Goldie and Murdo Fraser will not offer the country any real fresh thinking for May 2007. They are certainly unlikely to offer any policies based on freedom. Annabel is so averse to thinking things through that she hasn't even reshuffled the policy spokepeople she inherited when she took over from David McLetchie. What hope if she isn't even brave enough to do that more than a year after taking over at the helm?

New Unionism?

Former Tory MSP Brian Monteith has published an article on Conservative Home. You can read the article here.

Brian is calling for the Tories to adopt a new unionism with the Scottish Tories becoming completely independent of the party in England. He also calls for more powers, primarily tax, for the Scottish Parliament, something he has championed for a long time.

Brian may well be on to something with the Tories needing to completely revitalise the Party in Scotland. Maybe a complete split / new centre-right party is what is needed. There is definitely more than 14% of Scots who think in a centre right way, but it looks as though few want to actually vote for the Scottish Tories.

Now The Cardinal Backs Independence

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, has become the latest to speak out in favour of independence.  Well, that's not quite true. He merely said that he would be "happy" if Scots wanted independence and that it would come before long.  His intentions are clear and he has been careful not to be explicit, but we are under no illusion that he is now tacitly backing independence.

I might start to listen with more interest to Cardinal O'Brien's thoughts when the church stops preaching to the rest of us about their moral values and when they desist from getting involved in political debates and trying to force their opinions on the rest of what is now broadly a secular country. 

I'm all for religious freedom and people being allowed to lead their lives as they wish.  O'Brien and his colleagues need to understand that the world has changed dramatically.  If people wish to follow a certain faith, thats fine but don't push your values on to the rest of us.

Where did that rant come from?

Tom Farmer says Independence is inevitable

Tom Farmer's comments about Independence being inevitable in the Sunday Times today are not exactly surprising after his £100,000 donation to the SNP last week.  Anyone who believe he has donated this huge sum of money purely to balance the argument must believe that pigs can fly.

However, Farmer is not alone in beginning to push the independence message into the mainstream.  Interestingly, this push is not just being made by the SNP.  I think Farmer is right when he says that many in the business community feel that Independence might be a better solution than the mess that is devolution in its current form.  Sadly, I don't think Farmer or people like Michael Fry have really thought through the consequences of full on independence.

There is an argument for the Parliament having more tax powers (fiscal freedom or whatever you want to call it), but the reality is that the UK is about much more than just finance.  One of the biggest thing that binds us is our culture and national institutions that we share a love-hate relationship with.

What Farmer and the business community should be looking at is not constitutional change, but a change of direction and attitude by the Parliament.  For too long the Parliament has focused on social and community issues.  These are important, but most MSPs and certainly the Executive have failed to pay any more than lip-service to the Scottish economy and what we can do to grow it.  When they focus on that as well, then devolution might begin to work.

David Cameron comes back to Scotland

David Cameron is coming back to Scotland on Monday. He will be in Edinburgh although his full itinerary isn't known yet. He will however be speaking to activists at a lunch at Prestonfield House, the place that Lord Watson previously tried to burn down.

Hopefully he has got a bit more to say to Scotland than his last visit. On his last trip he tried to connect with Scotland by apologising for the way that the English deal with Scottish bank notes. Ok, we all get mighty pissed off when our bank notes are not accepted down south, but Cameron didn't hit it on the head.

Cameron needs to spend his time in Edinburgh educating Annabel Goldie and her colleagues about what people want and need in modern Scotland. The Scottish Tories are still miles behind the efforts being made down south by the party in Westminster. They have simply failed to understand how much the country has moved on.

Importantly, Cameron needs to tell the Scottish Tory group to start breaking out of the cosy consensus that is the Scottish Parliament. Along with the SNP the Tories are giving Labour and the Lib Dems far too easy a ride.

Impossible Dream

Hilarious! Click here for a video clip showing Tommy Sheridan's mum, Alice, singing the Impossible Dream at the launch of Solidarity. It is complete weegie party singing at its worst best!

The best bit is watching fellow Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne trying not to wet herself laughing at the fantastic diva that is Mrs Sheridan!