Understanding the significance of Scottish politics
I was asked recently to explain Scottish politics to a group of well-meaning, interested in The Union, Conservatives based outside of Scotland. While it is tempting to characterise such a topic in the words of Macbeth “It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”, this would only be a partial truth.
Certainly, in discussing Scottish politics, the tale, I would very much qualify as the idiot. I am by no means a political expert - my area of expertise is technology - and I can only speak to what I have observed and learned through lived experience. Yet it is a tale that is very much full of sound and fury. A tale that, contrary to Macbeth’s soliloquising on life, very much carries tremendous significance.
It is tempting to discuss Scottish politics via lenses of devolved parliamentary power, the system used for elections, or how the Scottish Parliament operates. While useful in their own ways, they don’t really speak to the nature of Scottish Politics. They don’t, simply put, explain why there is such sound, fury, and significance.
The fraught nature of the Kingdom of Scotland’s Union with the Kingdom of England in 1707 would seem an obvious place to start when trying to understand today’s fractious relationship. Time and energy can be spent analysing the economic state of Scotland after a failed colony attempt on the Isthmus of Panama, the so-called Darien scheme, that led to the Union.
However, even a cursory glance at the history of this island spews forth a litany of conflicts and intrigue from each side unto the other. This holds true whether we consider the Kingdoms of Strathclut and Bernicia, or Scotland and England.
The sound and fury that fills Scottish politics is that of self-determination. The Scottish Nationalist Party are clear in their stated aim of dissolving the Union and returning Scotland to the world stage as an independent state. That, quite frankly, is their right.
The Nationalists feel that Scotland has suffered as an occupied territory. One that has seen their resources and people siphoned away to be wasted by an uncaring Parliament that has no thought other than that of its own aggrandisement.
It is, then, our challenge as Unionists to demonstrate the value that being part of this United Kingdom does, can, and will bring. This is not simply the preserve of Scottish Conservatives. All Conservatives in these United Kingdoms share the responsibility of extolling the virtues of the Union.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Scotland on his leadership anniversary was such a demonstration.
The Nationalists are in the fortunate position of being able to sell hope. They can rail against any perceived injustice blaming the spectre of Westminster and promising better in an independent Scotland.
The reality of the situation is that we Conservatives are so caught up in the Independence game that we are losing sight of the bigger picture.
Scotland has suffered years of mismanagement at the hands of successive SNP governments. Our once-vaunted education system is falling into ruin; our councils languish under Holyrood’s incessant drive to centralise power; SNP aligned activists spew unchecked bile and hatred against not only Westminster but elected Conservative representatives.
We have a chance as we approach the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary election to focus on these issues. To highlight the litany of mistakes and errors that have been perpetrated by the SNP on the people of Scotland. We must, however, come bearing solutions and hope of our own - we cannot rely solely on a narrative that only paints the SNP as a negative force without telling people what we stand for, and how a Scottish Conservative administration would make their lives better.
Our Scottish leadership must seize upon this with both hands. To fight the next election on constitutional grounds runs the very real risk of losing the Union.
We must find our sound and fury. Without it, we signify nothing.
Craig Docherty
Scotland Lead