First Minister Alex Salmond has indicated that the gloves are off in terms of relations between the SNP Government in Scotland and the Labour Government at Westminster.
He told Holyrood magazine that the Foot and Mouth affair, the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement, and surrenders that the previous Scottish administration had made to Westminster had made up his mind to make his battle public.
He said he would have relished a General Election but now valued still having a seat at Westminster. “Having a platform on Prime Minister’s Questions might just be a good idea. There may be questions I want to ask Gordon Brown publicly, which previously, if he had kept to his acknowledgment of having a reasonable approach to things, that I would have wanted to do privately. Now a public forum might be better than a private one.
“[Labour] must have known this would happen if they understood what they were doing with the budget. If it has all been some oversight, then it can be corrected. If it’s deliberate, then obviously they have taken the gloves off; if they want a political battle, then we’ll have a political battle.”
“I am not going out to pick fights but don’t underestimate for one minute the extent to which I relish a battle,” Salmond added.
“The more I find out about this job, the more surrenders of the previous administration I find. There is one today, for example, that I just discovered about an arrangement made about council tax. Basically, having made an agreement which would favour Scotland in circumstances of sharp rises south of the Border, in 2005 they (the Labour administration) gave it away in negotiation with the Treasury, all because Gordon had glowered at Jack or something, and they signed it away. That signing away will cost us £100m this year.
“Why did they do it? For a quiet life, not to be seen arguing with their big brother, not to be seen to be in a position of disarray with Westminster, frightened to stand up for Scotland even when it was necessary and, of course, in an environment of substantial increases in public spending they had the luxury of being able to delve into other budgets and pretend it didn’t matter. Of course it matters, it’s about Scotland.”
Salmond said that he had tried to find consensus where he could, but that he had also tried to keep his eyes on the prize and the vision of a better society, and that the upcoming financial squeeze would mean a change of emphasis.
“I think there will be much more of an accent over the next few months of trying to get public perception into the realisation that independence is not simply something desirable or to think about but is really required very quickly if we are to prevent real damage to Scottish society.”
One person has commented on this article. 1. wee Joke
Anonymous, Unregistered That's just the tip of the iceberg ,wait till the other items come out, that wee Joke Gave Away. While tryin oan his braw Kilt,
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