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SNP 'has shifted politics to the right' |
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Monday, 25 June 2007 |
Labour will work constructively with the SNP on its legislative programme, according to one of the contenders for the party’s leadership in Scotland.
Margaret Curran, the shadow justice secretary, said that Labour would
be a "constructive but forceful" opposition, sticking to the
centre-left agenda it had pursued during the life of devolution.
Speaking at Compromise or Conflict: are Holyrood and Westminster on
course for collision?, a seminar in Edinburgh last week organised by
the think-tank CentreForum, Curran said that the drive for
constitutional change that brought devolution was rooted in issues
affecting people in Scotland, particularly social injustice.
Curran contended that politics in Scotland had now shifted to the
right; that there was a "blatant" alliance between the SNP and the
Tories in Holyrood, because they share an anti-Gordon Brown agenda, and
that the First Minister’s "lack of emphasis" on social injustice and
anti-poverty measures in his first speech to Parliament was a "glaring
omission".
Labour had lessons to learn from its election experience, it was not
complacent and had to "renew" but it remained "upbeat". Curran added:
"We’ve got a job to do. We are a party of devolution; it has created a
dynamic relationship that works for Scotland and the UK but the
partnership model is the key. I’m not interested in small-fry politics;
there are big issues at stake."
Curran said she had been surprised that the SNP had come into conflict
with Westminster so quickly, over issues such as the release of the man
convicted of the Lockerbie bombing: "The problem for the SNP is that
they don’t have a mandate for conflict."
Professor David McCrone, of the Institute of Governance, said that the
first phase of devolution was over, that there had been dramatic
changes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the arrival of a new
Prime Minister with a different style and, on the horizon, the prospect
of a Conservative government in Westminster.
"We are entering a new sort of relationship," he said. "It will require
formal mechanisms for parties, state bureaucracies and even the media,"
said McCrone, "and a new political vocabulary that eschews conflict for
its own sake."
Professor Jim Gallagher said that viewed globally, "normal service has
been resumed"; that the previous ten years had been unusual compared
with other countries where it was normal for ‘subgovernments’ to be in
conflict with the larger government.
More subtly, the previous coalition had adopted the "habits of
responsibility. They were slotted into a continuing government process.
Now that’s gone."
Gallagher added that it was important for Scotland not to see itself as
being "at the centre of the universe"; that, in fact, it was one of
three devolution projects running in the UK which may yet be added to
by de-centralisation in England.
Both McCrone and Gallagher could not foresee Scotland being
independent, certainly not in ten years – because structurally, the
timeframe is too short – and probably not even in 20 or 30 years.
"We’re embarked on something different now; the variable geometry of
power," said McCrone, while Gallagher said independence "seems like
last century’s question".
One person has commented on this article. 1. 'Never Mind the Facts !'
Sisyphus, Unregistered It is always fascinating to see how political parties attempt to rewrite history and reinvent themselves in the wake of an election defeat. Margaret Curran's comments are a case in point. She states that the SNP have moved politics to the right compared to New Labour, whereas in fact the SNP's policy statements and actions since election have for the most part reflected a more left wing agenda to that followed by the previous administration. She also comments disapprovingly on SNP conflict with Westminster whilst ignoring their consensual approach within Scotland - a refreshing change to the rabid dog act adopted by the previous First Minister whenever his policies were challenged. It is time that she and her colleagues woke up to the fact that the SNP achieved their victory because most people in Scotland disagree profoundly with much of the Westminster agenda which the last administration followed so slavishly. The more New Labour lurches to the right in domestic and international policies; the more Scots wish to see our leaders steer a different course.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 June 2007 )
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