Nicola Sturgeon's resignation and subsequent leadership contest are likely to dominate the airwaves for a while at least. Personally, I wish her well - eight years as First Minister is a tough shift for anyone. I have had my disagreements with her over the years, but as the STUC said this morning, she was always willing to engage with trade unions, and there was genuine and mutual respect. I will not be joining any celebration, and those who compare this to Thatcher's resignation have seriously lost the plot.
It will be a real challenge for the SNP to replace her and take forward their independence agenda. But, in an uncertain world, economically and militarily, that will be a big challenge anyway. My main criticism of the Scottish Government is the obsession with process over delivery. If you want to build confidence that Scotland could do better as an independent country, then the various delivery problems, including the ferries, recycling and the National Care Service (NCS), need to be managed better.
The SNP, since entering government, hasn't been known for developing a debating culture. However, even before Nicola's resignation, there were signs that the culture may be changing. As Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, put it, 'there has to be space for people to disagree and to disagree without being disagreeable'. The SNP Trade Union Group has called on the Scottish Government to be more creative with its powers, and they have joined criticisms of the NCS and Freeports.
The Red Paper Collective published the latest edition of their magazine this week in time for the Scottish Labour and STUC conferences. The editorial picks up on these themes, including Stephen Noon's call for a more consensual path for Scotland's constitutional debate. Gordon Brown's Commission at least got the constitutional debate on the UK agenda, even if it offered a limited vision for Scotland. Professor James Mitchell offers a sceptical analysis of the de-facto referendum strategy, which is now up for grabs anyway. As a strategy, it again focuses on the process rather than the case for independence. Beth Winter MP gives us an insight into the different approaches Wales is taking to their constitutional debate.
Alex Rowley MSP, offers some thoughts on how to end Scotland’s constitutional groundhog day. His article is worth reading in full rather than the lurid newspaper headlines. Scottish Labour also needs new thinking on the constitution if it wants to achieve more than simply replacing the Tories as the opposition. He also looks to the Welsh approach for inspiration. He argues that Scottish Labour should make a case for new powers when it is in Scotland's interest.
My contribution to the magazine focuses on one such new power – immigration. This is a crucial issue for Scotland as our population is not projected to increase at the same rate as the rest of the UK. The number of working-age Scots to support our ageing population won’t be available without immigration. Devolved immigration initiatives are not new in Scotland, going back to Labour's Fresh Talent Initiative. However, other countries have gone much further, most notably Canada. Sadly, UK ministers and shadow ministers have not seriously looked at the international evidence and how this can be achieved without the leakage of migrants to other parts of the UK. The Scottish Visa system proposed by the Scottish Government is a good starting point, although it would need more UK cooperation than they may like. On this point, Gordon Brown's duty of cooperation would help.
As Neil Findlay asks in his Red Paper article, 'Where is the mature discussion?' He is critical of Nicola Sturgeon starting a debate that fell far short of what she promised, and the same applies to her unionist opponents. A 51%-49% strategy is never going to deliver a settled position. Nevertheless, he ends on a positive note, hoping that someone in the SNP will recognise that creating a new state based on a polarised, divided community is not a particularly good idea. And that Scottish Labour will equally wake up from its delusions.
Just maybe, a change in SNP leader is an opportunity to build sustainable change in the same way the case for devolution was made. But again, like Neil, I won't be 12 stone again or achieve a single-figure golf handicap!
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