Opinion Tory blueprint
Henry McLeish
Henry.mcleish@
holyrood.com
Murdo Fraser’s call for a new progressive
centre-right party with a Scottish identity is refreshing and surely reflects an accurate assessment of a party, increasingly irrelevant to the needs of Scotland and wasting away under its failure to respect history, people and social and economic change. Part of Fraser’s argument is based on the fact that in the 2010 General Election, the Conservatives in Scotland polled 412,855 votes, 16.7 per cent of total votes, an increase of 0.9 per cent. Tis was less than 80,000 fewer than the SNP and 60,000 fewer than the Lib Dems, who ended up with 11 seats against 1 for the Conservatives; so their continuing opposition to PR for Westminster elections doesn’t make sense. In the recent Scottish elections, the Tories polled about 250,000 votes in both the list and constituency sections. Tere is a place for a modern centre-right party in Scotland. Will Murdo Fraser’s new ideas attract more voters or drive them away? More to the point, is it just too late? Fraser’s arguments deserve a wider audience.
For the unionist parties trying to deal with the new politics of Holyrood and Scotland there are real challenges: of confidence, purpose, substance, leadership, direction, vision, understanding, values, ideas and language, nationality, of ambition. And, in particular, identity.
Te future of Scotland within the Union
remains an urgent priority. Political parties in Scotland are struggling to come to terms with the SNP’s relentless advance, the nature of post- devolution politics and how best to deal with the future of Scotland, within the Union. Te decline of the Tory party in Scotland over the past 30 years is a master-class in how party fortunes can slip because of failure to understand and adapt to change. Te only party ever to have more than 50 per cent of the vote in a Scottish general election in 1951, the Tories slumped to just over 16 per cent in 2010 and now have one MP; the ultimate humiliation was in 1997 when they were totally wiped out. Post-war, they were the Scottish Unionist and Conservative Party but paid a heavy political price for their hard-line unionism, served up
as a stale mix of ideology and neglect instead of responding to the issues of identity and nationality. Teir ambivalence to devolution continues to confuse the electors. Te Tatcher and Major years destroyed any remaining illusions among Scottish voters that the Tories were either interested in or concerned about the different political culture here and the increasingly diverging needs of a Scottish nation. Tatcherism destroyed any hopes that Scotland could be saved for the Tories. Te Conservatives’ return to government in 2010 merely reinforces the perception in Scotland that
connect with their hopes, ambitions, fears and anxieties.
Te Labour Party in Scotland has failed to understand the journey they are on in post- devolution Scotland. Instead, it is caught between the rock of a rampant and vibrant new political force which has captured the imagination of the electors and the hard place of the Union which does not understand Scotland’s legitimate demands for self-determination and, more worryingly, is in danger of becoming increasingly hostile to its wish to express its identity, nationality and be different. Labour should not be or perceived to be part of this. With this in mind, the findings of Labour’s recent review are encouraging and show a willingness to respond positively to the demands of post-devolution Scotland. A Scottish Labour leader, providing the party with a strong sense of identity and autonomy and seeking now to transform the relationship between Scottish Labour and UK Labour, represents significant progress in both thinking and ambition. Tere is a great deal more to be done but unlike the aftermath of May 2007, when nothing happened, the debate has now started and new ideas are on the table. For Labour, or for any party, it is worth remembering the political and electoral trends in postwar Scotland and the need to learn the lessons of political history.
“The story of Tory decline has lessons for Labour, uncomfortable as this might be for MPs, MSPs and party members”
what is happening down south is depressing and increasingly irrelevant to our needs. Terefore, without some dramatic intervention and decisive changes to the Conservative Party in Scotland, their prospects look bleak. Te story of Tory decline has lessons for Labour, uncomfortable as this might be for MPs, MSPs and party members. Tere is now no natural right of electoral entitlement for any party in Scotland, so Labour has to prove itself relevant to ordinary people and be able to
Tere is a real loosening and weakening of
loyalties, allegiances and affiliations, including to political parties. Tere is also a new and stronger neo-liberal or right-wing narrative which is gaining ground – helped by the media, financial institutions and right-wing think tanks – and seeking to reframe the UK debate in a way that is hostile to sub-national government and politics and any idea of the public good. Te Conservatives and Labour now must
renegotiate their positions in their respective national party structures, promote difference by maximising devolution and offer clear alternatives to independence. Each of them, in very different ways, must advance ideas of progressive politics on either the right or left of centre.
Te days of old unionism are over but there is nothing unbeatable about the SNP formula. Te problem is that the parties are not yet taking the new reality of Scotland seriously; nor are they willing to learn lessons and act upon them. At least, Murdo Fraser is giving the Scottish Conservative Party a blueprint for the future. Will Labour’s leadership candidates offer a new and even more inspiring future?
19 September 2011
www.holyrood.com 75
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84