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Better Nation

Should Labour wrap itself in a Saltire?

May 16

Posted by Jeff in Ideology, Parties | 25 Comments

There is a simple reason why proponents of independence regularly urge the Scottish element of unionist parties to breakaway from their UK domain. It is not necessarily because they believe it will make them stronger but rather because it will make Scotland appear more independent.

A nation that has a separate legal system, a separate education system, separate political parties and a separate Parliament always has a decent chance of being a separate country. This factor may not be at the forefront of unionist parties’ thinking as they sift through the wreckage of their respective 2011 campaigns but to what extent they wish to be seen as ‘Scottish’ political parties will be a top discussion point for each of them.

Labour specifically has always had a difficult time being Scottish within a UK group, swinging between criticising the SNP for trying to ‘own’ the Saltire and waving that same flag as much as it can, on occasion, seemingly trying to ‘win’ it back.

For me, Lord Foulkes has typified the unease and awkward narrative that Labour has plagued itself with. The former Lothians MSP’s complaints that Scotrail trains would have a Saltire livery and his criticism that the SNP were making things better and ‘doing it on purpose’ never really stacked up.

So, should Labour, as many seem to be suggesting, wrap itself in a Saltire at future elections?

A persuasive argument for such a move was the rather bizarre cameo appearances from Balls, Miliband and Izzard during the election campaign. Their contribution was always unclear, trying to enunciate a knife crime policy that they had no link to and then sermonising on UK economics that just felt irrelevant given the context, before hopping on a train in the afternoon and out of the fray. Ed Miliband held Scotland up as a springboard to success at Westminster but then spent May 6th in Kent to celebrate a half-decent performance down there in the garden of England. The Labour leader may have been better served heading North and showing real leadership by commiserating with his colleagues.

For me, Labour’s solution is not to split off its Scottish element away from London HQ, as the Nats would wish it. The solution is simply to improve communication between London and Edinburgh. A party blueprint for policy at Westminster and how a Holyrood agenda can dovetail into that blueprint, or vice versa, should in theory be a powerful campaign weapon, particularly against an SNP that only ever has one side of the cross-border approach to a problem at its disposal.

For renewable power, joined up thinking and cohesive pledges on the Grid (UK policy) and Scotland’s renewable revolution (largely Holyrood’s area) should have been a no-brainer for any of the Westminster-led parties, the Olympics come to the UK next year but no-one sold the Scottish benefits that I could see and even seemingly distinct policy areas such as health and education could have come with the refrain that increased spending in London under Labour means more spending, with shared intellectual economies of scale, under Labour in Edinburgh.

It’s more subtle than ‘now that the Tories are back’ but it is also surely more persuasive and effective. It is basically an explanation of how any union divided can compliment strictly devolved policies but it was curiously absent over the past month or two and it is curiously absent now.

Scotland and Britain used to get its knickers in a twist over Andy Murray and what colours were on his sweatbands and what flag he would hoist if he won a competition. That distraction soon made way for a nationwide acceptance that the guy was an ace tennis player and it really didn’t matter who he belonged to. Labour should learn from that and start realising that it doesn’t matter what colours it is draped in, it is what is under the bonnet that counts.

Progress, but at a snail’s pace

May 14

Posted by The Burd in Democracy, Holyrood, Parties, Society | 44 Comments

There is much to celebrate about the make up of our new Parliament.  Yes, we can lament the loss of experience but some of the gushing eulogies written about some of the departed stalwarts, particularly from the Labour ranks, need a reality check.  Such a sweeping clearout, whether the parties wanted it or not, brings in fresh blood which is, by itself, a very good thing.  Whether or not they will deserve the epithet *talent* remains to be seen…

But in certain key areas, the Parliament is making very slow progress indeed.

Dennis Robertson has found himself wheeled out at the forefront of the SNP group and the subject of much media interest because he is blind.  And even better, has a telegenic dog to guide him.  Dennis is canny so he knows what he’s doing and he deserves his election, not because of his visual impairment, but because he has a lot to offer.  He is clever and a great campaigner on issues that are often ignored or worse, patronised at Holyrood.  He has a careful decision to make – does he become a champion of disabled people simply because he is disabled or does he eschew such issues, as Anne Begg did in her early career, to avoid being defined simply as the blind MSP?  It’s a tough one.  And the bottom line is that it simply should not be remarkable that someone with a visual impairment can be elected:  it should be the norm.

But with Siobhan McMahon becoming the first woman born with a disability, joining Margo MacDonald whose disability has been caused by her long term condition, our Parliament is now more visibly, differently abled.  And hurrah for that.  They will bring a very different perspective and life experience to their work and that is what a more representative legislature is all about.

Readers will be pleased to note that progress was also made on the ethnic status and gender balance of Holyrood.  Women’s representation increased by a whole one, yes one MSP, taking us to nearly 35%. It’s nowhere near the nadir of 1999 but it is progress, if at a snail’s pace.

The Labour group by electoral accident rather than design has achieved almost complete balance with 17 out of 35 MSPs women.  The Conservatives have added to their tally too, with 40% of their group now women.  Margo, of course, achieves 100% while the Scottish Greens are perfectly poised with a woman and man MSP.  But it is the Lib Dems and the SNP who let the side down.

Reduced to a group of five, only one Lib Dem MSP is a woman, 20%.  And despite having a record number of MSPs – 69!  some of us still can’t quite believe it! – a shockingly low number are women.  Nineteen, but Tricia Marwick now doesn’t count as belonging to any group, so the figure is down to 18.  Would I have traded an extra woman MSP for the SNP Group instead of having a female Presiding Officer?  Of course not.  But even at 19, this equates to only 27%, slightly over one in four, SNP MSPs being women.  Disappointing doesn’t cover it.

Already the cry is that something must be done.  Shame no one made that cry before the election when candidates were being selected.  Severin Carrell of the Guardian deserves special mention for championing this issue and he is right:  we need “somebody” to sort this out.  And not just on gender balance but also on ethnic representation.  We have made some progress, going from 0 after the tragic, early death of Bashir Ahmad in the last Parliamentary session, to 2. But at 1.5%, the number of MSPs from the BEM community does not equate with the ethnic diversity of our population which is approaching 4%.

The issue of ethnic diversity is a controversial one – for everyone who comments that there are folk of Italian descent (Linda Fabiani and Marco Biagi being two) and many, many more of Irish descent, they are missing the point somewhat.  This is about melting pots, multi-culturalism and assimilation and ethnic and cultural diversity – far too complex for this post but perhaps worthy of a future one.  There is no one of Chinese or Polish descent, despite both being statistically significant commnities in our society.  Scots Asians yes, but no blacks either from African or Caribbean communities.  Our Parliament should be representative of all our people.  That should be a given.

So what to do, other than moan about it on blog spaces or in newspapers?  I agree with Sev.  Something has to be done and the parties seem incapable of doing it without support and guidance.  We don’t need a new body, there are a plethora of them, particularly on women’s issues:  Engender, the Fawcett Society, the Scottish Women’s Convention.  And now the Hansard Society has got involved.

It needs an all-encompassing organisation with a remit to promote democracy more generally, to address all the issues of under-representation of key groups and communities.  It needs to engage positively with the parties and the work has to start now, before candidate selections begin again.  There is a window open now in which to examine and explore possible solutions but the starting point has to be an acknowledgement by all the parties that there is a problem to be addressed.  And an agreement to work on a cross-party basis to achieve real progress.

 

 

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Holyrood newbies: ten to watch

May 13

Posted by The Burd in Holyrood | 32 Comments

Sworn in, berths claimed, security passes grinned for, offices allocated: there’s no going back.  If any of the 48 new boys and girls at Holyrood had any niggling doubts about what the next five years might hold, well it’s too late now.  You’re in and we’re stuck with you.

So, congratulations all and welcome.  The burd looks forward to making your acquaintance in the weeks and months to come.  The start of a new parliamentary session is always exciting watching the shiny new faces arrive and wondering who will be quick off the blocks to make their mark.

Over the years, far too many have allowed the size, scale and scope of the place and the role to simply swallow them up.  There is an artform to keeping and looking busy which many have perfected, but it would be good if we can break that mould.

For all the hullabaloo about a lack of powers, the issues which Holyrood controls or touches upon is of a huge range.  Yet, week in, week out, we hear about the same narrow faultlines.  Many important matters are kept hidden under a bushel, or rather out of the limelight, by accident or design.  If the burd could be so bold as to offer the new MSPs one piece of advice, it would be this:  find an issue, make it your own, shine a light into dark corners, generate public and media interest, make change happen.

Aside from settling in – please don’t settle down – there’s plenty to keep the newbies busy.  Who might shine and soar?  Here’s the burdz ten to watch:

  1. Margaret Burgess, SNP MSP for Cunninghame South. Margaret managed to get herself elected as a councillor way back in the mists of time when the height of the SNP’s ambition was the odd seat at Westminster and saving deposits was all the rage.  She’s been a party stalwart for years but has a rich and varied social justice hinterland in her working and personal life to call on.  A Citizens Advice Bureau manager for many years, she has seen what deprivation does first hand.  Holyrood needs more MSPs to articulate the impact of this recession and the difficulties that will result for many vulnerable families and groups in our society from cuts to public services.  She won’t want to make waves or trouble for her leadership but is canny enough to know that there are ways and means to making herself – and the voiceless – heard.  The burd for one is glad she has a berth deserving of her talents.
  2. Mike MacKenzie, SNP MSP for Highlands and Islands region.  Made it into Holyrood by the skin of his teeth, here is someone we could all grow to like:  a businessman with a social conscience.  He has been a successful entrepreneur, providing much needed employment and infrastructure in the Oban area, has supported modern apprenticeships and set up a successful community social enterprise.  Expect someone who thinks and sees issues differently, who is task oriented and solution focused.  He may find himself frustrated by the semantics and boundaries of politics or he may find the way to cut through the crap.  I hope it’s the latter.  We need MSPs to offer something different.
  3. Jenny Marra, Labour MSP for North East Scotland region.  Intelligent, talented, bright, vivacious.  Yep, the girl has it all.  Oh, and a USP as the niece of folk legend and Dundonian, Michael Marra.  This is one wee star who will soar.  Media friendly, with an intellect and the education to back it up, she may be a bit wet behind the ears and spent much of her life in the political bubble, but that’s not a detraction from her undoubted skills.  Expect lots of salivating journos beating a path to her door for feature pieces.  If she chooses her moments and issues carefully, she will go far.
  4. Marco Biagi, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central.  Gonnae say that oath in Italian again, please Marco?!  Another with a ferocious intellect and the graduation certificates to back it up, Salmond referred to Marco as the party’s resident psephologist but the boy’s talents are much greater than this.  A policy wonk who will have to learn fast how to transfer these skills into people ones in order to turn a surprise win into a safe hold, Marco should do very well.  Here’s hoping he can orate as well as he thinks and liven up debates.  Or at least just bamboozle them with knowledge.  Preferably in Italian.
  5. Joan McAlpine, SNP MSP for South of Scotland region A high achiever by anyone’s standards.  One of the few women journalists ever to edit one of Scotland’s foremost blatts, Joan also formed one half of the SNP’s most glamorous couple, when married to musician and writer, Pat Kane.  Played a key role in the media team during this election campaign, she could be a contender for an early Ministerial role, something culture oriented perhaps, as Salmond is quite fond of pigeon holing folk.  She should be a super soaraway star but… there is a teensy risk that the transition from journalist to parliamentarian could prove an ultimately frustrating one.
  6. Graeme Pearson, Labour MSP for South of Scotland region.  One of the few MSPs breaking the traditional Labour mould, Pearson is a former high ranking police officer.  He was the first Director-General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and as an Assistant Divisional Commander at Strathclyde, introduced the controversial youth curfew pilot in Hamilton and also the first CCTV cameras to Airdrie town centre.  Yep, he’s to blame, and probably had a hand in Labour’s mandatory knife crime sentencing policy too.  Expect a strident but informed voice on crime issues.  If he wants a long career, he might want to think about how he can make a more thoughtful contribution to reforming our criminal justice system.
  7. Ruth Davidson, Conservative MSP for Glasgow. Ah, you’ve got to like a girl with boundless ambition.  Two minutes in the door as an MSP and already touting herself – or at least her supporters are – as a possible leadership contender in the autumn.  Whatever the rank and file think, the Tories need bright young things with a different background – TA volunteer and lesbian, no less – to start the process of detoxifying the brand.  With the lamented demise of Derek Brownlee, expect Ruth to slip seamlessly into his role as media commentator.  But she needs to prove there is substance to match the sizzle.
  8. Paul Wheelhouse, SNP MSP for South of Scotland. I’ll declare an interest – he’s a pal and few results made me happier than this one.  Hardworking, loyal, quiet, thoughtful and intelligent.  And that’s on a bad day.  By his own efforts, he’s turned a safe Conservative constituency into one that’s on a shoogly peg, recruiting a willing team to support him in the process.  These are real politician’s skills.  And he’s another policy wonk:  an economist with a keen understanding of further and higher education issues and if anyone was your man to lay bare the impact of PPP capital projects on the public purse, Paul is.  I don’t have to hope that he will do well:  I know he will.
  9. Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothians.  Well, at least Patrick got a buddy back and how nice that the Scottish Greens are perfectly gender balanced.  On the surface, she seems a bit of ying to Patrick’s yang and that is another good thing. Alison’s bright, feisty, committed, telegenic, but if she wanted to ease herself into the role, she’s in for a shock.  With only two players, both Greens need to be operating at full tilt from the outset.  She’s definitely got something to offer and there is a niche with her name on it.  She just needs to find it fast and hold to it too.  Ditching the cooncil ward in 2012 will help.
  10. Humza Yousaf, SNP MSP for Glasgow.  Well, he’s already stolen the show with that wonderful bagpipes and bhangra outfit at the sweary-in ceremony.  He’s intelligent, articulate, a poster boy for new Scots, but with a refreshing honesty and confidence, as well as a good heart.  His track record in community activism would shame many politicians twice his age.  Humza represents all that the SNP is trying to promote to Scotland and expect him to be promoted lang and weary as a spokesperson.  There’s a risk he could become ubiquitous and he’d do well to sit back for a moment and choose his course, if he doesn’t want to burn out.  And not to lose his tendency to be ever so slightly off message on occasion.  It’s all about standing out from that very big crowd of 69 when the moment is right.  I’ll go so far as to punt him as the next but one SNP leader.

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Lib Dems of a weak disposition should look away now…

May 12

Posted by Malc in Elections, Parties | 38 Comments

I’ve been having a look inside the Lib Dem numbers in last week’s election, just to see how big their fall has been.  And its pretty far.  There’s no real analysis of why this happened in this post – I’ll let you make up your own mind on that – its just an overview of the numbers we’re talking about.

Some baseline figures first.  The Lib Dems had 16 seats before the election.  They now have 5.  They held 11 constituency seats in 2007.  That figure is now 2 – Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.  But its the voting numbers behind that which will give a bit more pause for thought.

On the constituency vote the Lib Dems took 157,714 votes – that is, 7.9% of the vote.  In 2007 they took 326,232 constituency votes or 16.2% of the vote then.  In the intervening four years the Lib Dems have lost 168,518 votes on the constituency vote – down 8.2%.  These numbers are massive.

On the regional vote, the Lib Dems took 103,472 votes – 5.2% of the vote.  In 2007, that figure was 230,671, 11.3% of the vote.  That’s down 127,199 from 2007, a loss of 6.1%.  Those numbers are equally massive.

Add together the reduction of vote on both constituency and regional ballots and the Lib Dems have lost over a quarter of a million votes between the 2 elections – 295,717 to be precise.  Now, granted a lot of them will perhaps have been double-Lib Dem votes, but that’s still a sizeable fall.  A collapse, for want of a better word.

Let’s have a closer look at the Lib Dem vote in a region-by-region breakdown.

Central Scotland:
2007 – 14,628
2011 –  3,318

Glasgow:
2007 – 14,767
2011 – 5,312

Highlands & Islands:
2007 – 37,001
2011 – 21,729

Lothians:
2007 – 36,571
2011 –  15,588

Mid-Scotland & Fife:
2007 – 36,195
2011 –  15,103

North-East Scotland:
2007 – 40,934
2011 –  18,178

South of Scotland:
2007 – 28,084
2011 –  15,096

West of Scotland:
2007 – 22,515
2011 – 9,148

Only in the Highlands & Islands and the South of Scotland did the Lib Dem regional vote not fall by more than 50%.  In Central that figure was 78%.

Its hard to know if the picture is better or bleaker on the constituency vote.  Let’s look at the share of the vote in constituencies held by Lib Dems in 2007 and how far they fell in 2011.

Aberdeen South & North Kincardine:
2007 – 10,843
2011 - 4,994

Aberdeenshire West:
2007 – 14,314
2011 – 8,074

Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross:
2007 – 8,981
2011 – 6,385

Dunfermline:
2007 – 9,952
2011 –  5,776

Edinburgh Southern:
2007 – 11,398
2011 – 8,297

Edinburgh Western:
2007 – 13,667
2011 –  9,276

Fife North East:
2007 – 13,307
2011 – 8,427

Midlothian South, Tweeddale & Lauderdale:
2007 – 10,636
2011 –  8,931

Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch:
2007 – 13,501
2011 – 9,742

And the two that the party won:

Orkney Islands:
2007 –  4,113
2011 – 2,912

Shetland Islands:
2007 – 6,531
2011 –  4,462

Sizeable falls in each.  Not to mention the 25 constituencies in which the Lib Dems fell below 5% of the vote, losing their deposit on the way.  That’s £12,500 worth of deposits the party won’t be getting back.  Calling it a bad night for the party is understating it considerably.

I don’t give my colleagues enough credit sometimes – but James saw it coming in this post 5 weeks before the election.  And I was making the case that the Lib Dems hadn’t really said anything about anything other than policing the week before it.

I don’t want this to sound like I’m kicking the Lib Dems when they are down, nor do I take any great pleasure in losing some of their MSPs from Parliament.  I very much liked Margaret Smith and Iain Smith as MSPs, and Jeremy Purvis, “marmite” figure though he occasionally may be (that suit!!!), was a very, very competent finance spokesman.  So I’m sad to see a few of them out of Holyrood.  That said – I don’t think as a party there is anything distinctive there.  There’s no hook for the public to vote for them.  If you are a social democrat, you’ll vote SNP or Labour.  If you are slightly environmental, you vote Green.  If you are kind of centre-right, you vote Tory.   What do the Lib Dems offer?  Are they particularly liberal or democratic?  If they are, I’m not convinced they’ve done a good job convincing anyone of it – and 290,000 fewer votes suggests I’m right about that.

I guess what I’m saying is what James was saying 6 weeks ago.  Sometimes parties lose go away.  Now perhaps that was a little premature – especially since the party are in power at Westminster.  Will’s analysis offers some hope for the Lib Dems in Scotland, so I suppose if you are a Lib Dem and this has depressed you much, that’s where you should head.  But whatever you do – have a good look at the numbers above first.  There’s a big problem for you – how to attract those voters back.  Because without something distinctive, it may take you sometime to see them again.

The Scottish Government’s first 100 days

May 12

Posted by Jeff in Health | 34 Comments

For some reason, a reason that has always bewildered me, Governments are often judged on the delivery of their promises within their first 100 days.

In 2007, the SNP was able to rhyme off a dizzying list of achievements in its first 100 days, wrongfooting its opponents who no longer taunted ‘the biggest thing they’ve ever run is Falkirk Council’. I don’t think we’ll hear that barb’s ilk again either.

It is perhaps unfair to throw down a short-term gauntlet to the new majority Government when Scotland’s problems are largely structural, are partly out of the Government’s hands and require more than a quick-win -> moving away from PFI, increasing education standards, increasing health and well-being and powering the renewables revolution, for example.

So, if the SNP is to be conscious of delivering a 100 days that will stand up to the Scottish media’s scrutiny, what might they contain?

For me, a key debate and a winning vote on minimum pricing, even at a stage of the Bill before finalisation, would be more than enough. What a way for the SNP to put a marker down that this term will see more progress thanks to insufficient opposition to the most sensible of policies. Pats on the back from numerous stakeholders from the BMA to the police would be sufficient to tick that 100 day box.

The only non-political opposition that I have seen recently is from the Scotch Whisky Association, odd you would think given whisky is largely a premium product so its pricing would be largely unaffected by minimum pricing. My suspicion is that some of the members of SWA also sell deep-discounted alcohol away from the whisky line and a clever use of that respectable-sounding umbrella organisation is being made. Either way, they are in the minority, politically as well as from a civic perspective.

But what else could these 100 days bring? Or is it only 93 now? Well, feel free to make some suggestions because despite a plethora of manifestoes and a long election campaign, I am somewhat stumped.

Not that it ‘really’ matters of course. As JFK put it:

“All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”