The UK's quiet return
Nicola Sturgeon will get the headlines on her plans for a pretendy-ref. Underneath her nose, however, the UK Government is going quietly about its business in Scotland - and may be changing minds
LIKE those end of era monarchs who blank out the sight of pitchforks, I think Nicola Sturgeon and her Ministers are missing something profound that is happening on the streets and communities of Scotland. The Scottish Government, led by Nicola Sturgeon, is becoming more and more detached from the daily lives of people here. The UK Government, led by the un-loved Boris Johnson, is becoming more and more engaged in them. It is odd, but increasingly true.
Witness two examples from this week. On Monday, Nicola Sturgeon travelled to Italy to attend a conference promoting women leaders across the world. I don’t doubt the importance of the cause, I simply note that the latest event on the global lecture circuit is probably not top of the list of priorities just now for Scottish families facing a cost of living crisis. By contrast, in Ms Sturgeon’s absence back home, the UK Government was setting out a short list of five ports across Scotland which will now bid for “green freeport” status. Made possible due to Brexit, the scheme will introduce tax breaks to support trade in two designated areas in Scotland. According to Neil O’Brien, the UK minister for levelling up, the Union and constitution, it should “support a net zero economy in Scotland and bring hundreds of jobs to the successful areas.” It sounds a little more relevant to the priorities of Scotland to me.
It isn’t a one-off. Ms Sturgeon’s priority – a referendum next year – is supported by fewer than a third of Scots. It simply isn’t what people are talking about. On the other side of the aisle, and for all that the soap opera of Mr Johnson’s Downing Street obscures the fact, the UK Government is working quietly in Scotland to support what people care about most: the fabric of their local community, good jobs for young people, and a stronger economy. It is a marked change from when the Government in London alternated between turning its back on Scotland, or playing John Bull in a Caledonian china shop.
The Freeports example from this week is a good case study of how it is happening. Initially, the prospect of any being given the go ahead in Scotland looked remote. Playing to type, the SNP refused to play ball and even backed a motion at party conference opposing them. But then Government Ministers got to work. They could have shrugged their shoulders, walked away, and attacked the SNP’s obstinance. They could have over-ridden the Scottish Government and opened a UK Government-run freeport in Scotland – creating a kind of Unionist Hong Kong on the Firth of Forth. Instead, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack kept in touch with the SNP’s Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes. Earlier this year, they agreed a deal to work jointly on not just one but two “green” freeports north of the border, supported by extra funding from Michael Gove’s Levelling Up Department. The consequence is that, instead of arguing about who was to blame for a failure to work together, the government has been able to talk up the benefits of UK wide cooperation. An added benefit is that the plan has infuriated the anti-growth Scottish Greens, further confirming its usefulness.
This kind of cooperative approach is now happening unobtrusively across Scotland. Ministers are refusing to play Nicola Sturgeon’s game by fighting her on the constitution. Instead, the buzz word is “delivery”. At the Government's new Queen Elizabeth House HQ in Edinburgh, senior civil service staff are getting down to work. There is no catchy phrase or pro-Union slogan. The not-so-radical idea is to use the power of government to improve the quality of life of people in Scotland who, just like others in the UK, are looking for security and protection in a world that offers very little of it. As to whether this adds up to the case for the Union or not, Ministers are – wisely- leaving that up to Scots to decide.
In addition to the Freeports programme, a network of City and Growth Deals, worth £1.5 billion over ten years, is being rolled out with chunks of money released for local projects – such as that given to the renovation of Glasgow’ Burrell Collection. And, replacing EU funds, UK Government money is being deployed in local communities across the country to help fund useful projects: from cycle routes in Perthshire, a Seaweed Academy in Argyll, and improved transport in Falkirk and Ayrshire. There has been little showiness on display; it’s just being done. Even SNP councils – whose budgets have been axed brutally by their governing party in Edinburgh - have been keen to partner up. Perhaps they like dealing with a government that engages with them, rather than telling them what to do, and how to behave.
As noted above, Johnson’s cavalier approach to governing is deeply unpopular in Scotland: four out of five Scots think he is doing a bad job. And it may be that his poor personal behaviour will continue to corrode the UK Government’s reputation in Scotland. Yet the strange truth is that his administration is showing far more political sensitivity for Scotland (and Wales) than any of his predecessors – based on the clear desire across Scotland to see our governments work together for once.
More, in my view, still needs to be done. I would like to see stronger UK institutions to bolster a more cooperative approach and an end to the Whitehall Knows Best culture. But the direction of travel is conclusively right. It rejects the failed efforts of the past when Prime Ministers would come up for a day, preach ‘respect’ for Scotland, and the forget everything they said the following day. It recognises that charging north with a Union flag will only rile people up. Instead, and with little fuss, significant manpower is now being put to getting stuff done.
Ms Sturgeon will get more headlines, of course. Headlines, particularly on the TV network news in London, is what she is about. But as the media circus throngs around her pretendy referendum and her pie-in-the-sky plans for independence, people are beginning to notice that more substantial work is going on underneath her nose.
The SNP will charge ahead over the coming months, insisting they are fighting for Scotland. They are hoping, desperately, for the UK Government to join the battle. There really is no need. Let them charge. Let them keep charging. Let them charge off into the horizon. In the meantime, in Scotland’s streets and communities, the UK Government should patiently and constructively work with others to improve peoples’ lives.
ENDS
This article first appeared in the Scottish Daily Mail 22nd June 2022