Sturgeon’s divisive game of cat and mouse with devolution

GIVEN the tumultuous political events of the past decade, it’s genuinely hard to remember the optimism and sheer delight that accompanied the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999. This was a new constitutional experiment, one that was not without its critics, but which had been carefully thought through, endorsed in a fair and free referendum in 1997, and legislated for with as much consensus as possible.

Donald Dewar is rightly referred to as the father of devolution; his commitment to a Scottish parliament was never in doubt, nor was his determination to abandon the attractions of a Westminster career and sit in Holyrood instead.

The problem with most constitutional reforms is that their promoters tend to overstate their predicted impact. Devolution would transform Scotland, we were told, with a modern parliament that was accessible to ordinary people.

It was a recipe, if not for disaster, then at least disappointment, as the act of self-government turned out to be not much more interesting than what had gone before. It was a situation Alex Salmond’s SNP took full advantage of, winning office in 2007.

The biggest change from that point wasn’t just a new focus on independence: Alex Salmond was the master of presentation and exploited modest reforms such as universal free prescriptions and the removal of bridge tolls as populist – and popular – changes.

But more worrying for both the UK government and for supporters of the principle of devolution was Salmond’s tendency to exaggerate and magnify divisions between the two governments.

Suddenly everything was a matter of division and grievance. SNP Ministers started attending joint ministerial committees in London, turning what had been a positive, engaging forum into a monthly opportunity to exhume ancient political feuds.

The Scottish Executive was renamed The Scottish Government. Even though European and foreign affairs and international aid were decisively placed in the ‘Reserved’ column in the Scotland Act, that didn’t prevent Salmond from appointing a Minister for all these areas.

The First Minister had no plans to play the role as it had been designed by the founders of devolution; he would play by his own rules.

And with every addition of new powers for Holyrood has come ever more opportunities for nationalist Ministers to step over that line marked ‘Reserved powers’.

In the first eight years of devolution,

Holyrood worked exactly as it was intended to: in co-operation with Westminster. Now, especially since the arrival of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, devolved politics is an exhausting game of cat and mouse, with SNP Ministers going out of their way to identify new grievances.

THEY like to talk about the importance of working closely with the UK government, but the truth is that politically, they have far more to gain from concocting imaginary conflicts with London, or exaggerating real ones. That’s a strategy that may not make sense if your purpose in politics is to develop imaginative and effective ways of making policy. But if your sole aim is the break-up of the United Kingdom, it makes perfect sense.

We even had the ludicrous sight recently of the SNP’s ‘external affairs’ Minister Angus Robertson being treated like a visiting head of state as he unveiled a plaque to Scotland’s war dead in Paris, serenaded by Scottish troops playing Flower Of Scotland.

The SNP were never devolutionists. They want to see an end to all the devolved institutions and the tearing up of the Scotland Act that created them.

Independence is as much the antithesis of devolution as direct rule from Westminster was. That is why SNP Ministers work day in and day out, not for the benefit of their constituents or the people of Scotland, but against the British state.

For devolution was designed to preserve and strengthen the UK. The nationalists set their face against such an aim; they only agreed to support devolution so they could use it as the means towards their own end.

The pro-UK parties – and ordinary Scots – have an interest in making sure devolution actually works as its founders hoped it would.

That means going the extra mile to extend the hand of co-operation to recalcitrant nationalist Ministers. That’s what polls suggest the Scottish people actually want: the Scottish and the UK governments working together for the common good.

Only the SNP have an interest in destroying the devolution dream. They must not be allowed to succeed.