What we need now is sensible statecraft, not beer hall soundbites

Aformer UK minister who had close dealings with the SNP Government in edinburgh used to tell me how he would approach his day at work. ‘I’d go in thinking to myself, what can I do today that the SNP really won’t want?’

His view on that was pretty clear. The Nationalist machine in edinburgh was desperate for another helping of grievance. So he strove every day to ensure that the Whitehall machine covered Scotland well, co-operated with Scottish Government ministers as best as possible and delivered tangible and practical benefits for people and communities across the country.

If, by working together, UK Government ministers could get their Scottish counterparts to partake in joint photo-calls, then all the better: how better to symbolise a functioning and cordial Union than that?

I thought of my ministerial contact on monday evening as I watched Liz Truss, the front runner to become the next UK Prime minister, address a hustings event in exeter. Asked about how she would tackle the Union, she decided to go on the attack. ‘I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is to ignore her,’ she said, to cheers from the watching audience. emboldened by the response, she went on: ‘She’s an attention seeker, that’s what she is.’

In direct contradiction to my friend, miss Truss had just done precisely what the SNP wanted. miss Sturgeon’s deputy John Swinney popped up within minutes to fulminate against the ‘obnoxious’ comments. Nationalist social media – which has been rather quiet of late, troubled by the SNP’s lack of a plan – lit up suddenly, equally enraged. The SNP had its grievance and by declaring that she intended to ignore the democratically elected first minister of Scotland, miss Truss had just given them a lovely big serving. This will last them all summer.

I don’t know the Conservative frontrunner at all, but her comments on the Union on monday served to confirm two of my pet theories about politics.

firstly, politicians of whatever colour are at their very worst when speaking to their own party. In the room in exeter, stuffed to the gunwales with Conservative activists, miss Truss saw a ‘clap line’ and eagerly snapped it up. meanwhile, 600 miles north, the majority of Scots – whether pro-independence or just pro-devolution, collectively slammed their hands to their foreheads.

And secondly, politicians who know a little about something are far more dangerous that politicians who know nothing about it.

MISS Truss talks a lot about the five years she spent as a primary school girl growing up in Paisley. Worryingly, she may be suffering from the delusion this gives her some kind of expertise on Scotland, denied to those who did not go to school here at the age of seven. memo to miss Truss: it doesn’t.

Her comment was problematic on several levels. firstly, it’s impossible to deliver on. Whether she likes it or not, the Prime minister of the United Kingdom has to meet the first minister of Scotland now and then. As foreign Secretary,

miss Truss knows full well she has to meet people she doesn’t agree with. for pity’s sake, she met russia’s Sergei Lavrov not that long ago. As Prime minister, she will have to do so as well.

Secondly, it was completely self-defeating. She is entirely right to believe miss Sturgeon is an attention seeker. Yet what did she think would happen by mentioning her in such an inflammatory way in front of a public audience? Actively deny miss Sturgeon attention?

The first minister has looked a rather forlorn figure in recent weeks. The story has been elsewhere. By attacking her as an attention seeker, miss Truss managed to give her the attention she loves.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, even if ignoring the elected leader of the Scottish Government was possible, it is entirely the wrong strategy to adopt. ever since the start of devolution, successive UK Governments of different colours have pursued the mistaken policy of ‘devolve and forget’. faced by the intractable and impenetrable grievances of Scottish politics, they have decided all too often just to imagine it’s not there.

I have every sympathy with Prime ministers who would rather not have to deal with miss Sturgeon. Indeed, after resigning from office, David Cameron told his successor Theresa may that working with the SNP leader would be among the hardest tasks she would face. miss Truss – or rishi Sunak, if he wins – need to understand that while it is difficult and irritating, seeking to work constructively with the Scottish Government is the right way forward. Both administrations face very similar challenges: on the NHS backlog, on low productivity, on the rapid transition to a low carbon energy policy, to name but three.

THe best thing miss Truss – or rishi Sunak – can do as Prime minister is to seek to co-operate with the first minister on those matters, to show how a shared agenda works best and thereby to prove to sceptical pro-independence Scots that there is a real and living value to the Union.

Pro-Union supporters are right to ask what is the point when the SNP will only make trouble – and will end up pulling out. But there will be a price to pay for that when Scots see their first minister refusing the hand of co-operation.

An enormous amount is at stake here. It is not all clear that those Tory party members who, on monday evening, cheered their support quite understand how damaged the UK would be if Scotland were to up sticks.

miss Truss’s intervention is also poorly timed: later this autumn, the SNP will launch its latest attempt to divide the country and it is looking for any chance to whip up public opinion. Now is the time for careful and thoughtful statecraft not beer hall soundbites.

miss Truss and mr Sunak should keep their eye on the prize. When deprived of the fuel of the Holyrood-Westminster war, it is becoming clear the SNP Government is running on empty. The politics of us versus them makes for excruciatingly bad government. And never in the history of devolution have we had a more fundamentalist Nationalist government as this one.

Nicola Sturgeon is no longer hiding it. Its purpose is to maximise grievance in the run-up to the next general election. It is short-termist and reckless on spending. The moment is coming, not long after that election, when I expect it will require bailing out. Its moral compass has gone.

red meat for a home audience is all well and good but the Conservatives need to understand this will only drive some people into the arms of the SNP. most Scots don’t want another referendum and they don’t want the Union to break up. Indeed, they are open to a positive uplifting case for the Union about how we can all be greater than the sum of our parts. make it.

Anything else is to make the SNP’s day.