Why new PM must be a leader for the Union
RegaRdless of one’s opinion of Boris Johnson, there is no doubt he posed a serious political problem for the scottish Conservatives. The local elections demonstrated how much so. The sNP’s campaign slogan was: ‘send Boris Johnson a message.’ simplistic, negative – but lethally effective.
On the doorsteps, Tory canvassers reported true-blue party loyalists in revolt over Partygate. after years of hard work to reach second place, the party was cast back into third.
It was a particularly painful result for scottish leader douglas Ross. He had already displayed a willingness to act on principle, even when it hurt him politically.
When the Prime Minister stood by dominic Cummings, who travelled to durham during lockdown, Ross resigned his ministerial post in the scotland Office.
This act set the two men at loggerheads but it put the Prime Minister on notice that Ross was his own man. He burnished this reputation as one of the first prominent Tories to call for Johnson’s resignation over Partygate. His decision to withdraw that call after Russia invaded Ukraine – a wellintentioned gesture but a politically naive one – saw him branded a flip-flopper.
Johnson’s resignation gives the scottish Tories an opportunity to hit the big blue reset button. To repair relations between the party at Holyrood and at Westminster. To strengthen ties between the scottish leader’s office and whoever comes to occupy Number 10.
The next Prime Minister must understand just how much damage has been done. Ross has been papering over the cracks, not least by slapping down talk of separating from the UK party, but the structural repair will have to be done by Boris’s successor, whoever that is.
He or she must place the Union at the centre of their government’s priorities. Their government must do Unionist things – and actively avoid doing things which are not Unionist.
among those things which are not Unionist are constant friendly-fire incidents in which UK ministers speak without thinking about the impact on the scottish party and the Union.
Never again should a senior minister tour the TV studios bad-mouthing the scottish Tory leader in a fit of pique.
scotland needs a Prime Minister who knows they are scotland’s Prime Minister. That theirs is not just one of two governments but scotland’s primary government. That when they make policies for scotland, they do not require the permission, or even the acquiescence, of the sNP.
When they come to scotland, they are not a foreign head of state, who must pose for picture postcard photo-ops with giant fish and bottles of single malt. Instead, come to scotland to fund a new school. To break ground on a Treasury-financed hospital. To build a ferry or, ideally, two.
Build UK-wide institutions that give young people a sense of belonging not just to a narrow national identity but to a broader community of Britishness. Projects, awards and service programmes that foster civic pride in the UK.
scotland needs a Prime Minister who will finally bring an end to the constitutional circus. The interminable pushes for independence. The constant distraction from the issues that matter. The plain, open abuse of the devolution settlement to advance the cause of separation.
The instability is intolerable, especially when scotland already rejected independence. The next Prime Minister must give serious consideration to legislative reform of devolution. There are many forms this could take but the aim should be to establish in law, beyond all dispute, that a Westminster-approved referendum is the only path to independence.
The next Prime Minister must believe, and must act, on this fundamental principle: that scotland is – and always will be – an integral part of the United Kingdom.