Forget leaving the UK, Nicola. It’s time we started leading it!
As MSPs prepare for a historic new term at Holyrood, a timely warning to the SNP... get on with the job in hand
SOMETIMES the wheels of democracy do turn very slowly indeed. It has been nine long weeks since Holyrood broke up for the election campaign and we won’t really get back down to business until this week. Nicola Sturgeon will face MSPs at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday – for the first time since the Conservative surge robbed her of a majority.
And for the first time since the parliament began in 1999, it will be the Scottish Conservatives – not the SNP or Labour – which gets the chance to go first.
In itself, this is not a major change. Both we and Labour will still get the opportunity to question the Scottish Government, albeit now from different sides of the Holyrood chamber.
But it does place extra responsibility on me and my party to show we can hold the SNP to account, as we said we would do in the election campaign.
To borrow a phrase used by Alex Salmond, our job is to hold the SNP’s feet to the fire on issues that matter to ordinary Scots.
That starts by making sure that they focus on the day job, not another independence campaign.
Listening to Nationalist MSPs continue to raise the issue of independence in the past few weeks is to be reminded of that famous Japanese soldier who was found, in 1972, still fighting the Second World War.
LIKE him, they need to be reminded: it is over. Scots have no desire to go back to yet more constitutional turmoil over independence. We will make sure that they get that message loud and clear. In so doing, we will push forward a much more important and fruitful idea. It’s time to forget about leaving the UK and time to ask how best Scotland can lead it.
On this, let me begin with a note of consensus with the SNP. Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear that the economy and education are the twin priorities for her new Government. I could not agree more. It’s vital that we have a proper, grown-up debate about how we improve both.
Take the economy first. We are about to enter a new era in Scotland, with Ministers in Edinburgh deciding on how much income tax we pay. Add to that control over council tax, the tax on house-buying and business rates, and it’s clear that it will soon be the Finance Secretary in Edinburgh – alongside the Chancellor in London – who will be charting the course for our economy.
Shorn of its majority, the SNP will need to win support from other parties in the chamber to get its tax plans passed.
While Nicola Sturgeon may have her hand on the tiller, she doesn’t seem to know which way to turn.
To her Left, she has the leaders of the Greens, Labour and the Lib Dems all telling her to punish hard-working families more, with higher taxes for everybody.
By contrast, we in the Scottish Conservatives have staked out the centre ground.
We don’t seek unfunded tax cuts below the rest of the UK, but we do think she should ensure no one should be worse off just for living here.
For political reasons, the fear is that Nicola Sturgeon will opt to turn Left. It will appease those on her benches for whom the term ‘Tory’ is still the original four-letter word. My commitment is to make her think again.
We will build up an evidencebased case for a competitive tax regime in Scotland. And we will then challenge the SNP to dispute our facts.
I hope the SNP will listen. And I warn them that, if they don’t, they will suffer in the longer term.
At the election, the electorate rejected parties of the Left which promised higher taxes.
As the SNP knows all too well, in many parts of Scotland they saw their majorities slashed, with support coming over to us.
Nothing will ensure those majorities disappear altogether than five years of higher taxes. So for the SNP to join Labour, the Greens and Lib Dems on that course would be nothing short of electoral madness.
But, more importantly, it will stymie growth and result in fewer jobs and opportunities for Scotland’s young people.
I hope they see sense.
THEN there’s education. The First Minister has made this her personal priority – which is good to see. It’s also long overdue. For too long we’ve slapped ourselves on the back about our proud educational history. Yet we know that standards are slipping and the poorest are being hit hardest. If you come from Scotland’s poorest households you are four times less likely to go to university than if you come from the wealthiest.
To improve matters at every level of education, better early years provision, plus a renewed focus on literacy and numeracy, is required.
What’s also needed is a fresh look at the way our schools are run. That means moving away from the ‘one size fits all’ agenda. It means handing far more control to school communities and the leaders who run them. It means making teachers accountable to the parents and pupils in their schools, not to politicians and town hall bureaucrats they’ve never even met.
What’s apparent is that we now have a parliament with a clear majority for these reforms.
We set out these ideas at the turn of the year. The SNP has now backed them too.
So one of my key priorities will now be to ensure that the SNP delivers on these commitments.
Plenty of vested interests will want to block the Government’s path. It will be tempting for the SNP to give in.
Our job in opposition will be to ensure that the Government doesn’t back down and, in so doing, revives that great Scottish tradition of education.
When it’s necessary, we will oppose this Government vigorously. But when it’s right to do so, we will propose alternatives as well. We’ll apply the pressure they need to make – not shirk – the tough decisions.
The past five years saw the SNP Government railroading through its plans with little interest in what other parties said.
We also had a Labour Party leading the opposition which often seemed incapable of doing its job.
In us there is an opposition party with a clear idea of the job it can do for the country.
To reject any SNP attempt to take us back to another referendum and instead to insist that we build a wealthier, fairer and better educated nation.
If the SNP don’t listen they will suffer in the long term