Stronger Together

I was absolutely delighted to read David Cameron’s speech “Stronger Together,” which touched on a very important topic for me personally…the state of the Union between Scotland and England.

Although we may be the ‘Conservative and Unionist’ party officially we never seem to use the ‘Unionist’ part for campaign literature, posters and the party website, if indeed it was ever at all used in England. But David Cameron made a clear and positive commitment to the UNITED Kingdom and to the people in Scotland, and it is the Tory party which are trying to tidy up the constitutional mess Labour has left the Union in. Cameron went well beyond Gordon Browns half hearted and ridiculous attempts to create a false British sense of identity and appeal to English voters and actually challenged the SNP and their separatist agenda.

It is true to say that in the media and on the World Wide Web that talk about breaking up the Union, the reasons for it the and ramifications of such a separation, has been more frequent and the likelihood of the topic going away soon is unlikely with the Scottish Nationalist in power at Edinburgh. No doubt I will be generalising a little but to me their seems to be some very clear reasons why this debate is now more heated than ever before, and should not simply be treated a ‘just talk.’ Indeed, without wanting to sound too overdramatic, the Union is perhaps at its most vulnerable today than it has been in a long, long time.

It appears due to Labours mishandling of devolution and its consequences, sloppy Labour government and its apparent lack of interest in addressing the clear and blatant unfairness in the fact that Scottish MPs can vote on English laws but not vice-versa has not helped sure up and strengthen the Union. Giving the Scottish people more say over their affairs was a positive thing, it can only be good for democracy, but the ramifications of this on the rest of the Union were not thought out.

But it is not all Labours fault, the Tories awful treatment of the Scottish nation during the 1980s made us so totally unelectable north of the boarder than when Scots were sick to death of Labour in May 2007 they couldn’t turn to us as a viable alternative, and instead voted in the SNP with its nationalist and bad Mel Gibson movie rhetoric (I know, so many bad movies to choose from…)

This has all meant some right of centre elements in the English press having a bee in their bonnets about the West Lothian question and this idea that Scotland takes money from England giving little in return, and Nationalist now have the highest political platform in Scotland.

Most commentators seem to agree that Scotland did not vote SNP because they truly wanted independence; it was more than likely a protest vote against Labour and a signal of disillusionment with the main three parties. This is only partly assuring for those who believe in the Union. The SNP was a party which exclusively spoke to the Scottish people and was only concerned with the Scottish people and their needs and concerns. Also the SNP message that England was effectively robbing the Scots wealth by stealing ‘their oil’ and therefore denying each Scottish family their own villa in the South of France and a golden toilet…or something like that…is a powerful one. There is a certain justification for Scottish resentment over these issues; but equally the English, specifically English students, can be resentful at having to pay top up fees, a bill passed at Westminster because Scottish MPs voted on the bill even though it did not affect any of their constituents.

Amongst all this, who has been defending the Union? Sure Blair and Brown would speak up for the Union when questioned in PMQs and other places, but what have any done to protect the Union form unnecessary, avoidable and as Cameron put it: “coarse and casual nationalism” in both Scotland and England.

David Cameron in his speech set out a strong message in support of the Union, better than any speech Gordon Brown has given about ‘what it means to be British.’

“We must confront and defeat the ugly stain of separatism seeping through the Union flag.”

He spoke of how the home nations of Britain united are so much more than the sum of their parts and Great Britain can punch above its weight on the international stage because of that. Therefore Britain can make the world and itself a safer place to live. He spoke of how London is overtaking taking New York as a “global powerhouse” and how Edinburgh historically has been and is a hugely important financial centre…so that indeed together England and Scotland can be even richer and more prosperous.

His attack on Gordon Browns meek attempt at restoring national British pride was also spot on. Focus groups to discuss what it means to be British, a ‘British Day,’ a competition for a motto for Britain are pathetic attempts to address this lack of British identity, like painting over cracks in a wall. The solution is not to get people thinking that they are ‘British,’ it is to get English and Scots proud that they are part of a United Kingdom, and that both nations are treated fairly within it. The current situation can not go on, and Labour silence on the issues is alarming and down right disgraceful.

Cameron has said this issues need to be addressed, although he was light on the specifics and details of how this would be achieved, at least he has shown interest in them. Labour’s response that “we gave the people of England a chance for regional assemblies and they rejected them” is not a valid response to this constitutional inequality. The people of England wanted less bureaucracy and not another level of government, the Labour government need to respect that decision, just like they respected Scotland desire for a Parliament. Did the government not have any back up plan if England did not want to play the devolution game? Of course not, like so many things, Labour simply did not think of the long term problems.

So I was proud to see our Party leader clearly show his commitment to the United Kingdom, an appalling contrast to the actual Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. So maybe we should put the word ‘Unionist’ back into the used party name? I for one would welcome it.

“So I say to Alex Salmond…We will not play your game to break up our United Kingdom. And we will not stop fighting to meet Scotland's needs.”

Cameron’s speech can be found here:

http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=141137&speeches=1

Joseph Kiernan
Executive Chairman, NKCF