Guy Aitchison (Bristol, OK): Uneasy alliances, compromises, betrayals, coalitions: the party political machinations in Scotland and Wales are endlessly fascinating, if not easy to follow. This week two developments point to hardening battle lines between Nationalists and Unionists as parties in both countries prepare arguments and forge alliances for the upcoming debate.
Emboldened by the SNP’s performance in Scotland, Plaid Cymru hope to launch a Commission into what independence would mean for Wales. The Commission would look at how newly independent states, such as the Czech Republic, have been faring (for it would, as Nationalists are keen to remind people, be independence “in Europe”). The Commission would also face the unenviable task of trying to get reliable up-to-date information about Wales’s tax revenue from the UK Government. By making its own position on independence clear, Plaid hopes to distance itself from other parties who might support a Yes campaign in the proposed referendum on law-making powers for the Assembly. This, it is hoped, will encourage voters hostile to Plaid’s independence agenda to still vote for further powers.
In Scotland the coalition of Unionist parties has launched its very own “national conversation” in a bid for more powers for Holyrood. The first formal talks were held by Lib Dem, Labour and Tory leaders last night, after which a joint statement was released claiming that the “real conversation, and the one in which the overwhelming majority of Scots wish to participate, is about how devolution can develop to best serve the people of Scotland." This superficial show of unity can’t disguise the fact that there are a number of unresolved issues between the parties, namely which powers to campaign for and just how the “conversation” will take place. The Lib Dems want revenue-raising powers and a constitutional convention. Labour and the Tories are more cautious and wary of playing into the hands of the SNP. Add to this unstable mix the views of Westminster MPs, who the Unionists hope to hold discussions with, and you have all the ingredients for a very lively and heated “conversation” indeed.
Last week OK noted the extraordinary transformation in attitudes amongst Unionist parties in posts on the Welsh Tories and Scottish Labour. With battle lines for the constitutional debate currently being drawn it's safe to predict many more messy compromises and U turns in the interests of preserving fragile and unstable Unionist coalitions.
