Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Thanks to a post by Tom Griffin on the Green Ribbon I have understood the approach Wendy Alexander is taking as part of the larger Brown strategy that now seems mortally ruined by the funding scandals in London and Edinburgh. On Friday she gave a lecture titled A New Agenda for Scotland. It was her attempt to lay down an alternative strategy to the SNP. Tom discusses the SNP response. The point I want to emphasize is that it needs to be read as part of Brown's overall approach.
Alexander looks back over her own history of work for home rule for Scotland and summons the support of Donald Dewar heart and mind to her cause. She describes the progress of the last ten years and lays out a case for a rethink.
Labour, she claims, as the largest party will call for the creation of a Scottish Constitutional Commission. This will eventually, she hopes, create the agenda for a new constitutional convention to improve and reframe the balance of the settlement within the union of the UK while avoiding an SNP style referendum.
There are at least a couple of striking aspects to her - and Gordon Brown's - approach. The first is that in her description of current developments there is no mention of Europe in the whole speech. The EU gets a mention in a technical aside as an impediment to altering VAT rates. For example, in advocating the need for the wider union she says,
there are many issues I believe are best dealt with on an all-island basis, such as tackling global warming consumer protection, national security and the terrorist threat for example, but many others where Scotland should lead: including, health, education, transport, law and order.
Everyone knows that global warming needs a European not a UK response and consumer protection needs to be - and is - European because of the single market. On national security there is another agenda. This is hinted at in the second paragraph here. She opens by saying what more Scotland could have,
The Commission should be entrusted to take a pragmatic approach to questions of competence and powers. There are areas from welfare to work to road transport where there is merit in considering greater powers for the Scottish Parliament. Likewise the Commission could consider the operation of the Parliament, public holidays, marine issues and animal health
But note the give way word, "pragmatic",
By implication also the Commission should also consider any reasoned arguments for the boundary moving in the opposite direction, for example in national security related matters such as counter terrorism and contingency planning. Clearly, this is not an exhaustive list. The Commission will set its own work plan within the terms of reference – but there are clearly issues that would merit further examination.
If this is not exhaustive, what are the further issues that are being pragmatically left open to give back to the Union?
... We are held together by a shared identity, shared interests and shared citizenship.... We also share a common citizenship. This has familiar political and legal dimensions – but also social and economic dimensions too. Risk, revenues and resources are shared across the UK to deliver common services and benefits - access to the main elements of the welfare state - social security and pensions, access to healthcare free at the point of need and free schooling.
I aim to return to this as soon as I can. Meanwhile she has this advice for those of us south of the border:
The Union is something for all its constituent nations: the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. – but for England too. It is not for me, as leader of Scottish Labour to suggest changes there but I do say to Scots that we should support and welcome greater local and regional decentralisation in England, allowing voices in different parts of England to be heard on their issues just as we have sought that for ourselves. Looking to the future the so called English question is properly for UK colleagues to consider. We must resist nationalists of whatever provenance fanning English resentment for partisan reasons.
