|
Scottish
Affairs |
||
|
Home >> Articles Online, by Author >> Articles Online, by date published online >> E.Bort, Scottish Affairs, No. 61, Autumn 2007 |
 |
Scottish Affairs, No. 61, Autumn 2007Annals of the Parish: The Year at Holyrood, 2006-2007by Eberhard Bort(a) |
|||
 |
|||
|
The twelve months since the last instalment of the 'Annals' have seen astonishing changes in the political landscape - in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. First and foremost on the chronicler's mind are the changes in Scotland: the elections in May which led to the end of Labour's rule in Scotland and the creation of an SNP minority government. But there were also the elections in Wales which resulted, after prolonged negotiations, in an unprecedented coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru; we have witnessed the emergence of a partnership government in Northern Ireland involving both the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, with Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness sharing the posts of First and Deputy First Ministers, the eventual transition from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown in the post of UK Prime Minister, and, most recently, the 'coronation' of Wendy Alexander as new Scottish Labour and Holyrood opposition leader. Truly, a remarkable year of change. One of the few things that did not change, it seems, was the Scottish football team's ability to beat the French - they did it last October at Hampden, and managed to repeat the feat this September in Paris. Setting the SceneWhile until the spring of 2006, opinion polls had seen the SNP in the doldrums, the party entered last autumn on a high in the polls, clearly leading Labour. Their good fortunes continued. 'Who would have thought that the SNP would stage the most successful party conference of the season? Labour were at war with themselves, the Liberal Democrats shell-shocked, and the Tories accident-prone. The nationalists, by contrast, seemed united, confident, businesslike, purposeful.' (1) This is how Iain Macwhirter summed up the conference season. Maybe the decisive moment in the run-up to the election campaign came when Jack McConnell gave the John P Macintosh Memorial lecture in Haddington on 24 October, (2) where he argued that the powers of Holyrood were sufficient and demands for further powers would lead to 'political paralysis'. (3) After the Dunfermline by-election disaster for Scottish Labour, McConnell had repeatedly tried to put some red tartan between his government and Westminster, some media commentators even suggesting he was attempting to 'out-nat the nats.' (4) Had not McConnell himself initiated a review of the Parliament's powers, suggesting transfers in areas like immigration, broadcasting, control over firearms, casinos and drug policy? (5) Now, all of a sudden, Ron Davies's famous dictum that devolution was a process not an event seemed no longer the guiding principle of Labour. McConnell thus boxed Labour into a defensive corner reminiscent of the Tories' stance in the 1980s and '90s - the only party resisting change, as the Lib Dems had, earlier in the year, published their blueprint for change, (6) and Tory voices in favour of increased taxation responsibilities for the Scottish Parliament became more frequent as the campaign progressed. (7) The Edinburgh Evening Newschallenged the 'superficial logic' of McConnell's stance. Tax powers, control of the electoral system, transport, medical contracts, energy policy, broadcasting, civil service responsibility - itsaw 'no reason why responsibility for some of these other areas should not gradually be handed from London to Edinburgh if it becomes clear in time such a move makes sense.' (8) After all, as Ruth Wishart commented, 'the devolution settlement, like all politics, is a work in progress that must be adapted.' (9) Henry McLeish, the former First Minister, added his critical voice: 'The first minister must do more to convince the electorate that Labour has the ability and the courage to provide a real alternative to the struggle that exists between the status quo and separatism and that means defying Westminister and demanding more powers for Holyrood.' (10) A Scotsman Leader warned McConnell: 'defending the status quo may not be an option.' (11) And Peter Jones commented that it could be 'a big mistake' for Labour to take 'no more constitutional change as a manifesto mantra.' (12) On the 300th anniversary of the old Scottish Parliament's passing of its Act of Union, the Evening Newssummed up this debate:
Labour concentrated on apocalyptic warnings should the SNP come to power, with Tony Blair and Dr John Reid leading the attack at the party conference in Oban: for Reid, the SNP was 'not fit for purpose', (14) for Blair, an SNP victory constituted a 'constitutional nightmare', (15) and Gordon Brown warned that 'everyone in the United Kingdom would suffer economically and culturally if Scotland voted for independence.' (16) Labour in Scotland, Alex Salmond countered, are 'incapable of running their own campaign without remote control from their London masters'. (17) By contrast, the SNP stressed the offensive: 'We are preparing for government and we are preparing to win,' assured Salmond his delegated in Perth: 'We've now had seven years of devolution and I think there's a pretty overwhelming feeling in Scotland that now we've got a parliament, we may as well make it a real parliament with real powers, so it can do real things for Scotland.' (18) With a brilliantly staged autumn conference, the SNP cemented its lead, while Labour's gathering at Oban was overshadowed by Tony Blair's long farewell and the replacement of Trident (which Gordon Brown had committed himself to as early as July 2006). It looked as if the return of Alex Salmond as SNP leader in 2003 had truly galvanised the party (eventually, 'Alex Salmond for First Minister' would replace the party name on the ballot paper). Riding high in the polls, his claim that the SNP could win 20 extra seats in the election seemed increasingly more believable. Flurry of LegislationWhile the upcoming election campaign made the headlines, the legislative machine at Holyrood went into nigh-overdrive, with committees and sub-committees working flat-out to get as much of the programme on the statute books as possible. As the Parliament's Annual Report, published on 19 June 2007, disclosed, during the period from September 2006 to end of March 2007 no fewer than 27 bills received Royal assent and became Acts of the Scottish Parliament. Of these Acts, twenty resulted from Executive bills, four had been Private bills, two had been Member's bills and one had been a Committee bill. Their content ranged from the reorganisation of the Scottish tourist boards, including the official renaming of the Scottish Tourist Board as VisitScotland, the establishment of an independent Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights, a new Planning Bill, the establishment of St Andrew's Day as a public holiday, the modernisation of the laws of personal bankruptcy, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill, including adoption rights for same-sex couples, (19) the reform of the system for handling complaints against lawyers through the creation of a new statutory body called the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, reforms to ensure more efficient and effective summary justice, and the Crofting Reform Bill, with the objectives to simplify crofting legislation and the administration of crofting, to allow new crofts to be created, to allow crofters to undertake a wider range of activities on their crofts, and to modernise crofting legislation to take account of changes such as the increasing interest in renewable energy development in crofting areas. In addition, the Transport and Works (Scotland) Bill was passed in February, as was the Budget Bill; the Adult Support and Protection Bill seeks to protect and benefit adults at risk of being abused, and the new law on prostitution makes it an offence for persons engaged in prostitution to cause nuisance, alarm or offence. Finally, the month before dissolution saw seven bills taking their final parliamentary hurdle. The Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill aims at improving the regulatory framework of aquaculture and enhances powers for controlling parasites affecting farmed salmon. The Christmas Day and New Year's Day Trading Bill prohibits large retail shops from opening for retail trading on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The Protection of Vulnerable Groups Bill creates two lists - a Children's List and a new Adults' List - of people from working with vulnerable groups. Further legislation aimed at ensuring that food and drink supplied in local authority schools is nutritionally balanced, and, more generally, that all schools increase their health promoting efforts; the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill ends automatic and unconditional early release of offenders and provides for the introduction of new restrictions on the sale of non-domestic knives and swords. The last two bills concerned the right of relatives who had died from Mesothelioma to claim damages; and green light for Network Rail to construct an electrified double track railway between Airdrie and Bathgate. All in all, the second session of the Scottish Parliament, from 2003 to 2007, passed 66 bills, four more than the first session - 53 introduced by the Executive, one Committee bill, three Members' and nine Private bills. (20) In February, George Reid, the Presiding Officer, could announce to Members of the Parliament that the final cost of the Holyrood building had been reduced by £16.1m. The cost of the taxpayer therefore will fall from an estimated £431 to £414.4 million. With the dissolution of the 2003-2007 Parliament, George Reid took his final bow at Holyrood. Brian Taylor gave him a fine send-off in his blog:
Election CampaignThe election campaign proper started only with the dissolution of the Parliament at the end of March, but in reality it had all begun much earlier. The political temperature had continually risen, with blossoming speculation about possible coalitions and rumours galore. Matters for Labour were not helped when Malcolm Chisholm resigned from his post in the Cabinet as Minister for Communities because he found himself unable to support the official Labour position on the issue of Trident, notwithstanding the fact that it is a reserved issue. Chisholm had been one of four Labour members who supported the SNP's motion opposing the replacement of the nuclear submarines. The SNP started the New Year with a message posted on YouTube. Speaking from the Kinnaird Head Lighthouse in Fraserburgh, Alex Salmond said Scotland could increase its prosperity by learning from countries across the water, such as Norway. The SNP, he said, was working for peace because Scotland had been 'dragged into enough foolish, costly and illegal wars'. (22) Thematically, the Iraq war (and Trident) would never be too far from the centre of the election campaign. And the SNP seemed to set the agenda. On a BBC Newsnight Scotlandprogramme on 4 January, commentators as different as Gerry Hassan and Katie Grant agreed that Labour was 'not in a good position' and that people were 'bored' or even 'fed up' with Labour. The SNP seemed 'to dominate the media agenda,' as Lorraine Davidson remarked on Newsnight Scotland (23 January 2007) while Labour seemed to 'snooze'. Against the backdrop of the Union's anniversary, a peculiar double-decker argument evolved - on the upper deck the debate about the Union and Scottish independence; on the lower deck the issues of devolved governance. Labour concentrated the big guns on the upper deck - repeating the mantra of 'divorce is expensive' which had been successful in 1999 and 2003, but also attacking the tax plans of the SNP, saying SNP policies would cost the equivalent of more than £5,000 for every household in Scotland. (23) What they did not fully grasp was that, on the one hand, the SNP had mastered the double-decker argument, taking the sting out of the independence issue by promising a separate referendum (and thus decoupling the issues of devolved government from the issue of independence), while at the same time playing on the unpopular reserved issues like the Iraq war, the replacement of Trident, Gordon Brown's role in the pensions crisis, and Blair's cash for peerages scandal, and that, on the other hand, an independence referendum and the transfer of taxation powers from Westminster to Holyrood ranked only seventeenth and twenty-first respectively among twenty-five policy issues in an ICM poll for the BBC at the beginning of the campaign, way behind schools and hospitals, crime, farming and fishing. (24) The SNP seemed to have taken aboard the fact that the election was about what almost all elections are about, viz. should the existing government be thrown out because it had outstayed its welcome. (25) And Labour, having been in power at Westminster since 1997, and in the driving seat at Holyrood since 1999 (and in hegemony in Scotland since the late 1950s), was widely perceived as having been there too long for a healthy democracy. The SNP threw a plethora of attractive - if uncosted - promises into the battle: scrapping the graduate endowment tax, wiping out student debt, replacing the 'unfair council tax' by a local income tax (the only dominant domestic theme in the elections), more teachers, smaller class sizes, more policemen, reduced business rates, abolition of road and bridge tolls. In fairness, it has to be said that Jack McConnell tried hard to make education the central plank of Scottish Labour's election campaign (26) - but Labour did not manage to make its themes the focus of the campaign. In the end, Blair's long good-bye, the ongoing fiasco in Iraq, Trident, cash for honours, nuclear power, pensions, treatment of asylum seekers, etc cast a long shadow over the campaign. Blair and Brown's presence in the campaign highlighted those 'reserved' matters - and reinforced the public perception of negativity about Labour. A Populus poll for The Times a fortnight before the election put Labour in the UK on 29 per cent, showing support for the party falling to a level last seen when Michael Foot was leader in the 1980s. (27) Labour got all worked up by the independence bogey, their apocalyptic rhetoric annoying at least as many voters as they were frightening into voting for the status quo. What worked in 1999 and 2003, now became increasingly counterproductive, but Labour kept ploughing on, not realising, or not wanting to realise, that there were seriously diminishing returns, while reminding the public constantly of those reserved Westminster political issues that highlighted the impotence of the Scottish Parliament in those reserved matters. Moreover, if Scotland was, as Labour argued, incapable of sustaining itself as an independent country, was that not Labour's fault in the first place - in government since 1997/1999? If Labour in Scotland and in the UK had done such a wonderful job over the last decade, why was Scotland still on the drip? This 'Scotland a basket case' rhetoric obviously alienated some influential Scottish business leaders so much that they publicly declared their support for the SNP - and filled the party's coffers to the brim. Among them were the controversial bus-tycoon Brian Souter who donated £500,000, and Tom 'KwikFit' Farmer who was good for £100,000. The former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir George Mathewson also endorsed the party's stance on independence. Through the Scottish Independence Convention and non-party campaign group Independence First (combining the pro-independence parties), cult author Irvine Welsh, his fellow-writer Alasdair Gray, and folk singer Dick Gaughan threw their weight behind demands for an independence referendum. Other prominent support came from Archbishop Keith O'Brien and the historian and former Tory candidate Michael Fry. All this was a sign of the frustration with Labour, but also an indication of how far the SNP had travelled since 1999. The same is true for endorsements by the media. While hitherto the Scottish political landscape was remarkable for the paradox that not a single paper supported the largest opposition party, this time a handful of national broadsheets recommended, even if sometimes couched in unionist caveats, a vote for change and for an SNP-led government. (28) From the start of the campaign, it was clear that it would be a 'two-horse-race' between Labour and the SNP. It is generally agreed that Annabel Goldie had a good campaign for the Scottish Tories, with her 'touch of talking common sense and letting people remember afterwards she happens to be a Tory.' (29) But there was no sign of a Cameron effect north of the Border. The Lib Dems had lured themselves into the belief they could manage a major break through after Dunfermline, but they ran a bland campaign in which their new leader Nicol Stephen did not establish himself sufficiently. (30) They stood for an increase in the powers of the Parliament, based on the findings of their own Steel Commission. (31) But the only issue involving them directly in the campaign was the possibility of a coalition with the SNP - and the potential stumbling block of the independence referendum, which the Lib Dems refused to even contemplate. Their relationship with Labour had, ever since Dunfermline, been strained. And what happened to the 'rainbow'? The Scottish Socialists had torn themselves apart - in a very public split in 2006 following Tommy Sheridan's libel case against the News of the World. Both the SSP and Sheridan's new party, Solidarity, failed to have an impact on the campaign, fighting each other as much as their real political opponents. The Greens, by contrast, hoped to build on their successful transformation from a one-man-band to a fully-fledged parliamentary party. It remains their secret why they picked Mark Ruskell as their campaign manager - perhaps their least well-known MSP? Whether it would have made much of a difference if Robin Harper, Mark Ballard and Patrick Harvie would have been more to the fore is of course a matter of speculation - perhaps the focus on the two main contenders in this two-horse race would have crushed, or squeezed, the smaller parties anyway. In contrast to 2003, there was not much talk about 'apathy' this time round. In STV's Politics Now (29 March 2007), Lorraine Davidson praised the campaign as 'the real thing' and 'absolutely fascinating', even 'riveting'. This was also reflected in the huge international media interest in these elections. Many of the world's major newspapers as well as radio and television channels carried in-depth coverage of the issues facing Scottish voters during the four-week election campaign. (32) Election ResultCoinciding with the tercentenary of the Union of Parliaments (on 1 May), the 2007 elections in Scotland on 3 May 2007 could not be other than special. The Parliament they returned looked more akin to the 1999 version - fewer parties, albeit with roles reversed between the two biggest contenders. (33) Arguably, the changes they brought mark the most important development in the evolution of devolution since the heady days of the late 1990s. As the shock of the ballot paper fiasco was being digested on 4 May - nearly 150,000 voting papers had been discarded as spoilt, reducing the turn-out figure from just under 54% (34) to an even more modest 51.7 per cent in the constituency and 52.4 per cent in the regional list vote (35) - it emerged that Scotland had voted for political change. By the narrowest of margins, but with surging momentum, the Scottish National Party (SNP) had pipped Labour to the post, with 47 to 46 seats. It was far from an overall majority, but that was to be expected. Under the Additional Member System (AMS), no party since 1999 had gained an outright majority. (36) Forty-one of the 129 MSPs (31.8%) have not served in the previous term; 43 women (33.3% of MSPs) were elected to the third Scottish Parliament, down from 51 (39%) in the previous term. That figure increased to 44 when Shirley-Anne Somerville replaced Stefan Tymkewicz as an SNP Lothians list MSP in September. What the result also showed was that the AMS scraped by delivering - had Labour ended in front of the SNP, despite the Nationalists' gaining most votes both at constituency and regional levels, this would have led to further criticism of the electoral system as being not proportional enough. As it was, the result seemed to please even those who had not voted for the SNP: change had been effected. Part of that was the realisation that the Scottish Parliament would only be able to prove itself purely devolved if the settlement was - as it would at some stage anyway - to be tested by different parties in power at Holyrood and Westminster. Simply put, London had to be forced to cease thinking of Edinburgh as a local dependence of the Labour Party. Joyce McMillan commented 'that no system of democratic government can be considered successful until it has achieved a peaceful transition of power.' (37) The first act of the reconvened Parliament was, on 14 May, the election of Alex Fergusson MSP as the Parliament's Presiding Officer, which ended his Tory party affiliation. Alasdair Morgan (SNP), and Trish Godman (Labour) were elected as Deputy Presiding Officers. Most pundits thought that, regardless of what they had said during the campaign, the SNP would form a government with the help of the Liberal Democrats. But as the Lib Dems set as a precondition that the Nationalists drop their plan for an independence referendum, and Alex Salmond refused to do that before talks started, talks were never even entered. As the SNP had ruled out the Tories (and the Tories had ruled themselves out for any coalition), the Lib Dems had no intention of continuing with Labour in any shape or form, and power-sharing between Labour and the SNP was not on the cards (even if Ian Paisley can tango with Gerry Adams, and Rhodri Morgan with Ieuan Wyn Jones, it is difficult to imagine such a cohabitation in Scotland between Labour and the SNP), there remained only the Greens, and the prospect of a minority government. Had the Lib Dems played their cards differently, they could be in power, in Scotland, in Wales and in Gordon Brown's 'cabinet of all the talents'. Eventually, the SNP signed an agreement with the two Greens which ensured that their two MSPs voted for Alex Salmond as First Minister and supported his ministerial appointments. In return, the Nationalists gave their backing to a climate change bill as an early measure and nominated Patrick Harvie MSP as the convener of one of the Holyrood committees (Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change). But it is not a coalition deal: there are no ministerial posts for the Greens. And they are not obliged to back Alex Salmond in a confidence vote or support the SNP's budget plans. It is an even looser arrangement than the 'confidence and supply' model of co-operation which the Greens had talked about during the campaign. And whether it is a good deal for the Greens remains to be seen - they could be hung for being perceived to be backing a government scrapping road tolls, building roads and scuppering public transport projects. On 16 May, Alex Salmond, First Minister, announced his cabinet, comprising six Cabinet Secretaries (Cabinet Ministers): in addition to himself as First Minister there are Nicola Sturgeon (Health and Wellbeing, and Deputy First Minister), John Swinney (Finance and Sustainable Growth), Fiona Hislop (Education and Lifelong Learning), Kenny MacAskill (Justice and Communities) and Richard Lochhead (Rural Affairs and Environment). At he junior level there are ten Ministers who report to a Cabinet Secretary: Bruce Crawford: (Parliamentary Business), Linda Fabiani (Europe, External Affairs and Culture), Jim Mather (Enterprise, Energy and Toursim), Stewart Stevenson (Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change), Maureen Watt (Schools and Skills), Adam Ingram (Children and Early Years), Shona Robison (Public Health), Stewart Maxwell (Communities and Sport), Fergus Ewing (Community Safety) and Mike Russell (Environment). The first domestic measures of Alex Salmond's government were populist and popular and consensual, at least among a majority of the Parliament - steps to prevent ship-to-ship oil transfer in the Firth of Forth, the abolition of the graduate endowment tax, the scrapping of the Forth bridge tolls. The first 'foreign' visit of the First Minister saw him in Belfast, hobnobbing with Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness. Could there be a concerted demand for a lower corporate tax for the 'Celtic' regions and nations, perhaps joined by Rhodri Morgan on behalf of Wales? Particularly with Plaid Cymru as part of his government? A ganging up by the Celts against London? (38) An enhanced role for the British-Irish Council, as Tom Nairn had announced a tad prematurely at the turn of the century? (39) The Irish Independentseemed to hint at that possibility:
In February, the SNP had laid out its plan, based on the current British-Irish Council, formed after the Good Friday Agreement and involving ministers from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England as well as the crown dependencies (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) meeting to discuss areas of common concern. After Scottish independence, Salmond envisaged the convening of a 'beefed-up' version, modelled on the Nordic Council. (41) The Happy HoneymoonThis summer saw a remarkable media honeymoon for Alex Salmond and his SNP minority government. 'The McConnell years seem a distant memory,' the Evening News commented, such was the way Alex Salmond 'eased into his new role … as if he's been in the job for years.' (42) His first hundred days 'brought both a blast of refreshment and a lot of surprise,' through the sense of energy and mission that the SNP has brought to an Executive that had come to look tired, mediocre and bereft of distinctiveness and purpose.' (43) Otherwise critical commentators like Joyce McMillan (The Scotsman) or Iain Macwhirter (The Herald/Sunday Herald) heaped praise on the new administration, and especially on Alex Salmond. Ewan Crawford summed it all up neatly: 'In his first three months, Scotland's first minister has promoted consensus, won over the press and left Labour bewildered.' The Scottish press, he argued, 'so long antagonistic towards Salmond, has now fallen head over heels in love with the new first minister.' (44) 'The effect of the last six weeks has been devastating.' Iain Macwhirter commented just before the summer recess: 'The SNP hasn't so much hit the ground running as lapped the political field on an almost daily basis. Opposition MSPs have been blown away at what has been happening.' Even some opposition MSPs, he continued,
He compared Salmond's start with that of Blair in 1997: the same flurry of dramatic statements of intent changing the climate of public affairs. But, he reminds us, Blair did it with a huge majority, Salmond with a party that has never before been in government and holds only a minority of seats. 'Where the SNP has been unexpectedly lucky is in being a minority government. It has allowed ministers to act swiftly,' so George Kerevan (aspiring SNP candidate for Westminster), 'with discipline and with a proactive media strategy.' (46) Crises like Foot & Mouth and the terrorist attacks on London and Glasgow airport saw the Scottish government acting promptly, wisely and in full accord with the UK government. Salmond's honeymoon was mirrored down south by Gordon Brown's. Fearing he would sound 'naïve and even sycophantic', Macwhirter sang the praises of both Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond as 'two astute and even visionary politicians at he very top of their game.' And
While the SNP soared in the media and in opinion polls, (48) questions were raised about the Labour Party. 'Dazed and unwilling to admit its defeat,' (49) was Labour in denial? 'Battered and bruised in the May elections,' so Hamish Macdonell, they had, in the six weeks leading up to the summer recess, 'been bulldozed by Alex Salmond in the chamber. … Some observers have suggested the Labour Party is in denial over its election defeat. It's not: it's in shock.' (50) 'Labour lost votes in May,' argued the Scotsman, 'because - for the first time - it refused even to discuss more powers for Holyrood, thus conceding the constitutional debate to the SNP.' (51) Iain Macwhirter marvelled at Gordon Brown's constitutional review, announced as he took over from Tony Blair, including the replacement of the Scottish Secretary by a minister of the regions, reform of the House of Lords and, eventually, a written constitution:
The new Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander has a huge mountain to climb, if she wants to reconnect Labour with the electorate beyond its west of Scotland heartlands, reorganise the party at root and branch, redefine its relationship with the party hierarchy in London and bring the party back to power in Scotland. (53) While Tom Gordon argued that Wendy Alexander was 'a liability to her party' and that her succession to Jack McConnell would give Alex Salmond 'the most pleasure,' (54) Eddie Barnes commented on the SNP's apparent glee about Wendy Alexander becoming Labour leader, citing her 'presentational style', but warned that her being a woman, being intelligent, and being an accomplished strategist might yet give Salmond and the SNP headaches. (55) George Kerevan, too, warned his friends in the SNP: 'Don't assume that because Wendy is an intellectual she lacks backbone. She was the only Labour minister to stand up to her civil servants.' (56) The Scottish SixAnother hot topic during the summer was broadcasting in Scotland. In August, the SNP government started a major campaign for a 'Scottish Six' and for the devolution of control over broadcasting to Holyrood. (57) In an intervention in the Herald in June, the former Head of News and Current Affairs at BBC Scotland, Blair Jenkins (he resigned in July 2006), commented on Ofcom's annual report for the nations and regions and was scathing in his criticism of the BBC's policy towards Scotland. He contended that: 'For a number of reasons, 2007 looks like a good year to have a proper national debate about what Scotland gets from television - and what television gets from Scotland.' (58) He diagnosed 'serious structural and behavioural problems in how UK television networks engage with the production community in Scotland.' The spending on current affairs programmes between 2001 and 2006, taking BBC and STV together, 'declined by 45%':
He concluded that: 'Perhaps it's time to explore on an all-party basis the issue of whether broadcasting should become a devolved responsibility, to secure greater accountability and transparency from the broadcasters and put some political muscle behind the programme makers?' Alex Salmond asked him to chair his new commission on broadcasting, which also includes former First Minister Henry McLeish and former Green MSP Chris Ballance. (59) Conservative MSP Ted Brocklebank, a former TV producer, was outraged at the suggestion that Scotland's broadcasters were not talented enough (as argued by Michael Grade and Mark Thompson, ITV's and BBC's chief executive and director-general, respectively, at an Ofcom conference in Cardiff). He referred to the SNP's manifesto commitment to devolve broadcasting and concluded:
Iain Macwhirter took up the baton:
A Scottish Six would be, as the BBC's Brian Taylor explained in his blog, 'a TV news programme, made in Scotland, which covered global, UK and Scottish news. Contrary to some comments, it would not focus exclusively on Scottish news.' (62) But, he asked, has the issue not moved on? Do not more people decide for themselves, online, which news to watch rather than relying 'upon a running order of events chosen by someone else.' Was this not, he asked, 'an analogue debate in a digital age?' Bill Jamieson advised caution as to the desirability of a 'Scottish Six'. He pointed out three caveats:
'The last thing Scottish broadcasting needs,' according to Ted Brocklebank, 'is a blinkered Braveheart overview, or the world seen through tartan-tinted spectacles.' (64) Ian Macwhirter disagrees that that would be the consequence of a 'Scottish Six'. As someone who saw the pilots the BBC produced in 2004, he states:
George Kerevan, citing that in a survey in 2004 by the Scottish Consumer Council nearly 70 per cent of viewers supported a 'Scottish Six', (66) added: 'As long as there is a licence fee, Scotland has a right to a say in how that money is spent. That is why it is still imperative that public service broadcasting is devolved to Holyrood.' (67) Repeated gaffes in the last few months by the BBC have stoked the unease - the abrupt ending of a Kirsty Wark interview with Alex Salmond in June; Jeremy Paxman's assertion that 'not one' of fifty firms north and south of the Border supported independence (in fact only seven had replied to the survey at all); and then the claim that voters in Scotland in the Referendum of 1997 had rejected independence, although the question was not even asked. (68) Having splashed this 'New BBC Blunder' over the entire front page, the Sunday Heraldtried to put it in perspective:
White Paper on IndependenceThe publication of the White Paper on Scottish independence (70) in August came in for a good deal of criticism, seeing that there was no chance of a parliamentary majority for the referendum envisaged in it. Scotland on Sunday begged to differ. It found 'hard to understand the vitriol that was poured on Alex Salmond;' after all he was only fulfilling a manifesto pledge. Citing the latest survey figure of 39% support for independence, it contended that 'Salmond himself expects that his White Paper will fall at the first hurdle,' but that he hopes that its failure will 'herald a more complex debate on Scotland's constitutional future.' (71) This debate, so the paper hoped, would result in 'Devolution Max' which would include 'new control over broadcasting, marine law, stamp duty and business taxation.' It continued:
While the opposition parties stuck to rejecting a referendum, The Scotsman disagreed, arguing for a referendum 'sooner rather than later' - 'Scotland's constitutional future can be determined only by her voters. They should be allowed to do so in the lifetime of this parliament.' (72) Picking up on Tory voices supporting a referendum now, the Evening Newshad pronounced back in June: 'Scotland needs stability and if that means an independence referendum, then better sooner than later.' (73) A first result of the White Paper was the coming together of the three main opposition parties in an agreement to develop devolution within the UK. (74) Commenting on the 'remarkable turnaround' of Labour, the Sunday Heraldmarvelled:
But there were also questions about the process of the 'national conversation'. The Evening Newsquestioned the openness of the conversation, if Salmond was the chair: 'Mr Salmond may be genuine in his desire to have a “national conversation” about Scotland's future governance, but if he really wants an open debate it is not one he can chair and it must be one he is prepared to lose.' (76) Canon Kenyon Wright's Constitutional Commission (77) or, indeed, a new Constitutional Convention (as proposed by the Steel Commission's Report) (78) could prevent Salmond being all in one person: instigator, moderator and adjudicator of the 'national conversation' and its outcome. Iain Macwhirter pointed out one of the conundrums of the SNP which, in his view, could be Labour's 'most effective challenge to the Nationalists':<
Peter Jones looked at it from a different perspective of attack. Referring to the SNP's rejection of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link (EARL), he asked: could the SNP 'deprive Scotland of the kind of big improvements that are eminently achievable now so that we become convinced that we must have independence in order to get them?' (80) On the other hand, the SNP's Peter Wishart MP warned that 'independence has become just an option when it should, of course, be the option.' He warned his party to be 'careful that this key choice does not become obscured in a plethora of other options.' (81) Legislation Lite - The End of he Honeymoon?In the run-up to the first disclosure of an SNP legislative programme, there were signs of the first cracks being broken into the armour of the seemingly unassailable SNP government, threatening an end to the 'easy ride'. The abolition of the council tax took its first hurdle: as the Lib Dems shared the SNP's intent, but as their model of local income tax is substantially different from the SNP's, one of them would have to give if a replacement was to pass in the Chamber. Offering Northern Irish students free tuition at Scottish universities, while English and Welsh students would still have to pay, The Scotsman commented, was 'no longer education policy', but 'talking about ways to dismember the United Kingdom', and warned the Scottish government not to make Scottish universities 'a political football'. (82) 'It would be a matter of great regret,' so the Herald, 'if the debate about regulating firearms were to be muddied by a constitutional turf war.' (83) Then the SNP was accused of 'watering down', (84) 'back tracking' on (85) or even 'dropping' their promise 'to make [St Andrew's Day] a new bank holiday.' (86) And Scotland on Sunday revealed cash-for-access issues around the forthcoming SNP party conference in Aviemore in October - a meeting with Alex Salmond to be had at the price of £9,500. (87) On 27 June, Cabinet Secretary John Swinney had accepted the first resounding defeat for the government - Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories had supported an amendment in the name of Wendy Alexander MSP to keep the Edinburgh tram project on track and review the airport rail link until the autumn. Despite previous speculation to the contrary, nourished by remarks of Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson and Alex Salmond himself, the government declared it would respect the will of Parliament and act accordingly, thus avoiding the threat of a no-confidence vote. (88) That's the new politics for you … and it did not dent the party's honeymoon, then. It was perhaps Arthur Midwinter's prediction that the SNP was heading for a financial 'black hole' of £2bn which really signalled the beginning of the end for the honeymoon period. (89) Tough choices might be the order of the day. 'And it is in making these that real government is proven or broken.' (90) Labour and the Lib Dems accused the SNP of not delivering on pre-election pledges. (91) And who would foot the bill for the council tax freeze the SNP plans to impose on (or, rather, negotiate with) local councils? (92) Severin Carrell listed the 'must do better' items:
The announcement of the eleven bills in the SNP's legislative programme was greeted with comments of 'legislation lite' or 'semi-skimmed'. Arguing that the 'slighter legislative menu than we have been used to in previous years' … 'comes as no surprise', being 'conditioned by the fact that Alex Salmond cannot command an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament,' The Scotsman warned nonetheless: 'This is not a political conjuring trick the First Minister can hope to repeat, without scraping the legislative barrel.' (94) What does the programme entail? Two bills prepared by the Scots Law Commission, on the modernisation of legislation on rape and sexual offenses, lowering the level for convictions, and a technical bill on right to interest on personal debt; taking forward the Culture Scotland bill prepared by the former Executive, including the merger of Scottish Screen with the Scottish Arts Council; bills on public health, on judicial appointments, and flood prevention, a Commonwealth Games bill (provided Glasgow's bid for 2014 is successful), and the statutory Budget Bill (after the Westminster spending review). That leaves only three bills delivering on SNP manifesto commitments: direct elections to health boards, abolishing tolls on the Tay and Forth bridges, and ending the graduate endowment scheme. 'The bigger ambitions,' Douglas Fraser noted, 'from local income tax to independence, have to wait for another day.' (95) 'Alex Salmond's honeymoon period,' so Severin Carrell, 'ended abruptly' when he faced accusations of 'breaching a series of promises to voters.' (96) The Daily Recordpeppered its pages with headlines like 'Nats shelve anti-drugs commission' and 'Salmond silent on vows' and added a scathing editorial:
The veteran journalist Tom Brown, self-confessed 'very old Labour', spoke of 'Alex Salmond's sleight-of-hand government' pulling 'storybook-promises and fantasy policies out of the hat' which made Scotland look 'increasingly like make-believe land.' (98) It may surprise how little effect any criticism of Salmond's decision to hang on to his Westminster seat until the next general election has provoked. Ian Bell was one of the few who openly criticised the decision: 'Isn't it beneath the dignity of the First Minister of Scotland,' he asked,
But he also laid his hand on a deeper problem. He sees Salmond becoming too powerful in his own party - 'Who within his party can now gainsay our Alex?' - as he 'has crushed all internal rivalry.' Has Scottish nationalism actually been reduced to 'Salmondism'? Independence in Britain?2006-2007 has been a year of change. We have seen the end of a beginning. Devolution has come of age. (100) Whether we have also witnessed the beginning of the end of the Union is less clear. According to a System 3 Poll at the beginning of September, only 35 per cent of Scots would vote in favour of independence. (101) And, according to David McCrone and Frank Bechhofer, 'Britishness is still widespread in England and Scotland,' (102) despite a strengthening sense of Scottishness over the last thirty years. In a new book (103) Henry McLeish and Tom Brown promote their idea of a 'New Union', a Union which must adapt to survive. The 'national conversation', they contend, must not be restricted to Scotland and increased powers for Holyrood alone. Are there signs of a convergence, a 'third way'? Did not Mike Russell and Dennis McLeod also argue for a 'New Union', (104) where some remaining reserved matters could be shared at a UK level. And has not Alex Salmond for over ten years now talked about some form of a 'British Association'? (105) In 1992 the SNP adopted Jim Sillars' 'Independence in Europe' as its slogan - could now be the time for 'Independence in Britain' or, as McLeish calls it, 'small-i independence'? (106) Brown and McLeish extensively quote Michael Keating's ideas about 'stateless nations in a post-sovereign era'. (107) Will Hutton, in an intervention in the Herald, argued for 'Devolution-max', which would 'in effect create a Scottish state within Britain rather like Alberta or Ontario within Canada.' He contended that globalisation demanded management by 'bigger units, not small'. Independence would therefore be 'a 19th century response to 21st century dilemmas.' (108) Or, as David McCrone put it, 'we live now in [a] very different kind of world - a world of federations and confederations of autonomous nations within states within the European Union. Self-government is a question of degree, not of kind.' (109) 'Holyrood has become a fixture,' Scotland on Sundaydeclared in a leader marking the advent of the tenth anniversary of the devolution referendum, and
'We know that Salmond is full of intelligence and political savvy,' the paper continued, 'but how far do these qualities spread through his ministerial team - and will they be enough to overcome the difficulties faced in this new parliamentary year?' It concluded:
'The stage is set for the most crucial period in Scottish politics since 1997,' dramatised the Evening News, 'not only because of the new personalities in the leading roles, but because the future of the country is at stake as it has never been in living memory.' (111) In a year's time we will have a much clearer picture as to where the new dispensation of power in Scotland and the UK will take us. And maybe, just maybe, the next Annals will have a tale to tell about a UK General Election? For the time being, one thing is for sure, astonishing as some observers may find it: even four months after the May election, 'wily Salmond is on a popularity roll,' (112) and there is still a palpable sense of change and optimism around. Joyce McMillan went so far as to talk of 'a smile on the face of the nation, and a spring in its step':
And football. At First Minister's Question Time on 13 September Alex Salmond claimed the Scottish victory in Paris as part of the new optimism in the country. All's fair in war and at First Minister's Questions. Anyone remember Argentina 1978?
September 2007
Footnotes(a, return to place in text) Eberhard Bort is the academic coordinator of the Institute of Governance at Edinburgh University. (1) Iain Macwhirter, ‘The SNP seem to be on their way at last’’, Sunday Herald, 15 October 2006. (2) Douglas Fraser, ‘McConnell: we don’t need more powers for Holyrood’, The Herald, 25 October 2006 (3) BBC News Online, ‘McConnell warning on extra powers, 24 October 2006 (4) Joan McAlpine, ‘Can Jack shake off the nationalist terrier?, The Herald, 21 August 2006 (5) Andrew McDonald and Robert Hazell, ‘What happened next: constitutional change under New Labour’, in Andrew McDonald (ed.), Reinventing Britain: Constitutional change under New Labour, London: Politico’s, 2007, p.16. (6) The Steel Commission, Moving to Federalism: A New Settlement for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scottish Liberal Democrats, (March) 2006. (7) Hamish Macdonell, ‘Tory shift on power leaves Labour isolated’, The Scotsman, 5 March 2007. (8) Edinburgh Evening News (Editorial), ‘There is a case for giving Holyrood further tax powers’, 30 October 2006. (9) Ruth Wishart, ‘Oddly, Jack’s going to tell why he’s a Union man’, The Herald, 24 October 2006. (10) Henry McLeish, ‘The debate we should have’, The Sunday Times, 5 November 2006. (11) Leader Comment, ‘McConnell’s election problem’, The Scotsman, 25 October 2006. (12) Peter Jones, ‘McConnell’s ‘no more power’ is a big gamble’, The Scotsman, 24 October 2006. (13) Edinburgh Evening News (Editorial), ‘‘We need to give devolution time to be a success’’, 16 January 2007. (14) BBC News Online, ‘SNP’’not fit for purpos’’ – Reid’, 26 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6184412.stm (15) BBC News Online, ‘Blair urges ‘fight for Scotland’’, 24 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6178804.stm (16) BBC News Online, ‘Scots split would harm UK – Brown’, 25 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6182762.stm (17) Ibid. (18) BBC News Online, ‘‘Prepare for Power’ says Salmond’, 11 October 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6038704.stm (19) BBC News Online, ‘MSPs vote for same-sex adoption’, 7 December 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6215838.stm (20) www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billSummaries.htm (21) Brian Taylor BBC Blog, 29 March 2007, www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/election07/scotland/ (22) BBC News Online, ‘Salmond in New Year message first’, 31 December 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6219745.stm (23) BBC News Online, ‘SNP ‘planning chaos and turmpoil’’, 19 March 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6467287.stm (24) ICM Scottish Omnibus Poll (for the BBC), conducted 29-31 March 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6526715.stm#table (25) See Owen Dudley Edwards, ‘Election 2007: The Year of Courage?’, Scottish Affairs, No.60 (Summer 2007), pp.115-39. (26) Robbie Dinwoodie, ‘Labour makes education key in vote race’, The Herald, 6 January 2007. (27) The Populus poll was conducted for the Times between 13-15 April 2007. See Philip Webster, ‘Blair prepares for final test as polls plunge to new low’, The Times, 17 April 2007. (28) Scotland on Sunday stated in an editorial that an SNP-led government ‘offers the best chance of restoring public confidence in our democracy, and a new sense of possibility in the people of this country’ (29 April 2007); The Scotsman also argued for an SNP role in government; The Sunday Herald editorialised that ‘a vote for change is a leap of faith. It’s a leap this newspaper is prepared to make.’ (29 April 2007); and the Sunday Times concluded ‘that an SNP-led coalition is the best option for voters’ (29 April 2007). By contrast, most of the tabloids stuck with the Labour rhetoric about ‘sleepwalking into independence’ (Daily Record, 3 May 2007), while the Sun’s front page on election day carried the image of a noose – Salmond as the hangman and ‘wrecker’ of Scotland – and an editorial to the tune of ‘only Labour can save us from a living nightmare’ (3 May 2007). (29) Owen Dudley Edwards, op.cit. p.134. (30) See Peter Jones, ‘The Smooth Wooing: the SNP’s Victory in the 2007 Scottish Parliament Elections’, Scottish Affairs, No.60 (Summer 2007), p.19. (31) The Steel Commission: Moving to Federalism – A New Settlement for Scotland, Edinburgh: Scottish Liberal Democrats, 2006. (32) Stuart Nicolson and Dave Romans, ‘Worldwide interest as polls open’, BBC Scotland News Online, 3 May 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6595029.stm (33) A first analysis of the 2007 Scottish Parliament election result can be found in Stephen Herbert, Ross Burnside, Murray Earle, Tom Edwards, Tom Foley, Iain McIver (eds), Election 2007, Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), 07/21 (8 May 2007), www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-07/SB07-21.pdf (34) An increase of 4.2% on the 2003 figure. See David Denver, ‘‘A Historic Moment’? The Results of the Scottish Parliament Elections 2007’, Scottish Affairs, No.60 (Summer 2007), p.64. (35) It is an oddity that spoilt ballots are not counted in the official turn-out figure. After all, had voters not turned out, their ballots could not have been spoilt. See Stephen Herbert and Tom Edwards, Rejected Ballot Papers, Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), 07/36 (26 June 2007), www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-07/SB07-36.pdf (36) A summary of the results is in the article by Denver in issue 60 of Scottish Affairs: see note 34 above. (37) Joyce McMillan, ‘SNP’s ascension has given us renewed hope’, The Scotsman, 1 September 2007. (38) Douglas Fraser, ‘Salmond in Belfast to build common causes’, The Herald, 18 June 2007. (39) See Tom Nairn, After Britain: New Labour and the Return of Scotland, London: Granta, 2000, pp.278, 305. Nairn revisited the idea in his Gordon Brown: The Bard of Britishness, Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs, 2006, pp.27-29. (40) ‘Scottish neighbour Salmond may well be a friend in disguise’, Irish Independent, 27 June 2007. (41) Eddie Barnes, ‘SNP spells out ‘Council of the Isles’ plan’, Scotland on Sunday, 25 February 2007. (42) Edinburgh Evening News (Editorial), ‘The McConnell years seem a distant memory’, 9 August 2007. (43) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Now for some tough choices’, 24 August 2007. (44) Ewan Crawford, ‘Govening well is worth a hundred freedom slogans’, The Guardian, 15 August 2007. (45) Iain Macwhirter, ‘The SNP didn’t just hit the ground running, they lapped the political field’, Sunday Herald, 24 June 2007. (46) George Kerevan, ‘The London media (and Brown) just don’t get it’, The Scotsman, 21 June 2007. (47) Iain Macwhirter, ‘Salmond and Brown: the right men for these times’, The Herald, 30 July 2007. Macwhirter prefaced his piece with a wee caveat that, ‘like most political hacks, I tend to be a professional pessimist, if not a borderline depressive,’ and that ‘the reward for optimism about politicians is generally ridicule.’ This might be ‘one column I will probably regret writing.’ Time will tell… (48) A Scottish Daily Mail poll on 10 August 2007 put the SNP at 48% – but with only 31% in favour of independence. (49) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Labour fails to get the message’, 22 June 2007. (50) Hamish Macdonell, ‘Has anyone seen the Labour Party?’, The Scotsman, 22 June 2007. (51) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Labour fails to get the message’, 22 June 2007. (52) Iain Macwhirter, ‘Southern discomfort: an increasingly bitter taste’, The Herald, 25 June 2007. (53) Robbie Dinwoodie, ‘Alexander sets out vision of a new Labour Party for Scotland’, The Herald, 18 August 2007. As Tom Gordon reported in the Sunday Times, according to a YouGov poll, ‘Only 7% of voters want Alexander as first minister’, 19 August 2007. (54) Tom Gordon, ‘White Hot Alex’, The Sunday Times, 19 August 2007. (55) Eddie Barnes, ‘Wendy’s house may be not so easy for the SNP to blow down’, Scotland on Sunday, 29 July 2007. (56) George Kerevan, ‘The big tasks facing next Scottish Labour leader’, The Scotsman, 9 August 2007. (57) Paul Hutcheon, ‘Salmond to demand a ‘Scottish Six’ and call for broadcasting to be devolved’, Sunday Herald, 5 August 2007; Hamish Macdonell, ‘First Minister demands end to remote control of television’, The Scotsman, 9 August 2007. (58) Blair Jenkins, ‘A nation deserves better from its broadcasters’, The Herald, 18 June 2007. (59) Robbie Dinwoodie and Phil Miller ‘Switching on to the future of Scots TV’, The Herald, 9 August 2007; Steven Vass, ‘Jenkins’s commission will examine Scotland’s place in the media world’, Sunday Herald, 12 August 2007. (60) Ted Brocklebank, ‘Here is the news: Scots viewers deserve better’, The Herald, 6 July 2007. (61) Iain Macwhirter, ‘Switching off Scotland’s window on the world’, The Herald, 23 July 2007. (62) Brian Taylor, ‘Broadcasting Scotland’, BBC Blog, 8 August 2007, www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/2007/08/08/index.html (63) Bill Jamieson, ‘Cause for caution on devolution of broadcasting’, The Scotsman, 10 August 2007. (64) Ted Brocklebank, ‘Our TV talent has been abandoned’, Sunday Express, 12 August 2007. (65) Iain Macwhirter, ‘And now for the news…broadcast from Scotland’, Sunday Herald, 12 August 2007. For an exchange of views on Scottish broadcasting, see ‘Broadcasting’s devolution debate’ in the Guardian of 13 August 2007, where the pro-side was taken by Alex Bell of allmediascotland.com, and the contra side by Brian McNair of Strathclyde University. (66) But a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times in August 2007 showed 52 per cent rejecting a ‘Scottish Six’ – The Sunday Times, 26 August 2007. (67) George Kerevan, ‘Here is the news… a ‘Scottish Six’ is vital’, The Scotsman, 6 August 2007. (68) John Bynorth, ‘BBC apologises in new row over ‘mistake’ in SNP survey’, Sunday Herald, 22 July 2007; Paul Hutcheon, ‘BBC apologises over fresh independence gaffe’, Sunday Herald, 9 September 2007. (69) Sunday Herald (Editorial), ‘Ratings can never be worth losing the trust of the public’, 22 July 2007. (70) Scottish Executive: Choosing Scotland’s Future: A National Conversation, Edinburgh, 2007. (71) Scotland on Sunday (Editorial), ‘Time to rethink devolution’, 29 July 2007 (72) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Referendum is the right way’, 15 August 2007. (73) Edinburgh Evening News (Editorial), ‘Chance to kick independence out of bounds’, 19 June 2007. (74) Kevin Schofield, ‘Why the unionists finally got together’, The Herald, 14 August 2007. See also Eddie Barnes, ‘Unionists team up to steal SNP thunder over Holyrood powers’, Scotland on Sunday, 26 August 2007. (75) Sunday Herald (editorial), Scotland’s changed…so should unionist parties’ attitudes’, 19 August 2007. (76) Edinburgh Evening News (Editorial), ‘It’s not an open debate if Alex is the chairman’, 15 August 2007. (77) See www.constitutionalcommission.org (78) David Steel, ‘A new convention? Now you’re talking’, The Scotsman, 25 August 2007. (79) Iain Macwhirter, ‘Why we haven’t the constitution to go it alone’, The Herald, 6 Auguyst 2007. (80) Peter Jones, ‘The conflict at the heart of SNP’s programme’, The Scotsman, 4 September 2007. (81) Peter Wishart, ‘Independence or nothing’, The Sunday Times, 16 September 2007. (82) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Not the way, Mr Salmond’, 20 June 2007. The policy was abandoned. (83) The Herald (Editorial), ‘Disarming debate’, 27 August 2007. (84) Ian Swanson, ‘SNP’s St Andrews’s holiday promise ‘watered down’’, Edinburgh Evening News, 24 August 2007. (85) Raymond Hainey, ‘Salmond in St Andrew’s Day holiday backtrack row’, The Scotsman, 25 August 2007. (86) ‘SNP denies dropping plan to make St Andrew’s Day a national holiday’, The Herald, 25 August 2007. (87) Murdo MacLeod, ‘Want to lobby a minister? Send £10,000 to the SNP’, Scotland on Sunday, 2 September 2007. (88) Douglas Fraser, ‘Tram scheme goes ahead after SNP defeat’, The Herald, 28 June 2007. (89) Peter MacMahon, ‘SNP: on brink of a financial ‘black hole’?’, The Scotsman, 17 August 2007. (90) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘Now for some tough choices’, 24 August 2007. (91) Kevin Schofield, ‘Labour says SNP has failed to deliver on pre-election promises’, The Herald, 23 August 2007. (92) David Scott, ‘Who will foot the bill for the big tax freeze/’, The Scotsman, 7 September 2007. (93) Severin Carrell, ‘Salmond accused of spin as SNP reviews first 100 days in power’, The Guardian, 24 August 2007. (94) The Scotsman (Editorial), ‘First Minister has to play safe’, 6 September 2007. (95) Douglas Fraser, ‘Salmond unveils first eleven’, The Herald, 6 September 2007. (96) Severin Carrell, ‘Opposition parties mock SNP as Salmond unveils reforms’, The Guardian, 6 September 2007. (97) Daily Record (Editorial), ‘No excuse for SNP silence’, 7 September 2007. (98) Tom Brown, ‘Salmon’s Passport to Penicuik is an expensive forgery’, Scotland on Sunday, 7 July 2007. (99) Ian Bell, ‘Salmondism: Is it really a substitute for nationalism?’, The Herald, 7 July 2007. (100) Eberhard Bort, ‘Election 2007: Devolution Come of Age?, in Gilles Leydier (ed.), La dévolution des pouvoirs à l’Écosse et au pays de Galles, 1966-1999, Paris: Éditions Ellipses, 2007 (also: www.institute-of-governance.org/onlinepub/election2007_devolutionofage.html). (101) Paul Hutcheon, ‘If Alex Salmon’s referendum was held today, 50% would vote NO to independence, 35% would vote YES’, Sunday Herald, 2 September 2007. (102) Frank Bechhofer and David McCrone, ‘Being British: A Crisis of Identity?’, Political Quarterly, Vol.78,No.2 (April-June 2007), p.259. (103) Henry McLeish and Tom Brown, Scotland: The Road Divides, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2007. (104) Michael Russell and Dennis McLeod, Grasping the Thistle: How Scotland Must React to the Three Key Challenges of the Twenty First Century, Glendaruel: Argyll Publishing, 2006. (105) Alex Salmond, ‘Sotland and Ireland’, Scottish Affairs, No.25 (Autumn 1998), pp.68-77. (106) BBC News at Ten, 14 September 2007. (107) Michael Keating, Plurinational Democracy: Stateless Nations in a Post-Sovereign Era, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. (108) Will Hutton, ‘How Scotland could end up with best of both worlds’, The Herald, 15 August 2007. (109) David McCrone, ‘Semi-detached’, Holyrood, 162, 125 January 2007, p.45. (110) Scotland on Sunday (Editorial), ‘Time to look ahead’, 9 September 2007. (111) Edinburgh Evening News (editorial), ‘Alexander has already scored a few hits’, 25 August 2007. (112) Michael White, ‘Alexanders, children of the manse and Labour’s third dynasty’, The Guardian, 1 September 2007. (113) Joyce McMillan, ‘SNP’s ascension has given us renewed hope’, The Scotsman, 1 September 2007.
Online 17 January 2008
|
|
|
|
Home | About | Current Issue | Online Articles | Subscribe | Issues & Articles | Submission Guidelines | Contact | Site Map
|
 |
Scottish Affairs is
published by |
|
||
|
|
||
back to
top