Michael Russell: Why opposition for opposition's sake is failing Scotland

Trends are of course more important than snapshots, so it is also significant that this dominance has been clear for a decade and that not only is the SNP’s central tenet of independence more popular than at almost any time in its history, but also that the new co-operation agreement with the Greens has already attracted significant public approval.

All of this, you would have thought, should provoke substantial soul searching by the opposition parties, if only to try and work out where they have gone wrong and how to set things right.

But not in Scotland.

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So, doing the same thing over and over again but still expecting a different result – the classic definition of stupidity – both opposition leaders in the Scottish Parliament threw themselves once more into the fray this week in exactly the same over-the-top, negative, unpleasant manner that has been the hallmark of all their predecessors since the SNP first came to power in 2007.

I have watched it close-up and it is not a pretty sight. Iain Gray and Johann Lamont were particularly bitter, a trait no doubt borne out of that angry frustration which Anas Sarwar is now so obviously feeling.

On the other side Ruth Davidson’s sour and hectoring approach has been taken to new depths by the singularly unpleasant Douglas Ross.

These dismal performances have done no harm to the SNP but it is worth judging them by another criteria, which is the damage they do to Scottish governance. For by acting in this way, Labour and the Tories have reduced every issue in Scotland to one of conflict and made everything a proxy for tit-for-tat constitutional politics.

In fact it is the narrow constitutional focus of the opposition parties – their overwhelming obsession – that is the most remarkable feature of the current political situation in Scotland, not the dominance of the SNP, though there is a connection between the two.

The parties of independence – the SNP and the Greens – do not weaken in their commitment to that essential next step by also trying always to be the parties of competence, radical change, equality, prosperity and wellbeing. They recognise the duality inherent in Scottish politics today – the need to deliver but also to aspire – and work on both.

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But Labour and the Tories have merged these two matters into a single activity – opposition on any and all past, present and future issues no matter the cost and despite the resulting electoral self harm.

They practice a sort of scorched earth politics which whilst applauded by their diminishing hard line core vote, has proved and is still proving deeply unattractive to the wider public.

A GRAPHIC example is the spat about vaccine passports.

The perverse mentality of the opposition parties led to the ludicrous situation in which both the Tories and Labour at Holyrood argued vigorously and voted enthusiastically against a policy that their counterparts at Westminster were supporting and which, in England, the Tories were actually proposing.

This, it has to be admitted made Ross, Sarwar (below) and their MSPs look not only two faced, but also fundamentally daft. The public are neither fooled by the pretence that there is always some great principle at stake nor that Labour and Tories are acting solely out of concern for their fellow Scots.

Indeed most people strongly agree that at present there is a need for politicians to work together, not least to manage public safety whilst the pandemic is still affecting our lives and to deliver better services when it is over.

In that regard it is also clear that the legacy of the Christie Commission does require to be re-energised, yet the biggest barrier is not only the baleful effects of the union but also the constant die-in-a-ditch Labour and Tory opposition to any and all change.

There is both an opportunity and a need for consensus in the Scottish Parliament about a small number of really important issues. Moreover there is clear and consistent support for politicians to overcome differences as the recent Citizen’s Assembly indicated and the SNP/Green agreement shows.

That view has also been echoed by the joint author of the OECD report into Scottish Education Dr Beatriz Pont, who observed on Wednesday that on some issues in Scotland “the politics overtakes the policy”.

The SNP/ Green co-operation agreement starts to correct that. It has taken, leadership. courage and the development of trust on both sides to make it happen but it will produce results over time.

It is made easier by the parties’ pre-existing agreement on the constitution and the fact that both appreciate that whilst it is possible to start on the process of change, rebuilding, and climate and environmental action under devolution, real, sustained and effective progress needs the full powers of independence to be available to the Scottish Parliament.

I do not expect that this truism will be accepted by Labour or the Tories but it would help Scottish governance over all if those parties were able to accept that contributing positively to policy development and seeking consensus in crucial areas such as education and health was a sign of political maturity not capitulation to the forces of darkness.

Alas I fear that what we currently experience – negative nonsensical oppositionalism as displayed this week – could remain tediously and destructively the same for some time yet and only be banished by a second, successful, independence referendum.

But it would be a welcome if belated reaction to the polls and a real bonus for every citizen if, at last, care for a better Scotland for all Scots could overcome what is often no more than naked and fearful hatred of the SNP.