THE Scottish Conservative puddle of jellyfish, having shown themselves incapable of standing up to their Westminster masters over Boris Johnson's rule-breaking or Rishi Sunak's shocking entitlement, have decided that the best strategy to woo voters in next month's local elections is to engage in the sort of naked pork barrel bribery which stains American politics.
Douglas Ross has made it plain that if Conservatives are returned as councillors they will put in "every possible" bid for Westminster funding – an assertion which led Green MSP Maggie Chapman to accuse the Conservatives of attempting to "bribe" people into voting for them.
The funding that Ross is so eager to apply for is money from the UK Government's so-called Levelling Up fund. The British Government, using the Brexit that Scotland didn't vote for as an excuse, has given itself the power to disburse this funding in Scotland and Wales on matters which would otherwise fall within the remit of the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Senedd.
Effectively this constitutes a means by which the Conservatives at Westminster can by-pass the devolved Parliaments and impose spending and policy decisions on Scotland. S such this is a blatant attack on the devolution settlement and a significant power grab by Westminster.
The Conservatives have not made even a pretence of seeking a democratic mandate from the people of Scotland to make such a substantial change to the devolution settlement, despite their promises during the 2014 independence referendum campaign that if Scotland voted against independence, not only would the powers of the Scottish Parliament be strengthened and entrenched, but also that no Westminster government would ever make any changes to the devolution settlement or the powers of the Scottish Parliament without the express consent of Holyrood.
The Tories are now using the powers which Westminster has awarded itself in direct breach of their previous promises in order to buy themselves an advantage in the Scottish local elections. Maggie Chapman has described this as a "blatant attempt to undermine Scottish democracy". But then as we have all learned by now, as far as the Conservatives are concerned, Scotland had its democracy on 18 September 2014 and as far as they are concerned the outcome of that vote gave them carte blanche to do as they please in perpetuity.
Yet even if we were foolish enough to accept Douglas Ross's assertions that the Levelling Up fund was a good thing, and that contrary to the evidence of our own common sense it is not an undemocratic attempt to undermine the devolution settlement, it is still an exercise in smoke and mirrors which is short-changing Scotland.
SNP MP Mhairi Black pointed out that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove promised £1.5 billion a year for Scottish devolved services in Levelling Up funding as part of the Brexit campaign, but only £172m of this has been announced. She added: "For every £1 they promised they’ve given 11 pence. Scotland has been short-changed by 89%."
Not only has Scotland been short-changed, but as a recent report from the Guardian newspaper made clear, the Conservative Government disproportionately allocates Levelling Up funds in England to Conservative voting areas, in a clear attempt to bolster the Conservative vote.
There is every reason to believe that they will do the exact same thing in Scotland. The Conservatives have no compunction about using public funds, not for the areas of greatest need, but short term party political gain. When the Scottish Conservatives claim to be standing up for Scottish communities, they are really only standing up for their own selfish interests. From Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak all the way down to a local councillor, that's all the Tories ever do.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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