STUCK between a rock and a hard place, Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, doesn’t have her troubles to seek. While the row over unacceptable views on ethnic and religious groups continues in some quarters of her party, her new MPs in Westminster are taking their lead from the PM when it comes to leaving the European Union. Then to cap it all, figures from the recent Panelbase poll show that a high proportion of Tory voters in Scotland aren’t even supporters of devolution.
Are they really voting for Ruth then, or are they voting for Theresa? Which problem should she deal with first? Ruth Davidson is well past the honeymoon period in her relationship with the Scottish Tories. The fact remains, she lost the election in Scotland and the temporary glow of her oft-billed “success” has now turned a murky shade of yellow as she tries to dodge the more unpleasant elements in her party. She should be experiencing many a dark night of the soul as she watches her leader make friends with the regressive DUP – as some of her new MPs and councillors show their true colours on travellers, Catholics and our BAME communities, and her new “hopefuls” in London turn a wilful blind eye to a brazen Brexit power grab. And yet she remains so quiet on all fronts, unwilling to stick her neck out and call out these transgressions. There’s nowhere left to hide for Ruth Davidson.
What a difference a summer makes. Just a few months ago, she triumphantly arrived at No 10 to be hailed the great saviour of the Tories at the General Election. Then, only a few weeks later she realised that actually her so-called party buddies were much more interested in Northern Ireland, paying handsomely for this new friendship at the expense of both Scotland and Wales and indeed at the expense of her personal views on LGBTI equality.
Now the party’s over, it must be obvious to Ruth that Theresa May and the Conservatives in London care little for the views of the devolved government in Scotland that she so keenly seeks to lead. Scottish votes are just a means to an end and the new Scottish Tory MPs mere “lobby fodder” in the House of Commons. To make matters worse, only this week, the Scottish Secretary, David Mundell, has admitted that, rather than the “power bonanza” he promised would return to Scotland after Brexit, some devolved powers will now be re-reserved to Westminster when the country finally leaves the EU, in order to preserve “the integrity of the UK internal market”. How many more lies are waiting their turn to be exposed? Surely Ruth Davidson can’t stick her head in the sand on this one? The very foundations of our devolved government are being challenged in broad daylight. Her MPs in Westminster are doing nothing to represent Scottish interests as promised, let alone stop the steamrolling of democracy by the Tory Brexiteers.
This threat to proper process seems all the more poignant as we celebrate the anniversary of devolution in Scotland and Wales. Whilst flicking through the letters pages in some of the weekend papers, I was disheartened to see such a negative take on two decades of self-government by some readers, many of whom I’m guessing make up the regressive and troubling percentage of Scottish Tory voters who would rather be ruled in all matters by Westminster. Reading between their lines, another story emerges of a fear of losing privilege and wealth, of giving up large swathes of private property and of paying more tax. Abolishing Holyrood and returning power to Westminster under an increasingly right-wing government would suit the few who wish to protect their assets at any cost.
Meanwhile, on a more positive note vis-a-vis working together in Scotland’s best interests, Ruth’s deputy, Jackson Carlaw, and MSP Adam Tompkins are due to meet with Brexit Minister Mike Russell this week to discuss drawing up amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill. How much influence her two messengers will have remains to be seen. But instead of the usual Tory squabbling and obsessing over the constitution at the expense of policy, are they finally willing to work with the Scottish Government for the better good? Let’s hope so. Amidst the doom and gloom, collaboration could well be the test of the very public support Ruth gave to the single market during the referendum campaign and her recent comments on “not flying the flag for Brexit”.
It’s time for her to stand up for Scotland’s parliament and take a hard line on the worst excesses of her party at Westminster. She may risk alienating the anti-devolution brigade of course, but surely for anyone who believes in the Scottish Parliament, that’s a risk worth taking. After all, there’s a whole new generation of voters in Scotland who weren’t even born before devolution and won’t lightly accept losing the power they’ve come to regard as rightfully theirs.
That just leaves the question of what to do about the prejudice and racism – I’ll leave that one to Ruth to come up with some answers. It’s not going to go away.
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