No, the SNP is not the UK’s Taliban. Here’s what the party is really like
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Version 0 of 1. Faux outrage over nothingness, imagined chasms where there is a continent of common ground, hysterical personal attacks, hypocritical inconsistency and a huge gap in the market where authenticity and leadership could sit: this is the general election 2015. The campaign ought to have led the country through the challenges of inter-generational importance that we face in this moment: how we compete and become more productive and not just watch that deficit balloon, how we fund our public services sustainably without beggaring the next generation, how we reform the governance of a diverse union without allowing the politics of division to define us, how we determine our role in the world. All of this is up for grabs, along with who we are and how we see ourselves, but the content of the campaign has largely passed all this by. The vacuum left has been filled with invective – the crackle of thorns beneath an empty pot. Vigorous exchange by all means, but the destructive aggression towards opponents and their democratic legitimacy must end. The best example is Michael Fallon’s attack on Ed Miliband as “stabbing his country in the back” over a position on Trident he doesn’t even hold. Yet one of Fallon’s predecessors as Tory defence secretary, Michael Portillo, actually does want Trident to go. 'Many politicians and media critics lazily attach to it labels they learned half a century ago' The greatest hysteria – but of course – is reserved for the SNP, as polls suggest they could possibly even replace the Liberal Democrats as the third largest party at Westminster. If true, this will mean businesses and organisations across the UK will need to upgrade their own understanding of the SNP and modernise their thinking on who they are and what they will mean. They will be on every parliamentary group and every committee and slated to contribute to every debate. That hasn’t happened before. The SNP can make a very constructive contribution to improving all of the UK. Democracy and mutual self-interest dictates that they ought to. But unless and until they and their voters are treated with the same respect the British public affords to Nicola Sturgeon, then Britain’s political system and culture will continue to ossify, at all our costs. So let’s start with the basics: the SNP is not the Taliban, though to listen to the wilder extremes of its caricaturing by London media and politicians, you’d think it was. This is a sophisticated and mature governing party with a highly capable campaigning machine and some of the most modern, competent and progressive political voices in Europe at its head. Secondly, the SNP is not anti-English. Again, this is the easy shorthand for many politicians and media critics who either wilfully don’t understand the party or lazily seek to attach to it labels they learned half a century ago. The SNP presents a modern, open-hearted case for a country that just wants the power to self-determine. That is anti-no one. If you don’t believe me, reflect on the fact that its Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, is half-German and was born in Wimbledon. Academic evidence from the referendum suggests that a majority of Scottish-born voters favoured independence, with only those migrating to Scotland, especially from the rest of Britain, pushing the vote towards “No”. The SNP and its parliamentarians have been very careful to treat this information as irrelevant and continue to push a strong pro-immigration line. Reflect on that. And finally, the SNP seems to want a Labour victory more than Ed Miliband does. It would far rather work to help make a Labour government meet the needs of all the UK than yet another long slog under the Tories. Yet Miliband appears to prefer the Tories to working with a party that agrees with the vast majority of Labour values he says he holds dear. Related: The SNP could never hold a Labour government to ransom – and here’s why | Robin Lustig The SNP just lost the independence referendum, and the idea of another one any time soon is neither realistic nor in the interests of those who want independence – unless Britain votes to exit Europe and Scotland does not. The opportunity now is to make good all the promises and affections beamed north in the referendum campaign and properly remake Britain’s system so that all of its people feel like they have a stake in it. The SNP can help shake up an establishment consensus grown sleepy, contented and complacent. In doing so they could ironically make the rest of the UK stronger in every sense. Good. When everyone eventually realises that this is, in fact, what the SNP truly wants, they will begin to get a handle on the modern realities of phenomenon they are dealing with. The destructive dialogue must end, and then good things can happen for all of Britain’s communities. |