How Labour can create a more equal United Kingdom – and stop the SNP

The tired incompetence of the SNP government in Scotland is there for all to see and their continued obsession with constitutional change no longer chimes with those they have let down for so long.

Labour could kill the desire for independence, says Guy (Image: Stewart Attwood)

The SNP thought Scotland leaving the UK was inevitable because younger people were more in favour of it and as the stupid oldies died off the advantage would shift in favour of nationalism. Sadly for them that has not proved to be the case, as the young have got older they have changed their minds. The SNP’s inevitable destination has proved to be far from inevitable.

The UK Labour Government must not make the same mistake as the SNP made and take victory for granted. Just when it seems like they don’t have to do much and the SNP will go away they should use their decisive mandate to strengthen the Union.

The first thing they should do is make it clear that whilst sensible things like separate immigration quotas for Scotland can be discussed the endless conveyor belt of powers transferring from Westminster to Holyrood is over. The Scottish Government has plenty of powers, many of which it uses badly, it does not need more.

The second thing the Labour Government should do is set out the steps by which Scotland could leave the UK if it wished. The idea that we are trapped has not only led to stupid ideas like de facto referendums (lost badly) but provides another source of SNP grievance.

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The road to exit should be made clear and it is not a majority of one in a referendum demanded by a nationalist Scottish Government with a tiny majority. If we have learned anything from Brexit it is that a referendum is a terrible way to reach a decision on something the country is badly divided on. A referendum works well when it puts a stamp of legitimacy on something the country plainly wants to do.

There should only be another referendum on Scotland leaving the UK if two thirds of the members of the Scottish Parliament pass such a motion. If there is a referendum it should be run by the UK with external neutral input and with a fair question not the biased one we had last time. To leave the UK there should not just be a majority in a referendum across the whole of Scotland but also in each of its eight electoral regions.

None of these requirements are odd when looked at from an international perspective. I hope Scotland never leaves the UK but if it does it should only be if a decisive majority of Scots across our country want that outcome. The merits of the UK Government setting clear criteria is that the Government of Scotland will then focus on benefiting the daily lives of people in Scotland rather than constitutional wrangling.

The third and key thing the Labour Government must do is to run the UK like it actually is the UK and not England plus a few Celtic irritations. Can Starmer get this? He has help, more MPs from Scotland and Wales than Sunak ever did.

Some of the things which need to be done are straightforward but have a double edge. Siting the headquarters of the new GB Energy in Scotland (not Edinburgh, please) is a good idea if there is real impetus behind it and it is a recognition of Scotland’s leading position in the UK’s energy future but a rotten idea, which will be seen through, if it is just a bureaucratic dud.

Sir Keir Starmer (Image: free)

Other institutions and offices should be moved out of the over advantaged and expensive south east of England. Digital technology enables what used to need to be done in London to be done in Dumfries and Aberystwyth instead – it will hurt those regions which have grown used to privilege but if we really want to make the United Kingdom work then those transfers are necessary – not because it is levelling up but because it is both cost effective and fair.

The Government also needs to look at itself, how it is made up, where it works, how it works. The reform of the House of Lords has begun but Gordon Brown’s ideas for a second chamber which better reflects the nations and regions of the UK is a good one and should be followed through.

Scotland does benefit from being part of the UK but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Scotland is a nation but to be comfortable within the UK it needs to feel a genuine partner in that enterprise. There is much to be done to achieve that but if the Labour Government is determined and bold enough it can be done. The prize would be a United Kingdom more equal and more at ease with itself.

Guy Stenhouse is a Scottish financial sector veteran who wrote formerly as Pinstripe