Let's have a Labour-SNP coalition, with rotating First Ministers

In particular, our politicians should turn to the old Hassidic parable Yalom tells, The tale of the Rabbi and God. It goes like this: a rabbi is chatting to God and asks about heaven and hell. God says "Follow me, I’ll show you hell." God takes the rabbi into a room full of starving, wailing people sitting around a table. In the middle of the table, there’s a huge pot of delicious stew - enough for all. Each person has a long spoon. It’s long enough to reach the pot, but too long to turn and get the food into your mouth. The rabbi is stricken with compassion for their suffering.

Now God says, "Follow me, I’ll show you heaven." God takes the rabbi into a room exactly the same as the last. The same number of people, same table, same pot of stew, and same long spoons. But here, everyone is happy and full. The rabbi is confused and turns to God for answers. God says: "It’s simple - the people in this room have learned to feed each other." The tale is Yalom’s way of explaining altruism and its benefits. Help others, and we help ourselves. Cooperation trumps conflict.

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However, we’ve allowed politicians to shape democracy around conflict rather than cooperation. We’ve let them chose the path least likely to provide good outcomes, rather than the path most likely to help the greatest number of people.

The direction in which politics has travelled this last century and more is surely - in part, at least - down to the fact that it’s a profession which attracts the most manipulative among us.

Politics has become the art of corralling us into tribes - using spurious, concocted ideological wars, which are of no benefit to anybody. So politicians have a greater chance of dividing us and hoarding power to themselves.

On a psychological side-note, read up on ‘pathocracy’ - the study of why dangerous people go into politics.

This taste for conflict, though, is about to bite Scotland’s political class very hard, very soon. Chickens are coming home to roost.

On Sunday, Lord of Psephology, Professor John Curtice, predicted ungovernable chaos at Holyrood following the next election. I hate to boast, but I predicted the same three weeks ago.

Anyway, Curtice is far more politically astute than I. The issue is this: electoral arithmetic makes it unlikely that either unionist or pro-independence parties will be able to form a government come 2026.

If Reform wins the number of seats expected, then even if Labour, LibDems and Tories got into bed together they still wouldn’t have the numbers for a majority.

Evidently, Labour would shred itself yet again in Scotland simply by buddying up with the Conservatives, so the notion of a four-way unionist coalition with Reform would be anathema.

“If Reform gets significant representation in the Parliament, forming any kind of stable government is going to be difficult,” Curtice said, adding: “Forming a pro-unionist government will be just as difficult as potentially forming a pro-nationalist one.” Independence parties won’t have the numbers either if polls are correct.

So what’s the solution? Repeated government collapse? Endless elections? Scotland becoming like Italy in the 1970s?

Here’s a solution: a Labour-SNP coalition, with the office of First Minister rotating annually. Ireland saw the office of Taoiseach rotate in a pact between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. If Ireland can do it, why can’t we?

A Labour-SNP coalition would be an act of cooperation between two parties who at least claim to adhere to similar principles of social democracy.

I’m not alone in wondering if this might be a way forward. Stewart McDonald, the former SNP defence spokesman who lost his seat at the last election, has also proposed a Labour-SNP coalition.

It is possible? Well, of course. If I’m wrong and politicians do indeed care about the public good - rather than themselves - then isn’t the public good served by stable, cooperative government?

Professor Sir John Curtice (Image: Colin Mearns)

Indeed, it may be years before either the SNP or Labour can dominate parliament. Around half the voters who switched from SNP to Labour at the General Election favour independence. They’re Scotland’s key swing bloc: centre-left, promiscuous, and happy to flit between the two parties.

It would be easier to run across custard than rely on their loyalty. So Anas Sarwar and John Swinney may both find themselves unable to form either a government with their own party alone, or a coalition with likeminded parties.

Wouldn’t that be splendid? Truculent dogmatic unionists and truculent dogmatic nationalists forced to work together. For them, it would be a teaching moment; for us it would be hugely symbolic - a sign that Scotland can move forward and do politics better.

Wouldn’t this serve us all? Shouldn’t unionists and nationalists be able to cooperate? Wouldn’t they benefit from a taste of humility? Wouldn’t it be joyous if they had to hang up their petty obsessions and actually govern in our interests rather than their self-interest or the interests of their ideology?

Might this not purge the Scottish body politic? If nationalists and unionists were forced into a cooperative government they might learn another important psychological lesson: that empathy is good for you.

They might come to see the world from the position of their ideological opponents - and their cultish shock-troops might follow suit.

Indeed, perhaps, if the two parties were compelled to cooperate in government, the electorate might get a better perspective on the constitution. The heat and noise could be drawn from the debate. We’d see both working side and by side and be able to judge who really cares about Scotland.

However, this is Scottish politics we’re taking about - the land of the stubborn fool. So if the notion of a SNP-Labour coalition really is a good idea, then chances are you can depend on politicians shooting it down in flames.

Neil Mackay is the Herald’s Writer at Large. He’s a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs and foreign and domestic politics.