Scotland needs new 'Union of the Nations' to break free from independence debate – Henry McLeish

For Labour and the other traditional parties, there is an opportunity to write a new chapter of devolution, building on the current questioning mood of the electors and acknowledging that, after years of SNP rule, Scotland is being left behind as the failures of the Sturgeon era are revealed.

Evidence abounds that since the independence referendum in 2014 – a result too close for many – and the dramatic outcome of the 2015 general election – where the SNP, building on the momentum of the referendum, won a remarkable 56 out of the 59 parliamentary seats in Scotland – the SNP, though still popular, has become a different party.

Wiser counsels outwith the SNP will recognise the Churchill quote describing Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. Is this the SNP today? After a decade of losing focus, the SNP is disconnected from mainstream opinion, divorced from the cost-of-living crises, detached from an agenda of issues that Scots are struggling to deal with, and delusional about how close Scotland is to being turned into Denmark or Finland or Norway.

There is no doubt that the shrinking coterie of advisers around Nicola Sturgeon was becoming more defensive, isolated and, alongside the Greens, was embracing an agenda of issues, however worthy, that was alienating supporters, confusing voters, and sidelining a smorgasbord of issues and priorities affecting the nation.

Get our weekly opinion newsletter for expert analysis from The Scotsman’s team of columnists

After the 1998 Scotland Act, it was hoped that there would be a new politics in Scotland. That hasn’t happened. Tribalism and toxic politics dominate. Our Parliament has failed to create any genuine sense of unity of purpose, with all the parties continuing the worst instincts and behaviour of Westminster.

This in turn has polarised the electorate. All parties are to blame. There is, however, no doubt that the SNP’s obsession with Independence has allowed few concessions to non-believers and led to a failure to reach across the aisle and build consensus, coalitions and common purpose in parliament and the country. For far too long, the SNP has been campaigning when they have been governing. The new SNP leader should recognise the need for change.

Poll: Fewer than half of Scots believe Scottish Parliament has served them well

First, Scotland is stalled, just going nowhere. In key public policy areas such as health, education, industrial strategy, housing and renewables, progress has been limited. Local government has been undermined. Tory austerity hurts, but this does not explain Scotland’s decline.

Second, on independence little if any progress has been made since the Salmond years ended in 2014, the dial hasn’t moved. Third, the nation and Scots are deeply and often more bitterly divided now than they have ever been since 1997: there is no settled will.

Fourth, the Scottish Government has indulged recently and excessively in victimhood and scapegoating, primarily aimed at the Tories, London, England or Westminster – this is the refuge of nationalism not patriotism and the basis of revenge and identity politics – and populism.

Fifth, relationships with the Westminster government are at an all-time low. It takes two to feud, but struggles between unionism and nationalism, ending up in the courts, may serve the political interests of the SNP and the Conservative party, but do nothing for Scotland. The Johnson, Truss and Sunak eras have been damaging, disrespectful of Scotland, and have treated devolution to the four nations with contempt.

The last ten Tory years have undermined the reputation of the Union, a key issue in shaping the Scottish mood. But regardless of Scotland’s final solution to the Scottish or British question, England, as a physical and political entity, will still exist.

But in this period of change there are real opportunities for Labour in what will be an election year with the prospects of a new government at Westminster. A new chapter on devolution must be written. A “product not just a process”. A union of the nations, not just a union of the Crowns and Parliaments. A transformation of how the Union works. And where the pride and passion for an ancient and ambitious nation is worthy of more respect.

Under Anas Sarwar, Labour has got closer to cracking the electoral code required to break the SNP’s grip on the electorate. Keir Starmer must listen. Labour must escape the gravitational pull of Westminster thinking, embracing Scottishness and patriotism; taking the long view and putting nation-building first; freeing the Scottish Parliament from the tyranny of one-party domination. This is a challenging agenda.

Support for Independence has remained steady, despite declining SNP poll numbers. This could be interpreted in different ways, especially where little effort has been made to make devolution an exciting, intelligible, attractive, lasting, acceptable and durable alternative to independence. For the SNP, which has turned to national pride in an era of populism, independence has become a simple answer to a complex question. Post-Brexit, the importance of national feelings must never be underestimated. But put simply, independence has never been forensically tested. Sarwar is now addressing this issue.

We need an extensive refashioning of the Union; a bolder embrace of nation-building in Scotland; a progressive public policy agenda; and much needed substance and shape to the idea of what devolution could mean and what it could deliver for Scotland, and the Union. A new debate could free Scotland from an increasingly insular and divisive future.

This is a wake-up call to progressives in all parties who are frustrated and disappointed about the progress Scotland has made over the last 25 years. The obsessional pursuit of a single policy of such enormity – independence – creating an atmosphere that is intensely partisan, divisive, and intolerant of other views or ideas, is preventing Scotland moving on.

Henry McLeish is a former First Minister