 | 'The UK parliament is and will remain sovereign in all matters: but as part of the Government's resolve to modernise the British constitution Westminster will be choosing to exercise that sovereignty by devolving legislative responsibilities to a Scottish parliament without in any way diminishing its own powers. Government White Paper on Scottish Devolution, 24 th July 1997. |  |
WITH its backing of the Government's plans for a Scottish parliament, the Scottish National Party has displayed a maturity of which many of its critics believed it to be incapable. However, the reality is that the SNP had little option but to offer its full-hearted support for a "Yes, Yes" vote.
It may very well look askance at Labour's plans for what until recently it was calling a "puppet parliament", but there is no other show in town. Outright SNP opposition to what the Government is proposing would have made little sense. Alex Salmond for the SNP will now take three seats on the board of the Scotland Forward, the official Yes-Yes campaign.
The decision is a great fillip for the campaign. The SNP leadership and their grassroots supporters are formidable campaigners and will prove a massive boost for the efforts to win significant popular backing for the tax-raising parliament, outlined in Donald Dewar's White Paper last week. We will, thus, have the political parties who were supported by 83 per cent of the Scottish electorate campaigning under one banner for the 11 September referendum.
Only the Tories - and as recent weeks have shown, not all the Tories - will be officially trying to resist what is demonstrably the overwhelming desire of the Scottish people. They may say their stance is principled. It is also politically naive.
No-one should delude themselves, however, about the motives which lie behind yesterday's SNP decision. The Nationalists see Labour's plans for a Scottish parliament within the Westminster framework as very much of a stepping stone.
And no-one agrees more than the SNP with the words of the former prime minister, John Major, that Labour's devolved Scottish parliament will ultimately lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom. The SNP strategists can see a myriad of opportunities for themselves and their cause to stir up ill-will and frustration in the relationship between Edinburgh and London. That way lies discord and, ultimately, separation. But to get that far, first get your parliament.
So, let none be deceived that the SNP wishes the new venture well. It does not. So far as it is concerned, it is merely a means to an end. There is also some substance in the view that by joining the Yes-Yes campaign, the SNP will actually put people off voting for it. Some reluctant devolutionists may well decide to register No votes simply because of the Nationalists' endorsement of the Government's cause. Any cause which wins their support is not worth voting for, may well be an attitude taken by many.
Our view is that the SNP support for the proposals outlined in the white paper is to be welcomed. Its supporters will bring a rigour to the discussions over the details which is bound to be lacking when the other two partners - Labour and the Liberal Democrats - now seem to be inter-changeable. Their enthusiam and campaigning skills will be vital in galvanising the electorate as 11 September approaches.
The SNP's ultimate goal of breaking up the United Kingdom must be resisted, but its support for Scotland's parliament, even as presently proposed, is to be applauded.
All of Scotland's political parties - with the exception of the Tories, who have learned nothing from 1 May - are now to be singing from the same hymn-sheet. It doesn't happen often in Scotland but when it does, it is all the more refreshing.
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