 | 'LAs ever, you can have cock-up or conspiracy, according to taste. What we actually have, I suspect, is a glimpse into the murky world of Scottish Labour politics, specifically into the never-easy relationships between MPs and MSPs. When the "misunderstandings" involve the big beasts of London and Edinburgh, things have become interesting..' Ian Bell in the Herald, 20 th January 2006. |  |
ONE requirement for the job of chancellor of the exchequer is a certain dexterity with a pocket calculator. You know: getting your sums right.
Critics have sometimes alleged Gordon Brown is not as skilled in this department as he might be, but his little mistakes on the back of the envelope have rarely involved a difference of 400%.
Mercifully, this continues to be the case. If the chancellor has convinced himself the Forth Road Bridge tolls will not increase from £1 to a possible £4, the difference amounts to 300%.
The person who mentioned 400% in the Holyrood chamber yesterday was Jack McConnell. Former finance minister, former maths teacher: doesn't the heart stir?
Then again Ð this is politics, remember Ð it depends who you prefer to believe over any part of Labour's latest fracas. Either there exists a scheme to increase some tolls on the bridge from £1 to £4, or you can announce to the world, as the chancellor did, that the idea has been "abandoned".
Then again Ð this is still politics, remember Ð the Scottish Executive can also let it be known that Brown is talking through a hole in his Raith Rovers jersey. The source of his claim is a complete mystery to them, honest.
Even those of us who do not run the Treasury can put two and two together. Brown's constituents would be affected by a whopping increase in tolls, as would the voters next door, in the late Rachel Squire's patch. A by-election there will be upon us shortly. If the chancellor cannot pull out the stops on his home turf, what can he do? If this dislocates executive noses, why should he care?
For the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon, this was meat and drink. Could she have a "straightforward and categorical assurance that there will be no increases in tolls"? Of course not.
Sturgeon, therefore, tried another tack. "Did Gordon Brown have the wrong end of the stick, or was he trying deliberately to mislead the people of Scotland?" Clearly, an affirmative in either case would have suited her just fine.
Jack McConnell assured the chamber that he does not speak for Gordon Brown (straight, unstated transposition: "And he doesn't speak for me, either.")
But the first minister was happy to join the chancellor in efforts to mystify the world. For McConnell, it turns out, there are no "economic" grounds for "400%" rises. In any case, "Scottish ministers" Ð not Mr Union Flag Ð "will make the decision".
Nicola wanted Jack to rule out increases entirely, such, by pure chance, being her party's own policy. Jack disdained "silly promises, silly slogans". And a final figure for tolls? Your guess is certainly as good as mine, at least as good as anything racing through the first minister's mind, and probably rather better than the "clear understanding" granted to the chancellor.
As ever, you can have cock-up or conspiracy, according to taste. What we actually have, I suspect, is a glimpse into the murky world of Scottish Labour politics, specifically into the never-easy relationships between MPs and MSPs. When the "misunderstandings" involve the big beasts of London and Edinburgh, things have become interesting.
Can Jack be bounced by Gordon? Not on yesterday's show, or not as yet. Can Gordon be sent up the garden path by members of Jack's administration? Possibly so, but the point of such an exercise is hard to identify.
The last question is whether any of it will make a blind bit of difference to the by-election in Dunfermline and West Fife? Labour will be defending a majority of 11,500 over the Liberal Democrats. You do the sums.
As for bridge tolls, my advice would be to take away the figure someone first thought of. But don't forget to put another, still hefty, number in its place.
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