There is a theory that no one wants to win next year’s Holyrood election given the public spending cuts that will have to be implemented.
After all, Labour were not all that keen on holding onto power following the general election, with the reported words of Bank of England Governor Mervyn King ringing in their ears that whoever won would be out of power for a generation given what needed to be done.
Moribund discussions of cutting free personal care for the elderly, taking away their bus passes, taxing ill health and charging for education is certainly not why the SNP are around. This though is the dominant discussion in media and political circles. The SNP can’t avoid it either, with a tough budget due before the election. Labour are meanwhile allowed to assiduously avoid saying anything about what they’d do.
It doesn’t have to be this way though. The UK has gone from an economic model where the priority used to be solely on achieving economic growth, to one which is aiming to satisfy bond markets allegedly hungry for public spending cuts. The money the Tories are taking out of the economy, and the unemployment that will be created, is widely expected to lead us into another recession - and possibly depression.
Scotland meanwhile has been in surplus even after the banking crash and even despite not having the normal economic powers to deal the economic crisis. Not only must we maintain investment in our communities, but everyone also recognises the need for new industries. Luckily in Scotland we have a massive green energy jobs potential to invest in. We can do this with financial independence. This is a stone’s throw from political independence which is why the London parties are reluctant to embrace it.
So next year’s election is not about who would most competently administer Cameron’s cuts in Scotland. This is clearly where the opposition want us. We must not just talk managerially about the current budgetary pressures. Every public utterance, media appearance and press release needs to state the alternative. This will get us on the front foot from strategies advised by Labour spin doctors for the ConDems to “passport the responsibility for unpopular decisions” onto the SNP. Iain Gray tries to pin everything on Alex Salmond every week at First Ministers Questions.
To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it’s the economic powers, eejits.
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