The Lib Dems Take the High Road to England

The Scots are two peoples. There are those who stay and those who leave. For most of them, the high road to England is the natural departure point and as I write this I reflect that of my family, three of us have stayed and three of us have left. It's only natural - after the Union of Crowns and Union of Parliaments,all power worth a damn went to England. Those wishing to better themselves all took the road to England and for this England is envied and despised in turn; envied for the opportunity it offers, but despised for beggaring Scotland of its brightest and best. Even Bonnie Prince Charlie could not resist its lure; he did not stop at chasing the English out of Scotland, but set his sights on London. One wonders what would have happened if he had contented himself with the Scottish Crown instead of pursuing the English one as well.

In 1999, things changed. We got a parliament of our own. At the time it was disparaged as 'the wee pretendy Parliament' and 'a parish council' by the likes of Billy Connelly, but it was a shift. For the first time in 300 years, the Scots had a say over their own government. It was limited, some of the politicians weren't great (the talent had gone to Westminster as usual)but it did things.The different views on the health service, free personal care and the way that Holyrood ran itself; all these started to slowly but surely snap the leading strings between Scotland and England. We looked on bewildered at the expenses carry on in Westminster. In Scotland, all MSPs expenses go online and their interests. David McLetchie had to resign over taxi fares fraudulently claimed. In Westminster, MPs were quite happily handing out dosh for clearing out moats and building tennis courts. Henry McLeish's status as First Minister did not protect him from being called to account over the rent of his constituency office. It's not perfect but Holyrood does think and run differently from Westminster.

So why am I rabbiting on? Well, this week another change took place. The Lib Dems united themselves with the Conservatives, and unless Nick Clegg is really stupid, did so in the sure and certain knowledge that the Lib Dems in Scotland will be completely wiped out for this in the Holyrood elections next year. In all the possibilities that I had considered for the outcome of a hung parliament, I never once considered a Lib/Con pact. And I didn't, because in Scotland it would be absolutely unthinkable, political suicide. We do allow the SNP and the Conservatives to vote together on issues and bargain; but a formal pact would be completely out of the question.

I can see it from the Lib Dem point of view. No matter who they aligned themselves with, they would lose voters. Gordon Brown was discredited as a leader and any alliance with Labour would dissolve within a few months as a result. They wanted to be sure that they would get a PR referendum through before this happened, and the only way of doing that was to align themselves with the Conservatives, who are united. But ideologically, the Lib Dems have now gone to the right and there is a gaping hole on the left wing of the political spectrum in England. Labour went that way with Tony Blair in 1997; now the Lib Dems have followed.

This move has consolidated a general train of thought in Scotland; that the only truly left wing party in Scotland is the SNP. Many voters who are not inclined to nationalism are turning to the SNP because it represents the socialism that Labour used to offer. And in that respect we have been leaving England for a while. But with this move, England has left us. The past couple of days have had a quality of unreality about them as we watch at a distance and wonder where we go now.

Westminster feels old and tired and far away. And those of us who care about the NHS are asking ourselves whether the moment has come to cut loose and leave the English NHS to sort itself out. There isn't a single political party in England that we can vote for to help it; all we can do is to vote to save our own. How sad that an institution that was the vision of a Scot, given political shape by a Welshman and implemented by the English, should be on the ropes. And how ironic that three of Scotland's sons who took the high road to England; Blair, Brown and Cameron, should usher in the beginning of the end of the Union that they espoused.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.

This is the end of the Union coming. And I thought I wouldn't care, but I do.