David Maddox: The big beasts may be departing but don't write off the younger generation of new Scots MPs

Published on Monday 6 September 2010 22:11

THOMAS Docherty, the recently-elected Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, yesterday became the first of the new Scottish intake to put down a serious marker in Westminster.

His amendment on the Alternative Vote bill to change the date away from the Holyrood election was done with the Labour leadership's blessing and could yet be instrumental in delivering a humiliating blow to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. But more importantly, perhaps, is that it is a sign of a new generation of MPs who do not intend to sit around as time servers or lobby fodder and are not exactly what could be described as traditional union place men and women.

There has been a notion knocking around among some of the journalists in Holyrood and some politicians north of the Border that the end of the Gordon Brown era would mark a historic loosening of Scotland's ties with Westminster. The theory goes that with the big beasts gone or going – Mr Brown taking a back seat, Alistair Darling doing likewise, John Reid retiring altogether, Alex Salmond preferring Holyrood, Charles Kennedy virtually disappearing off the radar, Sir Menzies Campbell in the twilight of his career and so forth – then the Scottish emotional link would somehow be broken.

This idea always worked on the odd assumption that neither Jim Murphy nor Douglas Alexander would cut the mustard. As the latter is the only person touted as a future Labour leader by Tony Blair, that assumption may prove to be wide of the mark. But perhaps more significant is the appearance of a new generation of young MPs. In Westminster terms, 2010 appears to have been a vintage year. Labour returned 13 new MPs in May, 14 if Willie Bain, elected in the late by-election in 2009, is included. Of these, at least seven are being talked about as cast-iron certainties to become ministers in a future Labour government, with several other possibles, should the party get back.

Among the intake are experienced hands – former Holyrood ministers Margaret Curran and Cathy Jamieson, former Scotland Office spin-doctor Tom Greatrix, and former council leader Graeme Maurice. Then there are the 20 and 30 somethings heading for Westminster, including Gemma Doyle, Anas Sarwar, Pamela Nash, Gregg McClymont and Ian Murray. Their selection caused controversy in some cases and some sneering, but it's clear Labour thinks it has invested for the long term.

But it is not only Labour that believes it has done well from 2010. All of the above may yet be beaten to ministerial office by Scottish Liberal Democrat Mike Crockart. And while the SNP failed to win its 20-seat target, its one new MP, Eilidh Whiteford, who has the difficult challenge of taking over from Mr Salmond, is already quietly impressing.

So while the big beasts are going, the future of Scotland's presence in Westminster should not be written off.