Cameron: Tory party will respect Scots if it wins power

Published on Sunday 10 May 2009 23:15

DAVID Cameron has insisted he would treat the people of Scotland with respect if his party came to power – aware that he will almost certainly do so without a clear mandate from north of the Border.

However, the Conservative leader said he would expect the Scottish Government to respect Westminster on certain issues too, such as nuclear weapons.

Mr Cameron also stressed yesterday that he has no immediate plans for a shake-up of the Barnett formula if his party wins the next election.

He said: "If we win the election I know I will not have enough MPs in Scotland to just say, 'Well we have an automatic mandate', and I will be straight up to Scotland to talk to the First Minister and say to everyone who wants to make the United Kingdom work – I will work with you.

"I will govern the UK in a way that shows respect to people in Scotland, that recognises they may not have voted en masse for the Conservative party. It means co-operation, it means respecting that what is decided in Scotland by the Scottish Parliament should be respected by the Westminster parliament."

He said that he would respect the decisions of the Scottish Parliament on issues such as student fees and prescription charges, but that it should respect the UK government on issues over which it has a mandate, such as defence.

Mr Cameron said that the Barnett formula – which allocates a share of spending increases to Scotland – would have to be reviewed but was not a priority.

He said: "If you replace the Barnett formula you replace it with a needs-based formula, and Scotland has a lot of needs and has some very deep pockets of poverty. There isn't some pot of gold. Even if you replace the Barnett formula – we don't have any proposals to do that right now – it would not make a material difference, a big difference to the UK Exchequer."