How Tory and Labour adherence to neoliberal orthodoxy is killing democracy – Kenny MacAskill

Populists are capitalising on mainstream political parties’ failure to create a better, fairer society

It never rains but it pours and so it seems for Humza Yousaf, with last week seeing dreadful Pisa education scores juxtaposed between two crushing court defeats. He’s floundering with little sign of keeping his head above water. But it’s not just him but Western democracy that’s drowning.

It’s hard to see any salvation for him on the horizon. There’s no imminent good news and the Budget will see cuts causing not just angst and hardship but outrage. Much of that’s beyond his control, given Westminster austerity and a fixed budget.

But he’s done little to position himself, let alone develop a strategy. Moreover, his judgment calls have been wrong. Defending Michael Matheson has lengthened and widened the story but still won’t save his colleague, as internal criticism grows.

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer chat ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords last month (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/WPA pool/Getty Images)

Michael Russell’s appointment as Land Commission chair smacks of cronyism for the inner circle. There’s another former elected member who was the stand-out choice, not Russell but Andy Wightman, the ex-Scottish Green MSP. Whether he applied, I don’t know, but presumably he’d have been red-lined by his erstwhile colleagues as the SNP and the country continues to pay the price of the Bute House deal folly.

But what’s the alternative? In Holyrood, the Scottish Tories chorused “God Bless Boris”, only to change to “Down with Boris”. Then it was “God Bless Liz” followed by “Down with Liz”. Now it’s “God Bless Rishi”, though that’s become muted and who knows what’ll follow. They’re simply waiting to follow a lead from London. They think no one noticed their enthusiasm for Kwasi Kwarteng’s insane budget, for Boris and “let it rip”.

Labour parrot “ceasefire now” and “down with the two-child cap” but when it comes to voting in London, they do the opposite. In Holyrood they signed up to gender recognition reform, but this isn’t Scottish Labour bravely striking out in its own direction as Henry McLeish did when First Minister with free personal care. It’s craven opportunism with neither courage nor convictions.

Westminster’s similarly afflicted. The Tories are melting down but what’ll change? The economic situation’s grim for any administration but Starmer’s boxed himself in from radical change. On the NHS, he’s continuing not ending privatisation. Foreign policy’s again an echo chamber. A Labour administration’s going to have no honeymoon period and will soon be failing to deliver anything better. Contempt for politics and politicians will only grow with turnouts further decreasing.

Mainstream parties are failing. As faith’s lost, the danger is that populism increases. It’s the same across the Western world. The far-right AFD significantly outpoll the SDP in Germany. Similarly populist, if not neo-fascist, parties are now in government in Italy, have influence in Sweden and loom on the horizon in France. These were lands where social democracy and even socialism were once powerful.

Across the Atlantic, Trump now leads in the polls. The risk of Biden stumbling and showing his age must be great. Even if Trump’s stopped from standing, Nikki Haley could win and be worse.

A better, fairer society, not neo-liberalism, is what’s required with radical policies challenging the orthodoxy, not just a change in parties espousing it. If not, then a political lunatic elected in Argentina might well not be the last. It’s democracy that’s drowning, not just governments.

Kenny MacAskill is Alba MP for East Lothian