Why Scotland's nationalists and unionists must work together to defeat populism

Many column inches have been written about the decade that has passed since the 2014 independence referendum and the 25th anniversary of Scotland’s devolved parliament. Yet I found the most insightful writing wasn’t to be found in the pages of today’s newspapers, but rather in a book published more than 50 years ago.

The Scottish Debate, published in May 1970 by Oxford University Press, is a collection of essays by some of Scotland’s finest political minds and deepest thinkers, such as Neil MacCormick, Donald Dewar and David Steel. The essays are a fascinating glimpse into the history of our long-running constitutional debate, and leaves much of what passes for today’s clash of ideas in the shade. I highly recommend procuring a copy.

I’ve written before in these pages about how the constitutional question has bogged down what passes for Scotland’s present-day public policy debate. Whether it’s trade policy, recycling schemes or LGBT rights, the miasma of the 2014 Yes/No divide weighs somewhat tediously on our political discourse, so often to our detriment.

An injection of intellectualism

So, it was refreshing to read a paper published by former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and former Yes Scotland strategist Stephen Noon – who has just this week re-entered government as a special adviser – that seeks to rebalance the conversation with a focus on practical solutions to improve public life now, but also charts a possible way forward to breach the constitutional quagmire.

The paper in question, published by the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Public Policy, makes several suggestions on how to upgrade and modernise a devolution settlement that is in serious need of a modernising upgrade. Dugdale and Noon’s analysis of, and ideas to improve, the fiscal framework to drive better outcomes across all areas of government is most welcome, and is, in some ways, the intellectual injection Scotland has been missing.

Scotland needs to establish a codified mechanism for a future vote on independence to take place (Picture: Peter Macdiarmid) | Getty Images

Yet it was their suggestion about how Scotland can have a lawful second independence referendum that got most attention. The pair argued – much in the way I have in this newspaper – that Scotland needs a codified mechanism for a future vote on independence to take place. This would have the advantage of giving Scots a clear and legal route to independence, if that is what the people want, and should (in theory, at least) temper the constitutional debate’s ability to exhaust politics in the way it has since 2014.

False prophecies

This is an important development and one, I suspect, that chimes with both the First and Deputy First Minister’s thinking. Indeed, it’s worth noting that even the once-stout defender of the de facto referendum policy, Stephen Flynn, the party’s leader at Westminster, has also come round to a similar view.

For those of us in the pragmatic wing of the SNP and wider independence movement, who understand that tubthumping fundamentalism is a fool’s errand, these are welcome changes of direction. I have long stood against the false prophecies of a universal declaration of independence and so-called de facto votes, and the fact that this style of politics is slowly being buried by a more hard-headed and sober SNP leadership warms the heart. Yet, welcome though all of this is, the First Minister should start to more clearly map out his thinking on future constitutional change and show his working – but that is perhaps for a future column.

The Dugdale-Noon policy, modelled on the Good Friday Agreement, is by no means perfect and would require work, but it would have the benefit of depriving the populists of Scottish politics – nationalist and unionist alike – of the oxygen they need for political purchase. That is a win-win for mainstream politics of all traditions.

Reform UK can’t be written off

Current polling suggests a messy result in 2026, with no obvious winner and a parliament of substantial minorities. Indeed, some polls even point to Reform UK and Alba gaining seats, and although I think a substantial Alba foothold unlikely – their leader is as voter-repellent as Boris Johnson is in Scotland and they’ve shown themselves to be incapable of making any inroads at a local or national level – the prospect of Reform MSPs is one that cannot be written off.

With no real presence in Scotland, no Scottish leader and pretty much no infrastructure, the party was able to hammer the Tories in constituencies right across the country at the last election. Now they have seats in Westminster.

There is no question in my mind that Reform is a far more serious challenge than we might be comfortable conceding and will require a hard-headed response from Scotland’s mainstream parties. That means getting out of our feathered comfort zones, less bickering on social media and working together to find solutions.

Economic unease

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair described today’s zeitgeist as “anxious”. I’d agree, but a case could easily be made to say that he is being over-generous. The domestic and global insecurities that reach into every community are inspiring a volatile electorate. Economic unease, a battered public realm, foreign wars and domestic culture wars have upended old political certainties and dissolved once deeply held political loyalties. This is not a uniquely Scottish phenomenon – as any glance to Europe demonstrates – but it is a real thing.

If those of us in the political mainstream are serious about combatting populism, then we must get serious about solving the problems driving voters into the hands of populists. In Scotland, that requires us to think afresh about the constitutional question – 2014 is, after all, in the past – and have the boldness to work across political divides on domestic political, social and economic challenges and tidy up Scotland’s political discourse.

Those essays from 1970 are what a debate ought to sound like. And like the authors, the best politicians are the ones who are unafraid of the old ways dying but have the courage to lead and embrace new ways of thinking. The politicians who understand that in Scotland today are the ones who will own the future.