UK Covid Inquiry is debunking the myth of Scottish exceptionalism – Murdo Fraser

From claiming Covid had been nearly eradicated to opposition to ‘illegal wars’, the SNP has always tried to make Scotland appear somehow morally superior to England

The UK Covid Inquiry, by implication rather than design, is examining something beyond the conduct of various Scottish Government ministers during the pandemic. Something fundamental to the case for Scotland leaving the UK as the SNP choose to present it: the case for Scottish exceptionalism – or rather the myth of Scottish exceptionalism.

From Alex Salmond to Nicola Sturgeon and now the hapless Humza Yousaf, the suggestion that somehow Scots are instinctively and naturally more just, more moral and more competent than, in particular, our southern neighbours has been crucial to the SNP leadership’s argument. That justice, morality and competence do not need to be fought for or worked at for Scots as for others, it just exudes from our pores and would flow more freely if only we could free ourselves from Westminster’s yoke. It is perhaps their biggest falsehood, and that says something since the competition for that title is fierce.

From the inquiry so far we know that Ms Sturgeon and her chief of staff saw the Covid crisis not as an obligation to serve the people of Scotland first and foremost, avoiding deaths and keeping us safe. First and foremost, it was a political opportunity to appear better than Westminster. To have, in the words of Liz Lloyd – Ms Sturgeon’s closest aide – a “rammy” with the UK Government.

A key SNP strategy is to promote the myth of Scottish exceptionalism (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Grubby political advantage

So where Boris Johnson had ad hoc press conferences, Ms Sturgeon would have her own daily show. Any restriction of liberty set by the UK Prime Minister would be more than matched by the Scottish First Minister who would restrict freedom further, in an attempt to appear more responsible. But these decisions were not signs of greater competence or wisdom but rather of a lesser morality. A deeper corrosive cynicism. An instinctive desire to mislead.

The only thing exceptional was that Ms Sturgeon and her crew were prepared to stoop low to try to gain some grubby political advantage. And that kind of exceptionalism is Ms Sturgeon and her team’s own possession, and thankfully does not apply to the nation as a whole. We just have the same variance in the morality and purpose in our politicians as any other comparable society.

The desire to mislead for political gain on Ms Sturgeon’s part during the pandemic was perhaps most graphically exemplified when she claimed that she, and she alone, had almost eradicated Covid. Had it not been, she asserted, for the UK Transport secretary’s irresponsible decision to allow more international flights into the UK, Covid would have stopped at the Border. To even think that she could get away with such an untrue assertion shows that, far from having the merest fingerprint on competence, Ms Sturgeon had no grip on the nature of a virus whipping round the globe.

There is no particular greater instinct on the part of Scots for justice and competence than any other community, but there is the instinct on the part of a succession of SNP leaders to try to seduce us into believing there is. An exceptional instinct to mislead the people of Scotland on the part of the SNP leadership.

Nationalist neutrality

When public opinion was against the war in Iraq, Alex Salmond asserted that independence would mean “an end to illegal wars”. He would even put it in the constitution. The man who said we could be a small, independent, peace-loving nation like Estonia, Iceland and Latvia forgot to mention that all three were members of the “coalition of the willing” who went to war because they decided to. Decisions to enter conflict are for the political leadership of the day, not constitutions or mythical national traits. We should not forget that nationalists of the time advocated neutrality at best during the Second World War; their moral instinct was not to battle fascism.

This instinct falsely to assert moral superiority, rather than strive for superior actions, is at the heart of everything the SNP does. They claim, for example, that having twice the number of tax rates than the rest of the UK is a sign of a greater commitment to fairness than that possessed by our neighbours. That taxing a dwindling number of higher earners more is an indication of a greater desire for justice.

The fact that by doing so they discourage the creation of the wealth they claim they wish to redistribute, and that they actually raise less revenue for the causes they claim to care for, is neither here nor there. The claim of mythical exceptionalism is more important to the modern SNP leadership than any real attempt to achieve anything exceptional and real for Scotland.

What we are seeing graphically displayed about the SNP’s handling of the Covid crisis is an exposition of so many of the crises the Scottish Government has visited upon itself and on us. Take the ferries: a simple question of building two new ferries which are lifelines to island communities. But Ms Sturgeon saw it as an opportunity to virtue-signal. To save the failing Ferguson shipyard in a way that a Westminster government might not have.

The result? A shoddy contract wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ pounds, no ferries completed, and the once proud reputation of Ferguson’s shipyard trashed. Everyone is a loser in Ms Sturgeon’s charade of exceptionalism.

No inquiry will ever bring back the unknown number of people who may have died because the Scottish Government’s focus was on party politics rather than people’s well-being. But, as a political community, we can make sure they are left with a fitting memorial. That rather than telling the people of Scotland flattering untruths about ourselves, this Scottish Government and its successors commit themselves to candour, no matter how damaging politically to their fortunes. That it trusts the people with reality and the truth. Now that really would be something exceptional about Scotland we could be proud of.

Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife