Unionists must make positive case for UK as a multi-cultural, liberal democracy – Murdo Fraser

Unionism needs to find a new narrative as the arguments used ahead of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum are no longer as valid today, writes Murdo Fraser.

The Faslane naval base is Scotland’s second-largest single-site employer (Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

As a non-participant, it was interesting to read the reports at the weekend from the conference in Newcastle organised by the These Islands think-tank on the future of unionism. The event brought together figures from the worlds of politics, business, media and the arts to look at how the argument might be won for the future of the United Kingdom, and Scotland’s place in it.

It was a timely event. Recent opinion polls show that support for Scottish independence, as against remaining in the United Kingdom, is finely balanced.

Whilst the impact of Brexit arguably makes the economic case for independence weaker than it was in 2014, the cultural impact may have been in the opposite direction.

In any event, it is clear that the arguments deployed by the Better Together campaign in 2014 are no longer as valid today as they were then. Unionism has been in search of a new narrative.

At the weekend conference, the former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke about the values of “empathy, solidarity, cooperation and sharing”, which relate to the nations of the United Kingdom.

Whilst language of this nature makes a great deal of sense, it is my view that a practical approach is required in terms of making the case for the Union. In that respect, I believe that there are three key areas which need to be addressed.

Firstly, the UK Government has to stop sitting on the sidelines, and become more activist in its support for the Union. The old days of “devolve and forget” have to be left behind.

There is a very substantial spend by the UK Government in reserved areas across Scotland, not least in pensions and defence.

Faslane’s importance to the economy

To give just one illustration, the naval base at Faslane on the Clyde will now be the home to not just the nuclear-armed submarine fleet, but also conventionally armed underwater vessels.

This massive investment by the Ministry of Defence within Scotland makes Faslane the second-largest single-site employer in the country, after only the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

And yet, how often do we see this huge economic footprint, and the thousands of jobs supported both directly and indirectly, made reference to in debates on the Scottish economy? We cannot expect SNP ministers to talk about it, but it should be shouted from the rooftops by their UK counterparts.

In addition, the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund gives a real opportunity for Whitehall ministers to spend directly in Scotland on necessary infrastructure and other projects – demonstrating that where the SNP in Government are failing to deliver, the UK can step in and assist directly.

The second area that needs to be addressed is the weakness that exists in the UK constitution, particularly as we move into a post-Brexit era. This should not be confused with the ongoing clamour from the SNP for yet more devolution to Holyrood.

It is now entirely clear that the policy of devolving more powers to Scotland in response to a growth in nationalist support, in an effort to protect the Union, is one which is bankrupt.

Shared wartime experiences now a distant history

The Scottish Parliament now has fiscal powers which are the envy of many sub-national institutions in federal states. Far from making full use of these powers, we have actually seen the SNP Government hand these back – it is not willing to take on the operation of air passenger duty, despite legislation being passed to devolve it in 2012, it has delayed the assignment of VAT, and it will not assume some new social security powers for as many as six years.

Where the constitution does need attention is in relation to structures at Westminster which still need reform. There is a broad political consensus that the replacement of the House of Lords with something akin to a new Senate, representing the disparate parts of the United Kingdom, is now overdue.

In addition, there requires to be a serious restructuring of inter-governmental machinery within the UK, possibly with the creation of a new Council of Ministers to provide a forum for ongoing discussion on shared policy areas, and to resolve disputes.

Thirdly, a new cultural argument for the Union has to be developed. It is no longer enough to hark back to past glories. As my party leader, Jackson Carlaw, pointed out recently, to today’s youth the Second World War, and the nations of the UK standing in solidarity together against the Nazi threat, is simply distant history.

I was born 20 years after the end of the Second World War, and my parents lived through that period. For my children, born in a different century entirely, it has quite a different impact from when someone of my age grew up with Victor comics and Commando books being a constant cultural reminder of this period in our history.

A multi-cultural liberal democracy

We need to talk positively of the UK as a project – a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, liberal democracy, one which, despite our many failings, is nevertheless a remarkable success story in modern European terms.

The UK is, after all, one of the few European countries not to have witnessed the rise of the far-right. London, one of the world’s great cities, is not the “Dark Star” of nationalist imaginings, but a melting pot of creed and colour, providing enormous opportunities to young Scots of this generation, just as it has done for so many generations past.

As a country, our cultural output in the fields of music, film and drama, leads the world. All this lies on our doorstep, with no restrictions whatsoever on Scots living, working, and doing business, across our four nations.

Writing at the weekend, the commentator Alex Massie observed that “Scotland has more in common with the rest of the United Kingdom, even after Brexit, than it does with anywhere else on earth”.

That is undoubtedly true, however uncomfortable it might be to nationalists. What unionists need to do is make the argument that the UK is a positive project that we want to be a part of, and not a distant land full of different people, against whom we need to place barriers.

What is encouraging about the output from the These Islands conference is that it is clear there is a new urgency and energy within Scottish unionism. Collectively we are finding a new way forward and a new narrative to take to the Scottish people.

Murdo Fraser is a Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife