Why SNP neverendum debate is a joke that leaves me cold – Christine Jardine

The Scottish Government must be held to account for what they’ve done – or not – over the past 13 years and not be allowed to use independence as a ‘get out of jail free card’, writes Christine Jardine.

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford during Prime Minister’s Questions (Picture: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor /PA Wire)

In the United States, they have a name for that scene often broadcast before the opening titles of comedy shows. The cold open.

This week in parliament we had a cold open for the next round of the independence neverendum – from both the Nationalists and the Tories.

First up were the Nats in a Trojan Horse of a debate which claimed to be about arguing for an extension to the Brexit negotiations.

That wouldn’t have been an entirely bad idea had we not already passed the date when this was possible, and even those of us who fought hard to remain in the EU have accepted that it is time to move on.

There’s nothing quite as useless as asking for something you know is impossible unless, of course, it is precisely because you know that it is impossible.

But what is even worse is that this was an opportunity to talk about some of the pressing issues facing the people of Scotland today.

What is the Government going to do for the thousands of self-employed who have had no financial help since March?

What about our hard-pressed tourist industry and airports. One of our most significant economic sectors and suddenly struggling to keep their heads above water?

Or what about our precious whisky industry, which has seen its export to the US fall by 65 per cent since this time last year?

No. None of them is individually or collectively as important, it seems, as a process debate whose main theme is independence.

For some of us, the afternoon was an exercise in deja vu as the 48 SNP MPs representing 45 per cent of Scotland’s electorate trotted out all the same old arguments.

And still they do not address the main issue: better governance.

Independence will not deliver better, or possibly even different, government for Scotland.

And I want to be absolutely clear about something.

I want to remain in the United Kingdom not because I don’t believe in Scotland’s ability, but precisely because I do.

More specifically, I believe in our ability to work well with our neighbours and other countries.

It has served Scotland well as part of one of the world’s strongest economies for 300 years. Collaboration and co-operation. Is that not what we celebrate in every other walk of life?

When you send your child to school, do you tell them only to make friends at the table they sit at or with the ones from their road? No. You would not want to limit their growth or their ambition.

It is the same for Scotland. Moreover, it is precisely the objection which the Nationalists, who would rip us out of the United Kingdom, make to us having left the European Union.

Leaving an economic union does not solve having left an economic union. But then there is the other argument which we hear employed: Scotland did not vote for this Tory Government.

No, Scotland voted for a minority SNP government at Holyrood. I would prefer not to have either. But that is democracy. I accept it because every few years an election gives us all the opportunity to decide again.

I am not prepared to throw away what is best for my country, my family and their future because of one government. Scottish Conservatives will still exist in an independent Scotland.

But who would the Nationalists be able to blame without Westminster to use as a distraction from their own shortcomings in education, health and social care?

As I listened to the repetitive debate, I realised that I have also become tired of a vision of British politics which neither recognises nor credits any Scots for their part in it.

There are Scots in the current Cabinet as there were in previous ones. There are Scots on the opposition benches and on the many committees of the House.

Until ten years ago, we had two successive Scottish Prime Ministers – Blair and Brown – with Scottish Chancellors, foreign ministers and more.

Scotland is not absent from the UK Government. Scotland is central to it. As if to prove that point, the UK Government then produced their White Paper on our post-EU internal UK market.

While myself and my Liberal Democrat colleagues welcome what is clearly an effort to facilitate trade throughout our internal markets we do have reservations.

It must not be a way of allowing inferior goods into Scotland after any trade deal with the US. The devolved nations must be fully consulted and, crucially, there needs to be an independent dispute resolution mechanism for those times when agreement eludes them.

Most importantly though, this Conservative Government must tread carefully lest they allow the Nationalists the opportunity to claim that this is somehow a non-Scottish imposition.

We know from bitter experience that they will seize on the merest of perceived transgressions to inflame the grievance strategy which they hope will deliver their “get out of jail free” card: independence.

Because that is precisely what it is. An opportunity to cast off blame. If separation is your priority, nothing else can receive the attention it needs to flourish.

That is why the Scottish Government must be held to account for what they’ve done – or not – over the past 13 years. But we must offer solutions as well. If building a more liberal country is your priority, then your goal is to better the lives of people along that journey.

To give them the tools they need to lead the best life they can. It is not enough to say that the closure of the border at Coldstream will gift them the ability to do their job.

People are tired of politicians letting them down, tired of them failing and blaming. We must now focus on preparing for the recession about to flatten our economy and building a better society.

But first I hear that opening music. It’s time for the players to take to the neverendum stage.

Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West

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