Leader: Fine words fail to blur the harsh reality to come

SPEECHES by political leaders at the beginning of a new parliamentary term should offer visions of hope and promise determination to turn those dreams into reality.

First Minister Alex Salmond's speech to the new Scottish Parliament yesterday strove to reach that goal, and almost succeeded. Almost, because behind the literary quotations and the many finely crafted words is a reality that this parliament is going to be dominated by constitutional affairs, and that this government's money box is empty.

Mr Salmond sought to deny the constitution will be to the fore because he knows that the electorate is rather more concerned by pressing everyday matters such as whether they will have a job tomorrow, the income to sustain themselves and family, and schools and universities fit for their children's futures.

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Thus much of his speech was precisely about these matters. The continuing freeze on council tax and the continuance of free university education were presented as part of a "social wage". This is a grand sounding thing, but when Mr Salmond also included no bridge tolls, and free prescriptions in it, both of which were, however, achieved in the last term, the suspicion grew that the First Minister had little to add.

The truth is that he does not. This is also a parliamentary term which will be dominated by falling public spending, squeezed budgets and lost public-sector jobs. Mr Salmond may have promised there will be no compulsory redundancies, but redundancies there will be.

Discontent is already murmuring. The Scottish Trades Union Congress has pointed out that the "social wage" will mean little to the low-waged worker who receives housing benefit or public-sector worker who earns less than the Scottish average wage and who may lose up to 1,000 in real terms income next year as a result of the public-sector pay freeze.

It will be Mr Salmond's task too, to shepherd through reform of the public sector, suggestions for which are expected to come from the Christie Commission when it reports soon. Reform will mean little unless it points the way towards more efficient public services, which also inevitably means lost jobs.

The First Minister knows that of course, which was why, we presume, he claimed in a slightly grating passage that things will be better in Scotland than south of the Border where "the tolerance of the poor is being tested - budgets slashed, priorities changed, hope crushed in the braying tones of people who claim to know best".

The use of the word "braying", intended to conjure up spectres of upper-class Conservatives - a remark most likely aimed at David Cameron and George Osborne and their Tory ilk - said that the partisan Mr Salmond we know well was lurking not far below the statesmanlike First Minister speaking yesterday. Budgets will have to be slashed in Scotland too, as will priorities have to be changed, but if it is done in Mr Salmond's non-braying tones, that will presumably be all right.But facetiousness apart, the phraseology also betrays Mr Salmond's over-riding political purpose and priority. This is a man whose whole political life has been dedicated to achieving one thing - independence. Now he has the means to put his will into practice and it would be astonishing if he did not strain every sinew to that end. Indeed it would be odd if he did not make such an effort and he can, with some justice, claim that although independence did not feature heavily in his election campaign the promise of a referendum was always there.

Of course, he wants to prepare the ground by persuading Scots that in the last four years, he has managed to protect them from the worst ravages of recession and he will go on to persuade us that he is continuing to protect the people from the excesses of Conservative-Liberal Democrat government. For his project to work, he needs Scots to accept that things are better in Scotland because of the SNP and will get even better after independence.

But that means he will not just have to say he is putting children before the constitution, he will have to deliver measures which do improve the circumstances and prospects of children, a tall order when the few additional resources he has at his disposal are already committed to the health service and even more difficult when he and his ministers are distracted by the demands of winning a referendum in about three years' time.

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Mr Salmond did not exactly say that the path ahead is strewn with rose petals, but he certainly implied that it is not the hard and stony route it is. One of the problems of running a positive election campaign, which he believes was what won the election for the SNP, is that it builds up expectations. Fulfilling them, he may now find, is the hardest task of all. That task has begun for the First Minister and his new government.