Paris Gourtsoyannis: Brexit hotline is ringing off the hook

Has Theresa May's government got its approach to Scotland right, asks Paris Gourtsoyannis
The SNP said it took 36 hours to get a response from David Davis - seen here with David Mundell - on the Brexit hotlineThe SNP said it took 36 hours to get a response from David Davis - seen here with David Mundell - on the Brexit hotline
The SNP said it took 36 hours to get a response from David Davis - seen here with David Mundell - on the Brexit hotline

It’s 3am and your children are safe and asleep. A phone is ringing in David Davis’ office. Something is happening in Scotland. It’s still ringing. And ringing ... and ringing.

Apologies to the last Clinton campaign - Hillary’s failed 2008 bid against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. In a last-ditch ad drive, she used the mythology of the Cold War hotline between the White House and the Kremlin to suggest Mr Obama would struggle in a crisis - poorly briefed and not enough experience.

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Since Mrs Clinton doesn’t need an ad to highlight the gulf between herself and her rival this time round, perhaps Nicola Sturgeon could borrow it.

There won’t be any mammoth phone bills run up on the new Brexit hotline between Bute House and Downing Street. Last week’s summit between the UK Government and devolved administrations showed that even when the two sides talk, they haven’t got all that much to say to each other. The episode raises questions over just how well equipped the UK Government is to deal with Scotland as the UK flirts with a constitutional crisis that could eclipse the divisions of the 2014 independence referendum.

The political centre of gravity for most Scots has inexorably and predictably shifted northwards since devolution. New powers and a growing focus on Holyrood over Westminster in the Scottish media has hastened that drift, to say nothing of the election of 56 nationalist MPs last year.

But since Brexit and the change of government that followed, the political cultures of the UK and Scotland have arguably never been so far apart. And while Theresa May came to power pledging to make preserving the union her top priority, her government has at times seemed flat-footed when dealing with Scotland.

That impression isn’t limited to Brexit. It was clear that the issue of whether there should be a Scottish Six news broadcast would dominate headlines in Scotland when it came to BBC charter renewal. On the morning the UK Government presented its policy to the Commons, one newspaper was briefed that the idea of distinct Scottish news broadcast was “dead”. That was the line until the Culture Secretary got to her feet.

By the time she sat down, the position had changed - it was an editorial decision for the BBC. There were obviously other important, UK-wide measures in the announcement, but on this key Scottish issue, the government gave the appearance of not knowing what its own position was.

For years, Scottish universities have been especially vocal about the withdrawal of the post-study work visa. The looming imposition of tighter immigration controls after Brexit makes the issue even more important. Yet a pilot programme to replace the post-study work visa was extended to just four English universities, when it would have been easy to justify including one of Scotland’s world-class ancient institutions.

On Brexit, the government has repeatedly ruled out a distinct settlement for Scotland, despite a strong case that there are different economic needs north of the border, particularly when it comes to immigration. Yet despite the leaders of devolved governments leaving Downing Street last week without any new detail on Mrs May’s Brexit negotiating strategy, by the weekend car-maker Nissan had been briefed and possibly offered assurances on tariff-free access to the EU market for its own products.

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Which brings us to last week’s gathering in Downing Street, and the fabled hotline to Mr Davis. People living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland might reasonably have expected their elected governments to already have a line of communication on such an important issue. Unveiling it in the way the UK Government did simply begged for the predictable bit of mischief that followed, where the SNP claimed it took 36 hours to reach Mr Davis on the red phone - or, since it’s Brexit, make that blue. For his part, the man with the blinking phone on his desk must conjure an exit from the EU that commands support from all four nations of the UK, but Mr Davis has not served in government since 1997 and has no frame of reference for devolution.

Ms Sturgeon emerged from the talks to voice her “frustration” to waiting media on the Prime Minister’s doorstep. Of course she did, her critics say - nothing would have satisfied her. But then, in terms of any new Brexit insight, nothing was what was offered. The Scottish Government delegation left feeling that Downing Street had expected its guests to simply follow the Prime Minister’s lead.

There are those in government who know it is unsustainable for visits to Scotland by UK ministers to go largely unnoticed, despite the UK Government retaining responsibility for areas such as pensions and defence. A remedy doesn’t immediately present itself. For her part, the Prime Minister had little to say about Scotland in her party conference speech other than a swipe at “divisive nationalists”. While demanding flexibility in Brussels and offering it to Nissan, Mrs May’s unionism appears to be of a quite rigid One Nation variety despite challenging times demanding creative thinking about the future.

Where is the input on Scotland coming from in Number 10? Ruth Davidson is obviously popular among her party in the rest of the UK, but that popularity doesn’t so far appear to have translated into influence on Brexit. The Scottish Conservative leader made a brave case for the rights of EU nationals in the UK to be respected, the free movement of people to be maintained, and the trading relationships guaranteed by the single market protected, alongside Scottish Secretary David Mundell.

One of Mr Mundell’s long-standing special advisers has reportedly joined the Downing Street operation, and has his work cut out for him. Whatever the next two and half years hold, it is clear they will challenge Scotland’s place in the UK. It isn’t yet obvious who is in a position to answer that challenge, when it comes. The first step would be to pick up the phone.