It’s not often I find myself agreeing with George Galloway. Last week may indeed have been only the second such occasion, when I read his pronouncement that the current economic situation meant that ‘Alex Salmond and the whole separatist project is a goose which has been cooked and there’s no disguising it’. He’s right.
Partly this is down to pure economies of scale. In an independent Scotland, both RBS and HBOS would have failed. We would not have had the capital for either to be nationalised or secured. It’s likely that our financial institutions would have faced the same plight as Iceland’s.
What this crisis has highlighted is just how globalised the world has become, and it makes the idea of cutting ourselves off from our largest trading partner seem a ludicrous proposition at a time when even the US is being pulled in to a coordination of fiscal policy.
This is not about the so-called ‘Scottish cringe’. It’s a reflection of the wider population coming home to Labour values, the realisation that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we can alone, whether at a community, national or global level.
It’s also about a realisation that ideology does have a part to play in how we govern our affairs. As a movement, we believe that the economy should be governed for the benefit of the community, not the reverse. The steps that Gordon Brown and his government have taken in the last few weeks have demonstrated the gulf between Labour and the SNP.
That HBOS and RBS did not go belly up is down to a government willing to intervene. Labour has decisively acted to protect jobs, homeowners, savings and pretty much our whole financial system. Not as the servant of shareholders and directors, it’s been made clear that public investment means public accountability, but as a responsible government, mitigating the impact on its citizens of a dire situation.
Contrast this with the behaviour of Salmond’s SNP. The SNP did support the takeover of HBOS, but now, a mere fortnight later, they are attempting to block it in order to illustrate that….well, no one is quite sure. It appears their only motive is to be seen to be disagreeing with the UK government – after all, if they pull in behind Westminster now, how can they return to carping when our economic situation is looking a bit rosier?
The SNP are supposedly the Scottish government, they spent a lot of money changing their stationery to convince us. Yet they have been incapable of providing any leadership for Scotland in the present crisis. Scotland’s size is not the only reason why HBOS and RBS would have failed in an independent Scotland governed by the SNP. The SNP, despite their rhetoric, follow a fundamentally neoliberal economic philosophy, whose striking features are its incoherence and incosistency. Economically and politically, they have no willingness or capacity for working together for the good of all, the many, or even the very, very few. They work for just the one, the same old self-interested, narrow, discredited, clapped out cause.
It’s clear that not only does Salmond just not have the guts to take the big decisions when it really matters, it has also become obvious that, even if the SNP were to find some courage, they have no chance of unearthing any convictions. So, while the SNP look for the panic button, Scotland looks to Labour at Westminster for decisive, responsible action. We have not been disappointed.