Born in Scotland of a Scottish mother and Irish father, raised in northern England and now living in the south of England, I feel a sense of ‘Britishness’ that often eludes others. That’s why I read with horror in this morning’s Guardian the analysis of how Cameron’s pandering to the Tory euro-extremist right is threatening the Union. I’ve been of the view for a long time that Labour is now the ‘One Nation’ party; active and competitive across Britain. Labour continues to defend a Union strengthened by devolution to the nations and regions of our country.
As the Conservatives meet in Manchester today, David Cameron’s dithering over his policy on a Lisbon Treaty referendum has opened up old wounds. Not content with banishing Britain to the fringes of Europe through coalition with extremists in the European parliament, Cameron’s lack of political judgment has already effected a downgrading of links between the Tories and their counterparts in Paris and Berlin. It was with a delicious schadenfreude that I watched William Hague protest that he would lobby the French and Germans to prevent Tony Blair becoming the first permanent President of the European Council, just 24 hours after Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU in Germany had announced that links with the Conservatives were to be mothballed.
But it is the impact of Cameron’s Europe policy on the United Kingdom that worries me most. If London is banished to the margins of EU decision-making, the SNP will take advantage to push a renewed case for a Scotland ‘independent in Europe.’ As Ireland and Iceland have shown, in times of difficulty small nations find solace and security under the EU’s wing. And George’s Osborne’s planned spending cuts will provide fertile campaign ground for the SNP to assert that London is not governing in Scotland’s interests. The Scottish are instinctively more pro-European than their cousins south of the border and no doubt Alex Salmond will take advantage of an irrelevant Tory government in London to drive a dagger through the heart of the Union. Of questionable quality as first minister, Salmond has to be respected as a consummate political tactician. As Jackie Ashley points out, Salmond’s call for a referendum will be remade on 30 November, St Andrew’s Day, when he’ll push for a vote in the spring or autumn of 2010, just as news of a Tory government’s public spending cuts would be causing maximum outrage.
Many commentators are already suspicious of a Faustian pact in the offing between the SNP executive in Edinburgh and a potential Tory administration in London. It’s doubtful the Tories will ever recover their post-war electoral position in Scotland and independence would make it difficult for Labour to form a majority at Westminster without a left-wing coalition. Electoral expediency may gift Cameron a blind eye to SNP manoeuvrings. It would be a great irony indeed if David Cameron – leader of the Conservative and Unionist party – proved to be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Kevin McKeever is Labour’s PPC for Harborough