Malcolm Offord makes his maiden speech at Holyrood …
by Bill Heaney
So, here we go again—welcome back to Groundhog Day. Doesn’t the SNP just love debating matters that are reserved to Westminster instead of doing the day job? Is it any wonder that two million Scots did not vote—
He added: “Is it any wonder that two million Scots did not vote in the election on 7 May?
“Holyrood controls 60 per cent of the spending in Scotland. Moreover, with control over devolved matters in this chamber, it controls 80 per cent of daily life in Scotland: our schools, hospitals, roads, policing and communities. That is what hard-working Scots want this Parliament to focus on—how to build prosperity for families and communities, not endless debates on the neverendum question.
“So, why does the SNP indulge itself by continually debating matters that are reserved for Westminster? We all know why. It is a deflection strategy, because the SNP does not want to focus on the track record of what it has done in the day job: the fact that our economy is anaemic and promotes welfare over work; the fact that our taxes are too high and provide a disincentive to productivity; the fact that our planning is so bad that small and medium-sized enterprises are shutting down; the fact that 93 per cent of Scots say that healthcare needs reform; and the fact that, in education, our schools have gone from outstanding to average, and the attainment gap is widening; the fact that in jobs and skills, we have three quarters of a million adult Scots not working, yet we bring in 300 welders from the Philippines to work in our shipyards; and the fact that community cohesion is breaking down in our most vulnerable communities.
“That is why two million Scots did not vote. There is no point, because nothing changes. All we get is managed decline and mid-table mediocrity—they are scunnered by the SNP. Things are never its fault—it is always the victim.”
Offord said at the beginning of the debate, John Swinney, the First Minister, asked a question: is the UK a voluntary union?
He added: “There has never been any doubt that it is a voluntary union. Margaret Thatcher made it very clear to Alex Salmond that the UK was a voluntary union; she said to him that she did not want the UK to break up, but that if he delivered a democratic mandate from the Scottish people to leave the UK, they could leave the UK. The Tories have got themselves in a mess on this, because all they ever say is no—it is always no—to another referendum.
“I will give the exact numbers on that, because it is a key point that we will come to in the discussion.
“Even in 2016, after the EU Brexit vote, the leader of the Tories, Ruth Davidson, said that it was unconstitutional to say that there will never, ever be another referendum. We cannot sit in this chamber and say that there will never ever be another referendum, but we can say that, right now, there is no appetite from the Scottish people to have such a thing. We should be saying to ourselves that, for at least 10 years, we should not be talking about this, because this Parliament should focus right now on devolved matters in order to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK.
“The answer to that is that we do not believe that we should be debating this matter.
“The constitution is a matter reserved to Westminster. We should not even be discussing it today, hence there is no Reform amendment.
“The Tories like to call me some sort of closet nationalist—I accept that—and they say that Reform UK has members in it who previously supported independence.
“To clarify, I would align myself with John Buchan, who was a Conservative MP. A hundred years ago, speaking in the House of Commons in 1932, John Buchan said that every Scot should be a Scottish Nationalist.”
“He went on to say: ‘If it could be proved that a separate Scottish Parliament were desirable, that is to say that the merits were greater than the disadvantages and dangers, Scots ‘should support it.’
“My view is that John Buchan was not advocating Scottish independence, as we are discussing today, but was a unionist nationalist. That is how I would align myself—strongly Scottish in identity and culture, but committed to the United Kingdom, which is the best place for us to build our prosperity. He argued for preserving Scotland’s national character within the union rather than dissolving the union. That is my position.
“The question is, what is the SNP’s position? It has become increasingly clear that the SNP’s position on independence is that it does not actually want it.
“If it did, it would have spent the past 12 years actually preparing Scotland to become independent. It would have spent the past 12 years answering the questions that it could not answer in 2014, such as what our currency would be, how to borrow money without a credit card—that is pretty basic—and how to join the EU when its members are allowed only a 4 per cent deficit and Scotland has a 12 per cent deficit.
“There has been no answer on any of these matters: currency; the deficit—we have a 12 per cent deficit, but the EU needs a 3 per cent deficit; a hard border with England when 60 per cent of our exports from Scotland go to England; pensions, when Sottish pensioners are greatly protected by the umbrella of 65 million rather than five million contributors; and defence, when we have Russian submarines circling Scotland right now.
The late Alex Salmond, First Minister John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon.
“I say to the Scottish National Party that Alex Salmond did a pretty admirable job in moving support for the independence movement from 30 per cent to 45 per cent. I would argue that when he passed the baton to Nicola Sturgeon, he was entitled to think that she and John Swinney would move it from 45 per cent to 60 per cent, but what has actually happened?
“Polling in 2014 showed that 1.4 million Scots would vote for the separatist parties. In 2021, in the Holyrood election, that number was 1.3 million Scots. Three weeks ago, on 7 May, 1 million Scots voted for separatist parties. That is less than a quarter of the electorate voting for separation. How can that ever be considered a mandate to break up the UK? To quote the First Minister, how can that be presented as ‘compelling and demonstrable’ evidence that Scots want to separate from the UK? I do not see it myself.”
Lord Offord finished with an anecdote: “When I was a Scotland Office minister, I went to the Arctic Circle assembly in Iceland. My job was to shadow ‘Air Miles’ Angus Robertson.
“At every meeting that he went into, I had to go in afterwards, as he ran around the world telling everyone how monstrous Westminster was and that it would not let Scotland go.
“The Icelandic Prime Minister said to me that Mr Robertson had just been in and complained about Westminster being nasty to him and not letting Scotland have independence.
“I said that, in my reckoning, Norway went independent in 1905 after a 96 per cent vote in favour. She agreed.
“I said that Iceland went independent in 1944 after a 98 per cent vote in favour, and that we had a vote in 2014 and only 45 per cent of people voted for independence. She said that it is difficult enough to launch an independent country with 96 per cent support, and it cannot be done with 45 per cent.”