Scottish Independence: The bigger picture

When Alex Salmond tried to invoke the spirit of Barack Obama in the last issue of The Journal, he missed the key point of what was the new president’s appeal to the American people. It was the politics of thoughtfulness. Gone were the glib soundbites of the Bush era, the personal attacks and propaganda. Here was a calm, intelligent candidate who had a clear understanding about complex issues. Obama invited the American people to sit back and rationally evaluate his programme. He believed they were capable of it. Meanwhile, Alex Salmond and the SNP are stuck with the old politics.

It was their big mistake at the recent Glenrothes by-election where they simply tried to hijack Obama’s campaign slogan, “Yes we can,” and thought that would be enough. They misunderstood what Obama was about and it did not resonate with the voters. The Glenrothes electorate wanted to discuss cuts in services, their worries about SNP plans for a Local Income Tax and the banking crisis. It was politics at all levels – Fife council, Holyrood and Westminster.

Breaking away from the rest of the UK to follow a separatist route in pursuit of some nebulous arc of prosperity was the least of their concerns. Likewise I don’t believe Alex Salmond’s trite comments about Labour “scaremongering” connect with students at Edinburgh's universities. Rather it reveals a defensiveness and discomfort under scrutiny.

Soundbite politics only take you so far, and Alex Salmond has been found wanting. Instead of bringing forward capital projects to stimulate the Scottish economy during the banking crisis, he chooses to attack Gordon Brown, which only makes Salmond look petty and out of his depth. As the prime minister says, serious times call for serious people, and the Labour government's decisiveness in bailing out the Scottish banking sector with £37 billion has been acclaimed not just in Britain, but internationally.

Meanwhile what have the SNP done? Virtually nothing. They continue with their grievance politics whereby anything that goes wrong is London’s fault. Anything that’s good, such as projects commissioned by the previous Labour-Liberal administration, must be down to them. Yet the SNP government has not built one new school since they took office; under Labour almost 300 new schools were built or substantially refurbished.

Alex Salmond does not want to confront issues that really matter to students in Edinburgh, such as the SNP’s broken promise to dump student debt. He has failed to address the needs of Edinburgh's student teachers, with indications suggesting that only a quarter of last year's graduates have found full time teaching posts here in Edinburgh. With the SNP/Liberal Democrat council's school closure programme and failure to reduce class sizes, the situation is only going to get worse for this year's graduands.

These are all things that Salmond and his ministers could do something about – but yet again they've been found wanting. Salmond should recognise that Edinburgh University is a great melting pot. Over 4,000 students are from outside the European Union. Indeed only a third of the students are Scottish and benefit from the abolition of the graduate endowment, whereas other British students miss out. Yet the breadth and scale of entitlement to student bursaries are much higher down south, thanks to Labour investment in Higher Education.

When I visited the Edinburgh University Students' Association a couple of months ago to discuss my opposition to the SNP plans for an under-21 alcohol ban, I appreciated that these are issues that concern students, along with the cost of living at Edinburgh. What the SNP fail to grasp is that narrow-minded nationalism and “chip on the shoulder” politics are out of sync with the times.

Scots have a strong national identity. We are justly proud of our distinct educational and legal system. At the same time most of us appreciate the success of the union between the countries that make up the UK, and realise how it benefits all of us. Labour has always made a positive case for Scotland as a partner in the union and will continue to do so. But it should also be remembered that it was Labour who introduced devolution, and restored the Scottish parliament after 300 years. Poll after poll, as well as general elections, continually show that the majority of Scots support devolution but want to remain a part of the UK.

An old Labour motto is “unity is strength,” and most of the British people believe this – especially in hard times. One such man is my colleague George Foulkes, the Lothian Labour MSP at Holyrood who is campaigning to be the next rector of Edinburgh University. I’ve kidded on George he would have a lot to live up to following in the footsteps not only of Gordon Brown but also Tam Dalyell. But one thing I can guarantee students is that, if elected, George will bring an international outlook to the job as well as campaigning on basic issues for students.

He supports plans to refurbish the Pleasance Theatre, backs the Unite union’s Fair Tips campaign to ensure no student with a part time job will have tips included as part of their wage, and will ensure the quality of course and exam feedback improves.

Meanwhile, George Foulkes and Labour at Holyrood will leave the soundbites about “scaremongering” to the SNP. There are real issues to be tackled that students and the rest of the population are worried about, and breaking away from Britain is not one of them.