In response to the Scottish Government’s plan for Economic Transformation, Professor Ronald MacDonald, the chairman of Our Scottish Future’s Economic Commission said: “This report provides a clear diagnosis of the problems facing the Scottish economy but, on solutions, it is simply a rehash of all the failed scripts we have seen since 2007.”
Continue readingThe UK and Scottish Government must “join up to level up”, according to a new paper by Our Scottish Future released today. The paper proposes that the two governments agree a “Framework for Reducing Inequality” based on the agreements Edinburgh and London struck on powers returning to the UK after Brexit.
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Michael Gove’s “levelling up” White Paper is driven by brute politics.
Continue readingOne of Scotland’s leading clinicians has described the health inequalities between rich and poor as “a breach of human rights”, and calls today for a UK wide network to be established to tackle it. Professor David Kerr warns that the pandemic is likely to widen further the life expectancy gap between well off and deprived parts of the UK.
Continue readingToday the House of Lords Constitution Commission has published a new report: “Respect and Cooperation: Building a Stronger Union for the 21st Century.” While the report says the case for the Union remains strong, it does not mince its words in calling for change.
Continue readingThe crisis in local democracy in Scotland is exposed in a poll which reveals that three-quarters of Scots are not confident they could name the leader of their local council. It also reveals the potential solution – the creation of directly-elected provosts to Scotland’s leading cities.
Continue reading“FULL fiscal autonomy would be a disaster for Scotland”. So Gordon Brown told an online Our Scottish Future audience of more than 300 people last week as he set out his vision for his nation as part of the United Kingdom.
Continue readingGordon Brown used an online speech to Our Scottish Future yesterday evening to argue that deeper cooperation between Scotland and the rest of the UK can turn Scotland from a power to a “super-power” in in key growth industries of the future.
Continue readingScotland’s successful staging of COP26 should be used to power ahead the UK wide bid to host 2030 World Cup, the Our Scottish Future campaign says today.
Set up to back fresh ideas for cooperation across the UK, OSF is calling on the four governments of the UK to “put rocket-boosters” under the attempt to football’s biggest tournament.
It follows the commitment by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to invest £11m in a World Cup feasibility study in his November budget.
Today, Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray offers his backing, saying that a successful bid would mean that “finally football can come to its true home – Scotland.”
Under the proposals, the four Home Nations plus the Republic of Ireland would come together to host the 2030 tournament, with matches being staged across the British Isles.
It is hoped that a successful bid would lead to the redevelopment of Hampden park which, along with Murrayfield, would be a potential venue for games held in Scotland.
Our Scottish Future’s campaigns director Eddie Barnes today says that the UK Government should use the COP26 event as evidence that all parts of the UK have the capacity and expertise to stage major global events.
He said: “The funding for a World Cup feasibility study by the Chancellor was a clear sign of our commitment in a joint World Cup bid. All four governments of the UK, plus Ireland, should show a united front in 2022 by giving their full backing to the bid too, and put rocket boosters under our plans.”
“A unique British Isles bid, bringing together five football associations, would be a model for the rest of the world to follow.”
“COP showed we have what it takes to host the Cup. The success of Glasgow in 2021 can be leveraged as evidence that Scotland and all parts of the UK can put on the greatest World Cup ever in 2030.”
Mr Murray said: “A successful home nations bid for the 2030 World Cup would be the biggest boost to Scottish football since the penalty shoot-out that sent us to Euro 2020.”
“During the Euros, both Hampden and Wembley played an important role in hosting some of the best matches of the tournament.
“Although it wasn’t perfect, COP26 showed that Glasgow, Scotland and UK can host the world.
“The Scottish and UK Governments should work together so that we can realise the dream of hosting the World Cup.
“And then finally, football can come to its true home – Scotland.”
Professor Jim Gallagher is a Visiting Professor at University of Glasgow, Honorary Professor at St Andrews University and an Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford.
It’s good when the penny finally drops, even years late. Mr Michael Gove has at last realised the people in England want government closer to them, and not distant and ineffective in Whitehall. He wants them to elect governors. This time, he’s got at least something right. Perhaps he’s been listening to experts.
People all across the towns and cities of northern England feel left behind and not listened to. They are right. England is the most geographically unequal and politically centralised country in Europe. They see the unacceptable economic inequality between North and South, and they distrust London government. That’s probably why many of them voted for Brexit, though their real beef was with London, not Brussels.
It’s no accident over-centralisation in London and economic injustice in the North go together. The regions of England have had no one to stand up for them politically, as power has become more and more centralised.
The UK’s central government and parliament is the least trusted in Europe, and it’s been getting worse. Maybe not surprising. But we know that people in England, where they have them, like metro mayors. They clearly feel that figures like Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, stand up for them, against London when need be. That’s just the same as in Scotland and Wales, where devolved government under both SNP and Labour has always been more trusted than central government.
So Mr Gove is onto something. Shame he didn’t get onto it before he got onto Brexit.
But there’s more to this than simply electing some more mayors. We need a plan for their powers. Even more important, we need to change central government so it can work with devolved power rather than fight with it. If not, we will just see a repeat of the problems between London and devolved governments in Cardiff and Edinburgh. And we also need a clear understanding the guarantees that the UK offers all its citizens, and how governments can cooperate, unlike they do today.
That’s where Mr Gove’s ideas fall well short. He hasn’t thought seriously about powers – notably what economic development powers will be exercised locally or regionally, and how they will be supported by central government. Levelling up won’t happen without resources.
And he hasn’t thought through the profound changes in central government and parliament that real devolution in England implies, and that devolution in Scotland and Wales already demands.
So only two cheers for the Gove-ernor, while we wait for a real plan with the resources behind it to transform the economic and political geography of the UK. And, for viewers in Scotland, develop a UK in whose skin a devolved nation can be wholly comfortable.
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