Wings Over Scotland

(For the details of individual entries, see here.)

As alert followers of Scottish politics will know, the Unionist parties (Scottish Labour in particular) are deeply convinced of the need to put to the people of Scotland the “positive case for the Union”, in order to secure victory for the No campaign in the forthcoming independence referendum. Oddly, while the parties and their friendly pundits are apparently unanimous on the need for this case to be put urgently following the SNP’s majority victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, it’s remained stubbornly conspicuous by its absence, even if you search back for over 30 years.

Wings Over Scotland is keeping its eyes peeled, though, and you can be sure that if and when this mythical beast ever does rise from the murky waters of the political Loch Ness it must be lurking in, we’ll be there to capture it for posterity. From today we’ll be logging possible sightings, and recording them below, like this:

“It’s our job to drown out [Alex Salmond’s] separatist rhetoric with a positive case for keeping the Union intact.”
(Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Conservative Party chairman, March 2012)

“There is a desperate need to say why Scotland is better, stronger and more united as part of the UK. Make the case. Get the pro-Scotland in the UK side on the pitch and let battle commence.”
(Tavish Scott, former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, February 2012)

“We have to make a positive case for the union.”
(Unnamed “Scottish Tory spokesman” in the Telegraph, February 2012)

“We need to hear detailed reasons and hard facts about why Scotland is better off as part of the UK — not slogans and scaremongering.”
(The Sun editorial, January 2012)

“In a speech in Glasgow later today, Ed Miliband will seek to go beyond the process-driven debate over independence for Scotland, seeking to make a positive case for Scotland to remain within the Union.”
(Left Foot Forward, January 2012)

“Darling – whose reputation was enhanced after he warned of the looming global economic meltdown in defiance of then PM Gordon Brown – said he was determined to make a positive case for Scotland remaining in the UK.”
(Sunday Mail interview with former Chancellor of the Exchequer, January 2012)

“Questions abound. How will the campaign be structured? Who will lead it? And can it develop a positive case for the United Kingdom?”
(David Torrance, commentator and author, January 2012)

“I have a positive vision for Scotland.”
(Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour leader, January 2012)

“Everyone wants to see positive arguments for the Union, and we will have these in spades.”
(Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP, January 2012)

“I am not going to run a campaign that says Scotland cannot survive on its own. I am going to run a campaign — and others will run a campaign — about the advantages of being together. Let’s have a positive conversation, because I think the Union is a very positive thing.”
(David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, January 2012)

“There is a positive case for the Union.”
(Gerry Hassan, Scottish political commentator, January 2012)

“We are likely to see the likes of Labour’s Alistair Darling, the Liberal Democrats’ Charles Kennedy and the Tories’ Annabel Goldie playing leading roles in putting a positive case for the Union.”
(Leader in The Scotsman, January 2012)

“My ten tartan rules for success: 1. Make the positive case for the Union.”
Peter Duncan, former Conservative MP for Galloway, January 2012

“The Unionist case needs a Scottish and non-party political voice that will sell a positive narrative.”
(Lee Reynolds, Director of Strategy, Democratic Unionist Party, January 2012)

“It is absolutely essential that the pro-Union forces articulate a convincing and positive case for the continuation of the Union in the 21st Century. Those of us who wish to see Scotland and its people remain as fellow citizens in a United Kingdom must both articulate the benefits which the Union has brought to Scotland and provide a positive vision for the future continuation of the Union.”
(Tom Elliott, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, January 2012)

“Add these deeply serious warnings [about debt, banks, subsidy etc] to the positive case for maintaining a union which has served the English and Scottish people well for 300 years and Mr Cameron has an irresistible argument.”
(Daily Mail editorial leader, January 2012)

“Does the Prime Minister agree with me that we must make the case for the Union – not simply against separatism, but the positive case about the shared benefits to us all of Scotland’s part in the United Kingdom?”
(Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party, January 2012)

“Politicians are much given to talking – as Mr Cameron did yesterday – about ‘a positive case for the Union’ and commentators (I’m one of them) have been asking for the same thing for some time.”
(Andrew McKie, conservative commentator, January 2012) [paywall link]

“Politics is about emotion as well as simple accountancy. So as well as making the economic case for staying in the United Kingdom, we also need to tell a better, more positive story for Scotland’s future to compete with the SNP’s narrative of nationalism.”
(Douglas Alexander, Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary, January 2012)

“As we get closer to the referendum, people will realise that staying within the Union has substantial benefits for Scotland.” (benefits not specified)
(James Kelly, Labour MSP, December 2011) (at 4m 20s)

“We’ve got a distinctive argument to make on the power of Scotland inside the United Kingdom.”
(Johann Lamont, Labour leadership contender, December 2011) (at 23m 08s)

“The starting point is that we are equal nations choosing to come together and that equality means we in Scotland can make demands in a claim of right for the powers and responsibilities that we want. Beyond that however we need to describe the positive advantages of being part of a new United Kingdom.”
(Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP, November 2011)

“[the proponent for independence] deserved to win, because he did the thing which usually wins a debate: he asked the question which mattered, and didn’t get a satisfactory response. And the question was this: what is the positive case for the Union?”
(Andrew McKie, conservative political commentator, November 2011)

“The bigger challenge with Alex Salmond, in my view, is […] about addressing the political strategy he has been successful around. It is about making a positive case of Scotland in the UK and I can make that case.”
(Johann Lamont, then-prospective Scottish Labour leader, November 2011)

“Scottish Labour needs to develop its vision of a devolved, confident Scotland and make its case for a vote against independence with a positive alternative.”
(Mike Robb, Labour Hame, November 2011)

“We really need someone who can articulate a positive vision for Scotland, and sell it to the people of Scotland.”
(John Ruddy, Labour Hame, November 2011)

“The Scottish Conservatives have a huge responsibility, to Scotland and the United Kingdom, to make the positive case for the Union”
(Ruth Davidson, Scottish Conservative leader, October 2011)

“We will need to make that very positive argument in the next few years; the very human, very individual benefit of the United Kingdom.”
(Willie Rennie, Scottish Liberal Democrats leader, October 2011)

“I am determined, along with a new Scottish Labour leader when that person is chosen, to make that positive case for the union”
(Ed Miliband, Labour Party leader, September 2011)

“A clear vision of and a positive case for the Union needs to be developed”
(John Curtice, Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde, May 2011)

“Voters should be inspired by being offered a positive case for the Union”
(David Cameron, Conservative Party leader, now UK Prime Minister, April 2007)

“We have got to show the positive case for the Union”
(Gordon Brown, former Chancellor and Prime Minister, January 2007)

“We have left unargued the essential case for the Union, because we do not believe that most British people need to be persuaded of it.”
(Editorial in The Spectator, February 1979)

———————————————————————————————-
TIME ELAPSED: 32 years, 3 months
ACTUAL SIGHTINGS OF POSITIVE CASE FOR UNION TO DATE: 0
———————————————————————————————-

“I’m beginning to wonder if there is a positive case for the Union at all.”
(Iain Macwhirter, Sunday Herald)

Ever since the SNP's victory in May, Unionist politicians of all flavours have been going on and on about making "the positive case for the Union", a thing which apparently exists but which none of them have as yet been able to actually define. The only specific example of this positive case so far has come from the new Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who pointed out that being in the Union enabled us to enjoy the performances of the GB team at the Olympics.

(An event which has directly sucked money out of Scotland and down to London, and which mystifyingly enjoys a different tax status to the forthcoming 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which our sources tell us is in Scotland.)

Over on Better Nation, though, Labour activist Aidan Skinner (one of the few who seems to have any grasp of the scale and nature of the party in Scotland's predicament) has had a stab at it. Apparently the "coherent and convincing" case for the Union is that it enhances Scotland's "shared defence and commercial interests".

Further details are unforthcoming in the piece, however, which raises more questions than it answers. It doesn't explain, for example, how Scotland's interests are served by years of UK government underspending on defence in Scotland (as identified by Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett), the siting in Scotland of nuclear weapons which are overwhelmingly opposed by the Scottish electorate, or UK foreign policy which makes the entire UK at greater risk of terrorist attack. Nor, oddly, is any nation state which poses a military threat to Scotland identified.

Similarly, the single sentence devoted to this "coherent and convincing case" neglects to clarify any specific instances of Westminster control of Scotland's economy bringing commercial benefits. We're sure there are many, though, and look forward to reading them when the No campaign finally gets round to publishing "The Positive Case For The Union" through Her Majesty's Stationery Office, which we're currently expecting some time around 2017.