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TERRY DIGNAN: For weeks the parties in
Scotland have been on election footing, rehearsing their battle plans in
readiness for an all-out offensive to take enemy-held constituencies. But
in truth, they've been preparing for the unknown, unsure as to what awaits
them.
When battle commences
here in Scotland the election will be fought in circumstances never before
experienced by the main political parties. This may result in a wholly
new approach to campaigning, quite different from what we'll see in England.
And all because - from a Scottish perspective - political power is no longer
a monopoly of Westminster.
This will be the first
general election since Tony Blair fulfilled his pledge to re-establish
a Scottish Parliament. After elections to the parliament Labour formed
a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats to run Scotland. Led
by the late Donald Dewar, the Scottish Executive took office when the Queen
opened the parliament. The coming general election is for a UK government.
But in Scotland the Executive's performance in the parliament will still
be an issue.
PROFESSOR JAMES MITCHELL: The SNP and the Tories will try
and make use of the Scottish Parliament to embarrass the Labour Party and
the Liberal Democrats as they've been doing during the Parliament since
it was established.
DIGNAN: The SNP, the Scottish National
Party, wants independence. It regards the general election as an opportunity
to cast a verdict on Labour's record in the new Parliament.
ALEX SALMOND MP: Rather than that not being a factor
in the Westminster election, I think it'll spill over into the Westminster
election and what's going on in the Scots parliament will be an issue in
this Westminster election.
DIGNAN: The Tories, too, hope to
exploit Labour's record in the Parliament. They won't be drawing any distinctions
between the Labour-led Executive in Scotland and the Labour Government
at Westminster.
SIR MALCOLM RIFKIND: We happen to be living in
a time when Labour controls all levels of government - they control the
local council here, they control the Scottish Parliament, they control
the United Kingdom Government. The public have a right to use an election
to either praise the Labour Party, if they're pleased with what has been
delivered, or to punish them if they think that there's failed opportunities
and missed opportunities over the last couple of years.
DIGNAN: But ministers in the UK
Government don't run the Scottish Parliament. And they believe it's their
record which should be judged at the general election, not that of the
Scottish Executive.
HELEN LIDDELL MP: Really at the heart of everything
in Scotland is the economy. We've managed to create over a hundred thousand
new jobs, the lowest levels of unemployment for a generation. That is inextricably
linked with the wellbeing of my constituents, and they recognise that requires
a Labour government at Westminster with the kind of economic policies we've
been pursuing to bring stability rather than boom and bust.
DIGNAN: Conservatives like Sir
Malcolm Rifkind are stepping up face to face meetings with voters in marginal
constituencies. They hope to regain seats they lost at the last election
by taking votes from Labour and their Liberal Democrat partners in the
Scottish Executive.
UNNAMED MAN: As you know, as you find out
probably yourself, when you do take the trains you're stuck.
DIGNAN: The Conservatives - and
SNP - believe the Liberal Democrats are in retreat.
RIFKIND: In the past people voted
Liberal Democrat because they didn't want Labour or Conservative. Now they
find in Scotland that the Liberal Party has become a wholly-owned subsidiary
of the Labour Party; they're a junior member of a coalition.
MITCHELL: As we've seen in the
past when Labour and the Liberal Democrats have worked closely together,
as in nineteen-ninety-two, the Liberal Democrats can suffer in areas such
as the north east of Scotland. And this is going to be a real worry for
the Liberal Democrats.
SALMOND: I think the Liberal party's
going to pay a heavy price for being seen as Labour's client party as they
now are in Scotland, and they're going to find it much more difficult to
present themselves an Opposition party in terms of the Westminster elections.
DIGNAN: But the Liberal Democrats
say they're independent despite joining Labour in the Scottish Executive.
They argue that since devolution the electorate has got used to parties
co-operating.
MALCOLM BRUCE MP: It's the kind of politics, frankly,
that a modern democracy must get used to and it doesn't have any bearing
on the fact that in a campaign, whether it's for a Scottish parliament
election or for the Westminster election, Labour and the Liberal Democrats
are separate, independent parties, campaigning for our own support, on
our own policies and inviting people to give us the strength to implement
them.
DIGNAN: In the next door constituency
the SNP's Alex Salmond is describing to parishioners his local connections.
SALMOND: I think Banff and Buchan
as an area is a good place - and a cheap place - to have holidays, you
know.
DIGNAN: Voters will punish the
parties in the Executive, he says, for mishandling issues such as aid to
the fishing industry. When the Parliament voted - thanks to a Liberal Democrat
back-bench rebellion - for extra financial help for the fishermen, it's
claimed ministers took no notice.
SALMOND: Scots' government ignored
a democratic vote at the Scots' parliament in fishing and Labour and the
Liberal parties turned over a democratic vote, will be a huge issue in
this general election campaign.
LIDDELL: We are in a position now
where the parliament is beginning to bed down. Yes there will be rows,
yes there will be arguments that's the nature of politics. But people recognise
we delivered one of our key pledges which was the establishment of a Scottish
parliament. And with partnership between that Scottish parliament and the
Government at Westminster, we are able to deliver a better Scotland, and
I think that's what people will focus on in the election whenever it comes.
DIGNAN: Labour MPs like Jim Murphy
swept aside all opposition in constituencies such as Eastwood at the last
election. But that was before devolution. Now Labour's leadership at Westminster
is anxious that the actions of the Scottish Executive may undermine their
MPs' chances of re-election.
MITCHELL: There have been a number
of issues in which the Executive has had problems, partly because of the
divisions between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, most recently
on the issue of fishing. And that clearly has embarrassed the Labour Party,
not just in Scotland, but across the UK. That's the kind of issue which
if it arises, in the run up to the election and during the election, would
be seriously damaging to the Labour Party. And it's quite clear that all
efforts inside the Labour Party are to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't
happen.
DIGNAN: When the election is called
all the main parties in the United Kingdom will argue over how best to
provide better public services like Health and Education. But in Scotland
the election may also expose quite serious differences over spending on
these services between the Labour-led Scottish administration here in Edinburgh
and the Labour Government in London.
When they're out meeting
voters Labour MPs may have to explain why, for example, they support university
tuition fees while Labour members of the Scottish Parliament have scrapped
them. "That's devolution," they'll reply. And they'll say that returning
Labour to Westminster will safeguard the economic policies which allow
Scotland to choose to spend more.
LIDDELL: The Scottish Executive
has to take its decisions, as any elected authority has to, based on the
budget that it has. And if it chooses to spend that budget in a different
way that's what democracy's about and that's what devolution is about.
But it shows how important it is to have a devolved settlement not divorced
from the rest of the United Kingdom because the strength of the United
Kingdom economy is allowing the Scottish Executive to pursue some very
radical policies.
DIGNAN: The Executive has also
accepted free personal care for the elderly in principle. Malcolm Bruce's
Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Scottish Parliament can force Labour
to be more radical than the Westminster government because the Nationalists
and Conservatives will vote with them on issues like long-term care and
tuition fees. Yet the Conservatives will be fighting the General Election
to cut spending and reduce taxes.
PROFESSOR JAMES MITCHELL: The Tories in the Scottish Parliament
have been behaving like a classic Opposition party, arguing for increased
public expenditure in a whole range of matters. Now that clearly doesn't
sit very well with William Hague and his party south of the border, who
are trying to present themselves as a sort of an economically responsible
alternative party of government.
RIFKIND: It was true even before
you had devolution when the Secretary of State for Scotland - and I occupied
that post - sometimes did things differently to what was being done south
of the border. That's perhaps more likely now that you have a Scottish
Parliament, but it's got to be done on the basis of the merits of the issue
and not for some fundamental ideological or constitutional reason.
DIGNAN: Indeed, some believe the
Parliament in Edinburgh may have trouble paying for its pledges. Relying
on a grant from Westminster, the Parliament currently receives more per
head of population than England for services like health and education.
That causes resentment among MPs representing English seats. But under
the so-called Barnett Formula the gap is closing - which is something the
SNP will exploit during the election campaign.
PROFESSOR MITCHELL: One issue the SNP's been trying
to get across is the fact that Scotland's share of public expenditure is
being squeezed. It's still going up of course but relative to England the
SNP and indeed academic commentators have pointed out is being squeezed.
It's something which is quite technical but the SNP are going to have to
try and find some way of popularising this message and getting that across.
But of course again it's an issue on which all of the other parties will
try and steer well clear of.
SALMOND: The big battle for the
next Westminster parliament as far as Scotland's concerned, is going to
be Westminster attempts to starve the Scots parliament of funds. And therefore
I think it's absolutely vital there are people standing up for Scotland
in the Westminster environment and also standing up for the Scots parliament.
DIGNAN: The SNP says an independent
Scotland governed from Edinburgh wouldn't be at the mercy of decisions
made by a United Kingdom government at Westminster. The other parties may
have to tackle this issue head on, wearily perhaps because they may have
thought that the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament had ended the
debate about Scotland's constitutional status.
BRUCE: I think the SNP's problem
is they continue to claim that Scotland is richer than the rest of the
United Kingdom without, I have to say, producing any evidence that's credible,
whereas in reality I think most people in Scotland recognise that there
is great strength in being part of the United Kingdom and sharing the costs,
for example, of defence and foreign affairs and trade relations with our
partners within the Union rather than trying to have to fund the arrangement
for ourselves.
LIDDELL: They want a separate Scotland
they want to divorce Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. That's
all they've got to say in this General Election.
DIGNAN: It's argued that the creation
of this Parliament has undoubtedly strengthened the SNP and that's something
which should worry Labour because it if really is the case that the Nationalists
are now a much more formidable fighting force, they could use the General
Election as a springboard to take control of this Parliament at the next
Scottish elections in two years' time."
SALMOND: Well the impact of the
Scottish dimension to politics has been to pull up SNP support particularly
for the Scots parliament, but also for the Westminster elections and we're
very happy with that.
MITCHELL: This time round of course
the SNP has a substantial contingent of politicians in the Scottish Parliament
and they're going to be working full time in the SNP's target seats. So
in that respect the SNP's resources are far in excess of anything they've
had in the past. If the SNP does reasonably well in these elections
and their vote rises as compared with 1997 I think it's a fair assumption
that that suggests that they are likely to do pretty well in two years'
time at the Scottish general election.
DIGNAN: So when the UK election
gets underway, the arguments heard in this parliament will inevitably flow
into the campaign. UK issues won't be absent. The Conservatives will oppose
joining the Euro, Labour will emphasise its management of the British economy.
Indeed, the campaign Labour most wants to fight here is about who runs
Britain.
LIDDELL: Well at the end of this
General Election one of two men is going to walk into Ten Downing Street.
It will be either William Hague or Tony Blair and any vote for someone
other than a Labour candidate is a vote to help William Hague into Downing
Street. That's a very, very clear cut message."
DIGNAN: No matter how hard the
parties drill for the coming election, in Scotland it may not be enough.
They could be entering unfamiliar territory where the influence of a devolved
parliament is likely to scupper the old certainties about how politicians
campaign to take power.
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