Monday 14 January 2019

Union Dues

I am thinking of naming a Parliamentary Private Secretary of my own. But the latest round of such appointments means that some Government position or other is now held by over half of the MPs from that strange thing, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. Well, with 13 MPs, it does hold the balance of power.

"Just the Tories in Scotland"? No, it is a Scottish version of what the Conservative Party in England and Wales would be like if the only people in it were the people with absolutely nowhere else to go. Give that a moment to sink in. In Scotland, there is always somewhere else for almost anyone to go. It is called the SNP. I say again, almost anyone.

Something similar can be said of the Labour Party in Scotland, but its MPs do not merely take the Labour whip, and in any case it is still a tiny little thing. It is true, though, that while there are some signs of change under Richard Leonard, the majority of Labour members in Scotland voted for Owen Smith. These are the people who, in all of the worst possible ways, could only ever be in the Labour Party.

Yet, while such people are many despicable things, they are rarely mad. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is a Tory party with only Tories in it. Quite. It is also the second-largest party in Scotland, while holding the balance of power in the House of Commons. That that and the SNP and the two dominant political forces in Scotland manifests the sheer weirdness of Scottish politics.

I am not advocating it, but these days, at least, a state comprised of England and Wales would give a small overall majority to a Conservative Government with broadly the political position of Theresa May about half the time, and a small overall majority to a Labour Government with broadly the political position of Jeremy Corbyn the other half. Most of the people in that state could live with that, and a large proportion would actively prefer it.

But instead, at every General Election, the electoral fortunes of one of the four strangest political subcultures in Western Europe, the Sinn Féin electorate in the Six Counties, determines how many functioning MPs there are to be at all. The composition of the Government is then determined by the fortunes of the other three, which are the electorates of the DUP, of the SNP, and of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. It has become a local commonplace that I am on 30-30-30 with Labour and the Conservatives here at North West Durham, so that any one of us could be the First Past the Post. I will stand for this seat, if I can raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

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