WE believe today is a cause for celebration.
Not flags, street parties and unalloyed joy, but celebration nonetheless. As we said on the eve of the referendum, this newspaper has long been a passionate advocate for Home Rule and devolution has allowed for progressive, innovative government that seeks distinctively Scottish solutions to Scottish issues.
But, and it saddens us to introduce this conditional to our support for the proposed enactment of the Smith Commission, what is on offer is only good so far as it goes. We doubt that the spirit kindled during months of incredible activism last year will be satisfied by the latest concessions from Westminster and we harbour these doubts for three reasons.
Primarily, there is the whole absurd premise of The Vow. A mocked-up front page of a tabloid newspaper close to the eve of poll to which, in panic, the three pro-Union leaders appended their signature during a one-man campaign by a former Premier. It was never joined-up thinking. Indeed, it said very little beyond the vague term "extensive new powers" and the wording and its construction remains a mystery to this day. Undeniable is that its chief cheerleader, Gordon Brown made claims about federalism which were never actually in this text, a nervous political construct created as the polls tightened.
We fully praise the Smith Commission for its focus, impressive ability to bang heads together and steely determination to stick to timetable. Compare and contrast with Chilcot. The problem is that while Lord Smith delivered on The Vow on timetable, the exercise was at a level well below the rhetoric of Mr Brown.
Our second area of concern is around welfare and the ability of Scotland to construct a system more in tune with its polity than the trend at Westminster towards an ever more punitive and inhumane system. The objections of the SNP Government at Holyrood sounded manufactured and knee-jerk, a grievance in search of a cause. The Prime Minister said that "beyond doubt" Holyrood had the absolute ability to act on welfare.
But from the voluntary sector there came stronger and more specific claims about the imposition of Personal Independence Paymentst reducing the benefit pot before it is transferred to Holyrood. Citizens' Advice Scotland also queried the restriction of any new welfare powers to "within areas devolved" - a further bar on innovation. "The Smith Commission led us to believe the Scottish Government could craft its own welfare system, outside of of Universal Credit, taking into account the needs of Scotland. It seems now that offer has been withdrawn." We share that concern.
Our third caveat concerns the sheer complexity of sharing tax and fiscal systems across a highly centralised political union. This requires a change in mindset difficult to achieve in our historical system. A true federal system admits the need for consensus and negotiation. There is little sign of that in the UK. HM Treasury seems disinclined to cede power, English Votes for English Legislation looms, and the SNP's current power seems likely to inflame Westminster politics rather than bring some new consensual approach. We hope we are unduly pessimistic.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article