THE jibe that Boris Johnson is the best recruiting sergeant for independence is a Nicola Sturgeon favourite. The Prime Minister’s terrible personal poll ratings in Scotland suggest it’s a line likely to resonate with many Scots. So don’t expect Johnson to front his party’s Holyrood election campaign. Yet the intriguing possibility is he could be a vital secret asset in persuading Scots of the value of remaining part of the UK.
Alex Salmond’s bid to grab for himself the role of not-so-secret Union asset, with his critique of the current leadership of Scotland’s separatist movement, has driven the recent news agenda. As someone on the receiving end of Mr Salmond’s special brand of wit – in the run up to the 2014 referendum he outed me as a ‘sleeper’ for the Yes campaign for my part putting his unworkable currency plan at the heart of the No Thanks campaign – his forensic targeting now of his own former comrades-in-arms strikes me as not without irony.
Yet it would be fatal for those of us who believe in a strong Scotland within a successful UK to bank on the internal spats within the SNP to neutralise the separatist threat. Rebuilding in Scotland greater affection for, and attachment to, the UK is still a big job. That’s why a less reported development in recent weeks may turn out to be more significant than the Salmond saga in determining the Union’s prospects.
The Prime Minister will chair a new Union Strategy Committee supported by a beefed up Union Directorate. Pretty dry stuff, but this could matter, particularly if it’s a sign Johnson wants to be more hands-on and put substance behind his Minister for the Union title.
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If an issue is a priority for the Prime Minister then it becomes a priority for the rest of Whitehall as well. And if the Prime Minister’s heart isn’t in a subject, then the hearts of UK Government ministers and civil servants won’t be either. That’s the way government works.
Securing continual attention within Whitehall for the health of the Union is not a new challenge. The practice of successive UK governments was ‘devolve and forget’ following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Devolution profoundly altered our constitutional arrangements, yet the centre of UK government continued to operate as if nothing had changed.
Even in 2014, when there was a real and present danger to the UK’s very existence, it was still a perpetual struggle to persuade Whitehall ministries to lift their eyes from immediate day-to-day departmental priorities and to do their bit for the Union.
In an unreformed centre the job of Scottish Secretary has been an unenviable one – an extended term spent fire-fighting, stopping bad things happening and, when they do, clearing up the mess afterwards.
Recent examples illustrate the problem. Did the Department for Education consider the Union implications of imposing a cap on English students attending Scottish universities? And how alive was the Home Office to Scotland’s particular labour market conditions when setting the salary threshold for key workers within a new immigration policy?
Nothing less than a revolution in the way Whitehall thinks and acts is now required. A Whitehall understanding the distinct needs of different parts of our country and able to adapt policy to suit local circumstances. That’s why re-deploying policy officials from London to new hubs in the UK’s nations and regions is so important, providing them with fresh and more varied perspectives.
Immigration policy is a case in point. The knee-jerk reaction is to call for immigration policy to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament - already with more law-making responsibilities than almost any other devolved legislature anywhere in the world – as the only way to meet Scotland’s requirements. Yet surely the UK Government has the interest and means to ensure that our immigration system works effectively for Scotland, and for Cornwall, Wales and the North of England too.
Changing the culture and mindset of Whitehall was at the heart of my report for the Prime Minister on the UK Government’s Union Capability – making the health of the Union a first order consideration in the policy development process, rather than an afterthought. A coherent strategy, forward plans, territorial secretaries of state with increased influence, departments held to account for delivering better outcomes for citizens across the UK – these are all the essential ingredients of a new approach.
Of course switching on the laser beam of Prime Ministerial attention is one thing. The other is ensuring it’s pointing in the right direction. The PM’s task is to make Scotland feel valued, part of a shared endeavour and at ease in a modern post-Covid, post-Brexit UK.
A start would be recognising devolution is popular in Scotland. Recent events have certainly raised legitimate questions about the separation of powers, the Lord Advocate’s role, the UK’s single civil service management as it applies in Scotland and the Scottish Parliament’s effectiveness at holding to account the executive. The PM’s priority should, however, be making sure devolution across the UK works well.
Covid shows how the UK Government and devolved governments depend on each other to be effective. The machinery for managing intergovernmental co-operation is creaking. What is currently a fractious consultative body, largely for exchanging information, must become a forum for joint decision-making where government powers overlap. People worried about their health or their job want to see less aggression and more agreement in relations between governments.
It may be stretching credulity to suggest that Scotland might come to love Boris Johnson. But as Mayor of London he demonstrated an ability to reach beyond the Conservatives’ base.
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If he can recapture his form as an engaging, optimistic, inclusive, can-do and liberal Conservative leader of devolved government – who won two elections in the world’s most multicultural city – then it’s not so far-fetched to believe he can secure a fair hearing in Scotland.
And if he can embed a new, positive and co-operative approach to a Four Nation UK, then his will be a lasting legacy for good.
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