Neil Mackay: We need a British summit to move Scotland forward

The SNP and the Tories – as the lead voices of the Yes and No camps – are utterly bereft of ideas. They’ve run out of ways to make political progress on the constitution.

The central problem is the collision of two seemingly immoveable objects: the mandate in the Scottish Parliament for Yes-supporting parties, and the refusal by Boris Johnson’s Westminster administration to grant a referendum.

That’s an explanation, not an excuse for the inertia. If politics is anything, it’s the art of change, of making the impossible possible. Neither side – nationalist nor unionist – seems to have either the vision or gumption to manage the nation out of this impasse.

Read more: The five key truths we now know about Scotland and the Union

The irony of watching hardline nationalists stamp their feet and demand that Nicola Sturgeon take action to break the deadlock would be comic if this issue didn’t weigh so heavy over Scottish life. If these ultras got their way, and there was indeed a referendum tomorrow, Yes would more than likely lose. The SNP has done precisely nothing to advance the case for independence since Brexit. Among the mountain of unanswered questions, the issue of a border with England looms like Everest. Close behind comes the K2 of currency.

You can see the impact of this feeble independence prospectus in the stalling, even faltering, of Yes support. The most recent polling indicates Yes at its lowest for two years. With "Don’t knows" excluded, 48 per cent backed independence, 52% the Union. However, longitudinally across all polling, we’re looking at a basic 50-50 split. There may be some withering around the edges in Yes support, but broadly the country remains locked in interminable political stasis.

On the flip side, if the SNP is stymied, so too are the Tories. Boris Johnson’s administration does nothing to build a case for unionism, or put a real dent in independence support. The Tories rely on grotesque flag waving and Ulster Unionist-style shouts of "No". It’s charmless, lumpen, ugly – and, like the SNP, it fails to move undecided voters. Everything the Tories do feels designed to increase Yes support – the fact that’s not happening is another indicator of just how stuck this nation is politically.

Some might imagine both parties would find this a negative experience: shaming, ineffectual, risky. Far from it, inertia works exceptionally well for both the SNP and the Tories. The only group suffering amid all this is the Scottish people – played by both sides, cheated, as politics stagnates.

The establishment of a perpetual enemy is heaven sent for the SNP and the Tories – it helps maintain both parties in power. The SNP can blame the sins of the world on Mr Johnson, and point to Westminster as the thwarter of Scotland’s hopes and dreams. The Tories at Westminster can flex their muscles to their Brexit electorate and show they’re flying the flag for Little England. Mr Johnson can play the Hammer of the Jocks and feed the Culture War beast that keeps he’s grotesque administration afloat.

The SNP and Tories are locked in a cycle of mutual hate and support. The loathing feeds their bases. They prop each other up. Not only do both have no answers to unlocking the constitutional impasse Scotland finds itself in, it serves both politically not to have answers.

Must Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon forever be at loggerheads?

This isn’t to say that either party is dissembling about its constitutional position. It’s not that the SNP doesn’t want independence, of course it does. Ms Sturgeon wants this country independent and so does everyone in her party. Equally, Mr Johnson and his party passionately believe in the Union. It’s just that neither group has the vision to advance their position. If we needed a handy political shorthand for the type of politics we’re now experiencing it’s "Stuckist" – we’re stuck. We can’t go forward, and there’s no way back as the constitutional genie is long out of the bottle.

The two parties tinker at the edges, playing with their Independence Taskforce or Union Unit, but to what avail? What ideas will either come up with that hasn’t been thought of already? Both parties will pump out talking points that change nothing, convince nobody.

This political flatline fails Scotland; intellectual inertia is deadening the nation. This isn’t a phoney war any more, this is quicksand. We live in an Alice in Wonderland world where constitutional debate both simultaneously rages and remains static. The independence question overshadows everything, refracting all issues through the prism of the constitution, leaving leaders frozen in aspic. As long as this state of affairs lasts, Scotland goes nowhere.

If we want a better country we have to deal with the constitution now. As the pandemic nears an end, we need a way forward. We cannot allow politicians on both sides of the divide to tread water with our lives any more.

It may seem that all routes to progress are exhausted, but they aren’t. There’s one option which hasn’t yet been tried: a constitutional summit of Britain.

Read more: Indyref2 refusal will sign the death warrant of the Union

Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson, together with their closest advisors, should meet to find a way forward. It could simply be a London-Edinburgh summit. Though with the UK in such disarray it would make more sense to convene a four nations summit of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Bring all the interested parties together: SNP, the Tories, Labour, Sinn Fein, DUP, Plaid Cymru.

Have the summit overseen by a panel of impartial observers. That could be diplomats from overseas, members of British civil society – from academia, trade unions, business, charities.

Put everything on the table – except the status quo. Debate Indyref2, devo max, real federalism (which would include the regionalisation of England to even the playing field), an Ulster border poll, red-blooded home rule.

Let the people hear the debates. Let us see our politicians present their cases for how to make constitutional progress. Let’s lance the festering boil of political limbo.

To paraphrase the character Estragon in Beckett’s Godot: “We can’t go on like this.”

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald