Doing 'less, but better' won’t get people backing Yes

Back in the dark days, before the decline of the yoke of Labour and Tory mediocrity had lost its grip on Scottish politics, the last salvo was fired by then Labour First Minister Jack McConnell - or Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale as fans of the House of Lords will now know him. 

The “do less, better” message was launched by Baron McConnell when he became First Minister in November 2001 in the aftermath of the resignation of Henry McLeish, his predecessor.

It was the beginning of the end for Labour, a party out of ideas and a country impatient for their new parliament to do better having watched on as it failed to deliver much-needed change.

Remarkably, then and current SNP leader John Swinney managed to take the party down to only 27 seats, and under 400,000 votes, despite fighting a Labour Party offering Scots nothing. 

Looking at this week’s programme for Government you could be forgiven for thinking that events are repeating themselves but this time it’s Mr Swinney that’s adopting the McConnell philosophy of do less, better. On the back of an unlawful gender bill, a costly and failed bottle deposit scheme, attempts to ban Scottish fishermen from, erm, fishing, delayed ferries, cancelled trains and an underperforming health service, Scots could be forgiven for urging the Government to adopt the mantra of ‘please do anything, competently’. 

However, what the country, and the independence movement needs to see, is First Minister John Swinney’s Government focus on “doing more, better” in their priories for the coming year on Wednesday. 

Swinney will become the third First Minister in three years to set out the priories of the Scottish Government. His two predecessors became unstuck by taking their eye off the ball and off of the people’s priorities of health, education, jobs and the economy. 

Parliament returned this week after a long summer recess that saw a change in UK Government and the loss of dozens of SNP seats across Scotland at the General election. Last week a poll by Nortstat showed the SNP were also heading towards large losses at the next Scottish Parliament elections. The same poll showed that votes for Alba Party on the regional list will be key to maintaining a pro independence majority after the next Scottish election.

It is time for a new chapter of Government that moves away from the self centred government we’ve seen in recent years - with far too much focus on the priorities of the few whilst ignoring the urgent needs of the many. 

Over the course of the last week attacks from the unionist commentariat have urged Swinney to put independence on the back burner in response to the heavy losses suffered at the general election. But restoring competency back into the heart of government should be the starting block of a new era for a Scottish Government that wants to win back the trust of the Scottish people and progress the cause of Scottish independence.  You don’t need to stop campaigning for independence to start governing competently. But if you don’t start governing competently you will stop people listening to the ‘why’ of the need for Scottish independence as an urgent priority. 

People across Scotland are impatient for change. For too long they have felt like the Government has been prior occupied by its own priorities and that these have not aligned with their priories. This week’s programme for Government must see John Swinney put the Scottish Government back on the side of the Scottish people and he can do that by ensuring it does more, better. It’s time to put the focus back where it is needed - on health, education, jobs and the economy. 

We live in an energy rich country but our people are not seeing the benefit from the massive resources we have, whether from the North Sea or from renewables. The Scottish Parliament cannot be allowed to become a place that exists simply to administer UK Labour austerity. The entire point of the Scottish Parliament was to give Scots the choice to make different choices. With independence we can make every choice but in the here and now we need to make sure that at the very least people in Scotland know that the Scottish Government is on their side.

Re-establishing the hard won reputation of a competent Scottish Government is vital to regaining the trust of the Scottish people. This is paramount to have in place the foundations to making the case for Scottish independence. The First Minister is under pressure to adopt a safety first “now is not the time” approach to  independence in response to the General Election result - he must to do the opposite. Put independence back at the top of the list of Government priorities and use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to show the people of Scotland that when it comes to UK Labour austerity there is a better way.

By Chris McEleny, first appeared in The National on 02/09/24