John McDonnell argues now we have the potential to work together on a unified left agenda

Prior to the referendum I avoided making any public comment because I judged that the sound of English accents advising the Scots about their future came across not only as unseemly arrogance but more importantly it was totally counterproductive to either side of the argument. The hilarious video of Labour MPs marching up Glasgow streets to the accompaniment of the imperial march from Star Wars was a suitable depiction of the counterproductive engagement of English MPs in this whole debate.

However, now the referendum is over, there are pressing strategic issues that socialists on both sides of the border quickly have to address collaboratively. The referendum result and the subsequent statements by Cameron present the left with the potential of the worst of all worlds. The left that backed independence to free Scotland from the Tory yoke can quite justifiably take pride in the scale and enthusiasm of the political mobilisation in the referendum debate. But as dawn broke on results day it was still faced with a sizeable majority voting No.

The left that argued independence would divide the class and weaken working class institutions across Britain rendering a Labour government unlikely in the future with the loss of 41 Scots Labour MPs may have won the referendum vote. But it woke up the day after the poll with Cameron planning to strip Scottish MPs of their vote on crucial issues anyway, rendering the prospect of a workable Labour government in the current political climate precarious to say the least.

Accompanying this is the prospect that as a backlash to the referendum vote, Labour could be under threat in many of its traditional Scottish working class seats in the forthcoming May 2015 general election. There is not as yet a serious alternative electoral force on the left and, therefore the only beneficiaries could be the SNP, possibly depriving Labour of a majority at the UK level and allowing the Tory/Lib Dem coalition back in.

As socialists we could be faced with the worst of all worlds, namely, for the former ‘yes’ campaigners, no independence and for the ‘no’ campaigners no UK Labour government. And, for all of us, the return of either the Coalition or worse still a Tory majority government. That is why the left speedily needs to get its act together to start a dialogue on the options facing us both in Scotland and also across the UK.

If we take it as read that no matter what the constitutional arrangements our objective is an irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working class people, then we need to map out how we can use the opportunities that the referendum debate has opened up to us.

Let me just trace out some elements of a possible agenda for a dialogue on the left. The first is how the left maximises the progressive potential of ‘devo max’. One argument put forward to support independence by the left was that Scotland could demonstrate, by example, what a progressive country could achieve and that this would serve to strengthen the left in encouraging the rest of the UK to follow suit. The Tory, Labour and Lib Dem leaders solemnly committed themselves in their much publicised ‘vow’ to the Scottish people that they would deliver ‘devo max’. Most took this to mean significantly strengthened budgetary and taxation powers.

As the left, let’s use the ‘devo max’ promise to put forward what a fair and redistributive budgetary and tax system would mean. If there are to be new taxation powers for Scotland, do not let the type and design of these powers be constrained by Westminster. The SNP has argued for Scotland to have the ability to cut corporation tax in a race to the bottom with Ireland and others. Instead, let’s put on the agenda for Scotland a Land Value Taxation, a comprehensive wealth tax and a Tobin tax. The referendum campaign was about democracy. So instead of centralised budget making the left should demand as part of the new ‘devo max’ constitutional settlement the adoption of the kind of participatory budget making developed in Port Allegro.

The referendum campaign was the most significant mobilisation of people power we have witnessed in our country in generations. Don’t let that people’s army stand itself down now. Give them another task in demanding a direct say in determining what they would want Scotland’s resources spent on and how.

It would also be worth putting on the agenda of the ‘devo max’ negotiations the issue of who controls welfare policies and spending. If there are to be concessions on welfare powers, it also gives the left the chance to raise the introduction of a citizen’s basic income.

Raising these issues as part of the ‘devo max’ settlement will inevitably throw up questions about the generation and distribution of resources at the UK level. From a reactionary perspective, there have already been murmurings about reviewing or scrapping the Barnet Formula.

If there is to be any effective redistribution of power and wealth under ‘devo max’, very quickly the real question for the left will be how to confront finance capital in the City of London. It is on this issue the left, wherever it is located in the UK, will need to work closely together to secure any effective advance. That’s why a new dialogue on the left in Scotland is desperately needed, and some of us in the rest of the UK would welcome an invitation to the discussion.

John McDonnell is MP for Hayes and Harlington. He is Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group at Westminster