Stephen Low argues powers are for a purpose and not an end in themselves

The starting point for any consideration of the referendum campaign and what the left does now has to be an acknowledgement and recognition of a level of political commitment in Scotland that is unprecedented in our history. Two million people went out and voted that Scotland should be part of the UK. Scotland’s membership of the UK has been transformed from being the work of a ‘parcel o’ rogues’ in the eighteenth century to being the freely expressed view of a significant majority of Scotland’s people in the twenty first.

This should be welcomed by the left. It is at UK level that ownership and control of much of the Scottish economy is exercised and it is there that the most decisive interventions can be made. There is no real surprise as to the decision of the people of Scotland to reject leaving the UK. The pro-independence campaign never developed any credible economic plan or prospect. Opinion polls were absolutely consistent throughout the entirety of the campaign in indicating that at no point did a majority ever accept that proposition that independence would deliver economic improvement. The Yes campaign assertion that Scotland could somehow have a Scandinavian type society on lower than Tory tax rates never convinced people. Nor did it deserve to.

The exemplar of this was surely the currency issue. The Scottish Government was depending on the acquiescence of the rUK for its desired currency union. The proposition, in the words of the STUC, made ‘sense for the independent Scotland [but] it is not at all obvious that it represents ‘common sense’ for rUK’. The flat denial of this obvious state of affairs by all elements of the Yes campaign went from farce to potential tragedy when the ‘no one can stop us using the pound’ line was seriously canvassed by the Scottish Government. Much could be said on this but suffice it to say the prospect drew fulsome praise from the Adam Smith Institute. From this point onwards, the model being aspired to wasn’t so much Norway as Narnia. It was of a piece with the whole Yes movement. That it could be beaten by so dull and uninspiring a campaign as that run by the No parties says much about how convincing they were.

The ‘No’ victory wasn’t predicated on offering more powers for the Parliament (although support for these rose during the campaign). They were, however, promised and this provides an opportunity for the left. We should fully participate in the process of defining and working towards getting them. In so doing, we must ensure a class perspective is kept to the fore. It isn’t, for example, automatically the case that ‘more is better’ as the nationalists argue. There is, for example, little to be gained for workers in setting off a race to the bottom in business taxation. Whilst more powers for the Scottish Parliament to raise revenue are to be welcomed, the idea of ‘full fiscal autonomy’ isn’t a progressive one. ‘All the money raised in Scotland stays in Scotland’ is a slogan fit only for an egregious and parochial charity campaign, not a class conscious left. That money flows from Surrey to Sauchie or Aberdeen to Allerton is of benefit to everyone in the UK. The principles we should be looking to uphold in the disbursement of public money should be ones that prioritise need over nation. The relevant chapters of the Red Paper on Scotland 2014 outline the benefits and drawbacks of many fiscal and other measures.

If thinking that ‘more is better’ in relation to devolution is a trap that we should avoid, so is the fallacy of mistaking constitutional for social change. Shouting ‘Whadda we want? More powers now. Why do we want them? To go in the cupboard under the sink with all the other powers we don’t use’ is pretty much what many of the loudest voices in the last week have been doing. Further devolution is of little account if the powers are not going to be used. It is the task of the left in these debates when the devolution of further powers is discussed to change the formulation from ‘we could’ to ‘we will’ and, in doing so, persistently raise the issue of why the considerable powers currently exercised in Scotland aren’t being put to greater use. Powers for a purpose – not their own sake – should be the guiding maxim of the left going forward. That and a constant awareness that what will really make a difference for working people isn’t about constitutional mechanics but about political will.

Stephen Low is a member of the Labour Party and the Red Paper Collective