Can Ed Miliband save the Union?

When Ed Miliband goes to Scotland and declares that ‘It is Labour that’s got to win this referendum’ it is a statement of political reality as much as it is braggadocio. The Tories have only one MP north of the border and the Liberal Democrats are the fourth party in the Scottish parliament. If this vote is to be won, Labour—as by far the largest Unionist party—will have to get the No camp over the line.

Ed Miliband’s decision to take the entire shadow Cabinet to Glasgow last week was meant to show that UK Labour is now engaging fully in this battle. Miliband himself thinks that he has come up with an argument for the Union that is distinctly Labour. It is that an independent Scotland would, as Alex Salmond’s commitment to a 3p cut in corporation tax shows, end up engaging in tax competition with the rump of the United Kingdom over who could offer the lowest rates to businesses and the wealthy.