Nationalist Measures for Unionist Aims

John McTernan’s latest Telegraph column has an entertainingly provocative headline –Tell the Truth: Scotland has been indulged for far too long – but is, in fact, less a blast against Alex Salmond’s monstrous regiment than an assault upon Mr McTernan’s colleagues in the Scottish Labour party.

This attack is disguised by John’s observation – scarcely controversial and, anyway, being addressed, in part, by the Scotland Bill – that the Barnett Formula is no longer working as originally intended. He’s right that much of Scotland has prospered since Margaret Thatcher came to power; it’s also the case that the Labour party, above all others, has persistently denied this.

As John must appreciate, the Labour party embraced the cause of Home Rule for two reasons: to thwart Scottish nationalism and to prevent reform. Thatcherism and New Labour each threatened the comfortable, though oppressive, Scottish consensus. Each had to be resisted. Indeed:

[T]he fault here lies as much in Westminster as Holyrood.