The Scotsman Sees Sense

The Scotsman’s endorsement of the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives is so thoroughly, even startlingly, sensible it could almost have been written by me*.

[T]here is no other credible candidate for First Minister beyond Mr Salmond. Despite his party’s apparently staunch commitment to statism, we also know the SNP leader is passionate about the role of business and free enterprise in generating jobs and growth for Scotland, within or outwith the Union. In that, he and many of his colleagues – finance secretary John Swinney is one – share the beliefs of the Tories, and we feel there may be common ground between them.

SCOTLAND needs a strong First Minister and a strong government, and only the SNP under Mr Salmond has the potential to provide that.

However, what the SNP and its leader also need is a partner to push them towards a more realistic view of the challenges ahead in terms of public spending; towards an acceptance that every public service in Scotland cannot be free and that the language of politics must include setting priorities; towards a greater pragmatism when it comes to using the private or voluntary sectors, as well as the public, to provide services; towards a realisation that most Scottish voters may not want independence but may be happy with greater fiscal responsibility for Holyrood.

Mr Salmond has not been the only leader who has not faced up to the consequences of the biggest UK deficit and debt in our peacetime history and the constraints they, of necessity, impose.