Holding office was the downfall of the independence dream, says TERRY MURDEN
It was surely no coincidence that Humza Yousaf chose housing as the centrepiece of his “comeback’ message on Friday. Just two days earlier his housing minister Paul McLennan was the target of a verbal onslaught at a property conference where he was accused of “killing the market” and doing a lot of talking about supporting the sector without taking much action.
As there were no other media present it was left to Daily Business to report the attack on the minister by urban regeneration specialist Chris Stewart, Ed Crockett of Europa Capital and Moda Living’s James Blakey who together reminded Mr McLennan that the government has shut the door on international investors ready to inject £3 billion into the sector and build thousands of homes in the process.
Mr Yousaf and his party colleagues are good at blaming Westminster, and Brexit for causing the crisis in housing and in other sectors of the economy. At the same time, they proclaim Scotland to be the most favoured location for investors outside London. That makes it all the more astonishing that ministers would create spiteful policies that turn away billions of pounds to fix the shortage of homes.
On Friday, a day after he had sacked his Green coalition partners for creating a lack of “stability,” the First Minister was able to find an extra £80m from the Scottish Government’s supposedly cash-strapped budget to help the affordable housing sector. While providing some welcome overdue extra cash, a spokesman for trade body Homes for Scotland immediately declared it to be too little to address the 26% cut of nearly £200 million announced in the budget.
In this classic example of gesture politics, Mr Yousaf was at least showing signs of listening to what the business community keeps telling him, and there was a statement on social media from Mr McLennan that (with the Greens out of the way) he would be focusing more on investment. So maybe that was a bit of a result.
At a hastily arranged press conference in Bute House, hours after he’d ditched the Greens, Mr Yousaf declared that his decision was a sign of leadership. However, good leaders keep their friends and allies in the loop, thereby ensuring they are supportive of such actions. As it turned out, the First Minister stunned even his Cabinet colleagues and, as the Greens turned their weapons on him, he left himself badly exposed and likely to lose his job.
Mr Yousaf, who is regarded as a decent man and good company, is finding out that charm is not enough to win support. His belief in fairness, eradicating poverty and – ultimately – in independence are unwavering and a theme in all his policy commitments. Conviction, however, fails when promises do not translate into delivery.
He may have held several Cabinet posts, but he is regarded as lacking the calibre needed for high office. A few years on the backbenches and in opposition would have served him well. The same might be said of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
As he prepared for what looked like being his final week as First Minister he could be excused for wondering whether the SNP being in government has damaged, rather than aided the campaign for independence. The SNP leader, like many in the nationalist movement, saw devolution as a stepping stone to the final split with Westminster rule and himself as the one to deliver it.
Instead it has been a journey paved with obstacles. As the former boxer Mike Tyson once remarked: “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face”.
Had it not been in government the SNP would not have suffered ministerial scandals, no resignations over iPad expenses or questionable text messages by a Finance Secretary ahead of Budget day. There would have been no embarrassing failures over ferry contracts or shortfalls on targets in education, transport, the economy and health. All this would have been left for someone else to take the blame. Westminster would have been the legitimate target for all that has gone wrong this past 17 years.
Built on the frustrations and anger of an electorate seemingly enslaved by London rule, independence might by now have become a reality.
There is no sign of that outcome any time soon and whoever is First Minister at the end of this week will need to park the constitutional dream, whatever Alex Salmond might say, and rethink the strategy around pursuing policies that lie within the scope of the devolved government.
Mr Yousaf’s palpable enthusiasm at the opening of JP Morgan Chase’s new offices in Glasgow last week showed that he understands the importance of allowing investment to flourish when he can almost touch it. Projects like this, however, do not need government interference beyond creating the conditions that allow them to proceed.
That sentiment needs to be applied across the business spectrum, starting with housing. Ministers should also get on with dualling the A9, reforming business rates and the planning regime. They must be realistic about climate goals, order councils to scrap low emission zones and put an end to the freebie culture in public services. If ‘fairness’ means higher earners paying more income tax, then they should accept that many higher earning patients would be willing to pay for NHS services.
Good leadership means taking bold decisions, but it also means judging which are the right ones.
Terry Murden held senior positions at The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Northern Echo and is now editor of Daily Business
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