Speech by Tavish Scott MSP to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference
18 February 2007
Tavish Scott MSP
Conference.
I know your concern.
You have been clear in expressing worries.
Policy must change.
Across the party, man and woman, boy and girl, councillor, MSP, MP.
After due consideration, taking in the wide range of views, notably in Fife and in Edinburgh
Your comments have been noted.
So I can announce this morning.
It will go.
It will be no more.
A week today.
The beard will be shorn.
Its great to be back in Liberal Democrat country.
Here in Aviemore, in the Highlands, across Scotland it is the Liberal Democrats on the march.
It is the Liberal Democrats who defy the commentators; defy the pundits; even occasionally surprise ourselves.
We were told it would be others who would challenge Labour in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election.
Wrong.
Did anyone give the Liberal Democrats a shot of winning a council by election from 4th place in Glasgow?
No.
Did anyone expect us to be winning a Council by-election seat in Inverness in an SNP Scottish Parliament seat? No they didn’t, but yes we did!
Our growing victories
Our sustained poll performance.
And our self belief; our determination; our approach.
So in this year, an election year, on every street, at every level – it is the Liberal Democrats who are set to build a bright future.
From Town Halls to the Parliamentary chamber we must make our message clear. We have the drive and aim to be no less than the largest party.
We can be the largest party.
Nicol Stephen can be First Minister.
All the other parties will talk us down, they will shout to anyone who will listen that it is impossible, unrealistic, deluded.
But that is because they know it is true.
And boy, are they are worried.
So we must take the mind set, the winning approach and the steely determination of Dunfermline, Lochardil and King’s Park and make it happen on the 3rd of May.
In local government and in the Scottish Parliament Liberal Democrats are building a better Scotland.
The successes, the innovations, the lasting change has been built by us.
And we will never rest in our passion to do more.
Euan Robson on improving our health.
Jeremy Purvis on cutting crime in our communities.
And Nicol Stephen in giving Scotland a bright vision for the future. A young, fresh, positive vision.
Our approach serves as a stark contrast to that of the other parties.
Tony Blair took time off his busy schedule of interviews with the police to grace us with his presence in Scotland on Friday.
He even gave out his mobile number so that Scotland could ‘text Tony’ for his take on their pressing local issues. Another Labour stunt, instead of solutions.
Mr Blair should have instead visited Inverclyde to see a different Mr Blair, Alan Blair, leader of Inverclyde council. Alan could perhaps have instructed Tony in how to listen and respond to real local issues. A cut to the council tax bill will make the difference for the people of Inverclyde. That Mr Blair delivers.
It is quite clear what Labour wants to deliver. No change, no new ideas.
Stagnation.
The Conservatives on the other hand, are going through a metamorphosis. First they ditched the torch for a tree. Now I hear they are ditching blue rosettes in favour of a ribbon. Usually wearing a ribbon denotes support for a charity with a cure to some life threatening disease. So now there is a new one: Compassionate Conservatism. All donations gratefully received.
Perhaps next David Cameron will ditch the Eton boating song. Their new anthem will be Land of Dope and Tory.
Conference, it will take more than ribbons and leaves to cover the cracks in the Conservative party north and south of the border.
No one knows what they stand for anymore.
In London David Cameron says “I want to be Prime Minister”. In Scotland Annabel Goldie says, “I want to make us the principal party of opposition”
On the environment Cameron’s policy centres on having a wind turbine on the roof of number ten. In Scotland the Tories want a moratorium on all wind farms.
On young people David “hug a hoodie” Cameron wants to understand what has gone wrong in children’s lives. The Scottish Tory leader demands “a zero tolerance approach”.
100 years have passed since John Stuart Mill dubbed them the ‘stupid party’, but little has changed. And if that was his opinion of the Conservatives, what would he would have had to say about the SNP?
What is their number one aim for Scotland? First it was independence. Then it was fiscal autonomy. Then it was independence again. Then a referendum in the first 100 days, then in three years, then at some undetermined point in the future – or as Ross would so rightly put it “in the fullness of time, at the appropriate juncture, when the moment is right”.
The SNP flip flop on this, day by day. What is clear is that separation is all that unites them. But they can’t even agree on how to do that.
The SNP’s ever changing position on a referendum is nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with Alex Salmond trying to hold his disparate band of separatists together.
Just like the SNP’s sums, their position on the referendum just doesn’t add up.
And lets talk about Alex’s sums. His latest tactic is to woo the Governor of the Bank of England into setting the interest rates of an independent Scotland.
Lets try that one again, fiscal policy for an independent Scotland will be set by a bank in an independent England?
That is an extraordinary position.
The SNP’s sums are flawed. Seriously flawed. Professor Arthur Midwinter, an independent commentator equally robust with all parties, has looked at the SNP’s figures. He concluded their position is based on “dubious assumptions and unexplained assertions”.
You don’t have to be a top economist to know the SNP’s sums don’t add up, but it helps.
We meet today in the Scottish Parliamentary constituency of the SNP transport Spokesman, Fergus Ewing. But there is good news. In just over 10 week’s time, Aviemore will have a new MSP and in Craig Harrow, they will have one who puts his constituency first.
But, I hear you say (pause) well I’m sure I’d hear Fergus say - he promises his constituency the earth. Just look at the road promises - major improvements to the A9, to the A82, to the A96 - if it’s got an “A” in it, Fergus has promised to dual it.
But just last week the SNP announced a new priority, and I quote “The SNP's transport portfolio clearly sets out that the Forth crossing is the number 1 priority for Scotland.”
So it’s goodbye to SNP promises on the Highland roads.
We must step up the pace of investment in our public transport services here in the Highlands.
Better public transport has to be central to the Liberal Democrat approach to transport.
And unlike the SNP we deliver our promises.
Liberal Democrats want more from rail. We will give the go-ahead for the Highland Rail proposals. This will reduce journey times between Inverness and the central belt to under three hours – more than competitive with the family car. This is part of our continuing commitment to improving public transport.
Our leader, Nicol Stephen has placed the environment at the heart of our manifesto. Transport must play its part in that. Liberal Democrats in government will build new trains for our rail network with lower emission engines. Where it makes sense we will electrify that network –our aim is to reduce the impact transport has on our environment.
Change is happening. Scotland’s buses are cleaner. New greener engines are being developed and used. The challenge is greatest with cars. But the low carbon hydrogen economy is rapidly approaching. The world’s major car companies are developing new models with engines that are less polluting and more efficient.
And government’s job is to work with the market and to ensure when these cars are developed people can fill up to keep the car going, right across Scotland.
These are big challenges to transport, but there is no bigger challenge than climate change.
So let me just take this opportunity to be clear on our position on road user pricing.
Gordon Brown penalises motorists across Britain through regressive taxation that does nothing to tackle congestion and hammers the rural motorist.
Liberal Democrats do not believe in more taxation. We believe in fairer taxation. We believe that taxation can help the environment.
So we would replace Brown’s blunt motoring taxes with a fairer UK wide scheme which does what its meant to – tackle congestion and meet the challenge of climate change.
It must be revenue neutral, and it should mean that in our built up areas, where there is congestion and we can invest in public transport, we will - to give people the incentive to leave the car at home. But where there is no congestion motorists should be better off because in parts of Scotland there is no choice but to use the car.
We have delivered in government investment for transport to meet the needs of our local communities.
Politicians use that word a great deal.
Community.
But I believe that it is only the Liberal Democrats who know what it means, who are passionate about it, who want to enable it.
I’ll give you an example from my own constituency.
There is no better indictment of the failure of the authoritarian New Labour approach to our communities than the story of Sakchai Makao.
This young Thai man came to Shetland when he was just a child, went to school there and grew up to work in the islands.
He was snatched from his home early one morning in June last year. He was flown to prison in Durham to be deported.
This was New Labour’s reaction to a revelation that they had failed to deport foreign nationals after they had completed their prison sentence. Did they go and look for the people who posed a real threat? No, that would be too difficult, they needed a few easy arrests, to get the tabloids off their back.
So, they targeted Sakchai Makao - a young man who had made one foolish mistake, which he had paid for, and had returned to pick up his life in Shetland.
Fortunately for Sakchai, the values of the community of Shetland differ from the values of New Labour.
Shetland does not go for knee jerk so called justice. Shetlanders look at the facts behind the tabloid headline.
7,000 Shetlanders made sure he was properly represented and welcomed him back home when the judge threw out the New Labour case.
I am proud to represent a community with such values, genuine liberal values.
These are the values most Scot’s share.
Our task has to be to persuade Scotland that they cannot rely on Labour to stand up for them.
Where Labour rule in London without Liberal Democrats in government they erode liberal values. Labour’s natural instincts are illiberal, authoritarian and extreme.
Scotland is a better place than that.
And it deserves better.
Better than the constant bickering and negative personality politics of the other parties.
Better because we think politics is about getting things done, not constitutional wrangling.
We think Scotland can be even better.
Better with the Liberal Democrats.
Better with a party that is winning, across Scotland, gathering momentum, making gains.
Better with Nicol Stephen as First Minister.
So here is the choice – a bleak future with Labour stagnation or SNP separation or a bright future with the Liberal Democrats.
That is the choice for Scotland.
I know what I choose.
