Save the union

‘Saving the union’ is unlikely to rank highly on David Cameron’s list of new year resolutions. Scotland is becoming a land about which most Westminster politicians know little and care less. It is being handled in 10 Downing St by Ed Llewellyn, who specialises in foreign affairs, yet neither he nor anyone else has the faintest idea what to do about Alex Salmond. The Scots around Cameron regard their motherland as a distant memory, a place where they lived before seeking political asylum in England. The Edinburgh parliament, its arguments and dynamics, are a mystery to the Prime Minister and his aides. And yet somehow he needs to fight and win a referendum on independence.

The longer he ignores this problem, the worse it will become. The 1997 wipeout, when the Tories lost every seat, now looks like a golden era of popularity — no leader has since managed to attract half a million Tory voters, as Sir John Major did. The lack of Scottish MPs has compounded the Conservatives’ sense of isolation. Personal links have atrophied, and Salmond’s message to the Tories — that Scotland is a foreign and hostile land — is being believed. The Conservative leadership knows that attention on Yorkshire or the Midlands is far more likely to be repaid in votes.

Ed Miliband demonstrated his interest in Scotland last October when he was unable to name the ‘three great hitters’ who were campaigning to become leader of the Scottish Labour Party (a position he held at the time). The winner of this lack-of-talent contest, Johann Lamont, embodies the Holyrood parties’ failure to attract bright young things. The best idea that emerged from the Scottish Conservatives’ contest was to rename the party — but even this was defeated. It’s not as if the Liberal Democrats can crow: the party is polling so badly that it now stands to lose all ten of its seats in mainland Scotland, with Orkney & Shetland the last safe seat.

Unionists on both sides of the border have told themselves that separation is such an obviously bad idea — offering so much upheaval, for so little benefit — that Scots would never vote for it.