Gerald Warner says that Scotland’s Conservatives, far from standing their ground on devolution, have jumped with relish on the gravy train of the Holyrood parliament
The Scottish Play has degenerated into a farce and the indigenous Tories have lost the plot. When the constitutional future of the United Kingdom moved centre-stage in late 2007, Unionists were heartened by the deftness of touch David Cameron brought to this issue. It contrasted with the directionless drift of his supposed allies in the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Scottish separatist tendency.
The Scottish Tories have gone native. In the run-up to the devolution referendum on 11 September 1997, they proclaimed vociferously that the creation of a devolved parliament would end civilisation as we had known it. By 12 September, in the immediate wake of the success of the devolutionist campaign, Armageddon was magically transformed into the ‘settled will of the Scottish people’ and a welcome reform in which the Scottish Conservatives would enthusiastically participate.
Conversions do not come any more Damascene. A strong incentive was supplied by the voting system created for the Scottish parliament. Of the 129 places at Holyrood, 73 are directly elected constituency seats on the Westminster model, but 56 are so-called ‘regional’ seats, allocated to parties under the D’Hondt system of proportional representation, with Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) appointed off closed lists by party leaders.
So, when the Tories failed to win any constituency seats at the first Scottish election in 1999 but were compensated with 18 list seats, these unelectables quickly recognised a system under which they could prosper. Soon they were enjoying the salaries and allowances (only a complete duffer could fail to earn at least £100,000 a year from Holyrood’s generous provision) and even queuing up to collect the medals that MSPs modestly awarded themselves at the inauguration of the parliament.
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