It is a great pleasure to be in Bournemouth - I've never been here before. Someone once told me that while waiting for a cross channel ferry at Harwich a piece of grafitti informed “Harwich for the Continent – Bournemouth for the incontinent!” Very unfair. My constitution has never felt stronger!
This is the season of cross border forays. Last month David Cameron was a very welcome visitor in Scotland. He spoke perceptively and with great sensitivity of why he understands Scots can feel a little bruised and hurt about some of the images which are portrayed throughout Britain. Why does the archetypal thug in a TV drama always have a Glasgow accent? And yes our Scottish banknotes are perfectly sound.
And he made the point that to him Britishness is more than a mere descriptive term, it is something within you. I’m a Scot, born in Scotland, lived all my life in Scotland and before politics practised as a lawyer in Scotland. No one could be prouder than me of that heritage and yet I have a strong sense of belonging to and being part of Britain. And like David that is not some abstract constitutional description. My immediate family all live in Hertfordshire where I am a frequent visitor and we share that British affinity and we have no desire for nor see any need for border controls and customs points at Gretna Green or Berwick-upon-Tweed.
And I have a sense that throughout Britain many people share that bond. But equally I am aware that in England many people have looked at an unpopular Labour government in the final throes of terminal disarray and in identifying the main miscreants as Scottish have allowed that animosity to spill over towards a hostility to any senior Cabinet member at Westminster being Scottish. That analysis is understandable but it is wrong. The problem is that these individuals are Labour not that they are Scottish. I look forward to the next Conservative government and it does not matter to me what nationality a Cabinet member is. Yes the West Lothian question must be addressed and England must have confidence in how English domestic issues which in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved will be handled. But that can be addressed and Westminster still remain the sovereign Parliament of Britain.
And I want Scotland to play a full part in that Union. The Union has been a great success. Scotland has thrived as part of the UK. And the rest of the U.K. has benefited from Scotland being part of it. Over the past 300 years we have been a major player on the world stage. From the enlightenment, to Dolly the sheep, from penicillin to the telephone and television, Scots have punched well above their weight.
But something is now holding Scotland back and it is not the Union. It is the dead weight of state control and state interference which Labour and the Liberal Democrats as the Scottish Executive have landed on Scotland. This dodgy duo has systematically sucked power away from local communities, parents and patients. At vast expense it has created a grand empire of government and quangoes. And this whole cosy arrangement has become imbued with self satisfaction, self importance and total self delusion.
Which is why the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections next year are so important. The clammy hands that hang on to the levers of power in Scotland have got to be prised away. So who is going to do this? One of the mocking affronts to political debate in Scotland is the pretence by the Scottish Nationalists that they can – aye right! Mr. Salmond has swaggered back on to the Scottish political stage. He was leader of the SNP then he wasn’t, he used to be in the Scottish parliament then he wasn’t, then he decides to become leader again but he won’t commit to giving up his Westminster seat if he gets back into the Scottish parliament. I think even Alex would hesitate to give the odds on that arrangement? And what about his party, the self proclaimed saviours of Scotland ? Well obviously if Alex had been in the Scottish Parliament he’d be clearer about what it’s been getting up to. In seven years the SNP have managed to oppose only six Labour/Lib Dem bills. That’s not opposition, that’s craven complicity.
But devolution can be made to work for Scotland and there is a party ready to ride to the rescue – the Scottish Conservatives. We are committed to delivering the improvements necessary to build a confident Scottish Parliament within a strong Britain. To do this we need to move away from Labour’s target culture which attempts to impose standards by the centre. The uniformity it encourages chokes off the innovation necessary to raise standards.
By centralising and seeking to control and interfere in every aspect of our lives, Labour has wrested every possible power and responsibility away from communities and individuals, sapping the entrepreneurial and community spirit in the process. From scrapping school boards to introducing numerous targets on public services, their attempt to control and micro manage everything from the centre has been one of the main reasons why Scotland is suffering.
In contrast Conservatives want to see an end to centrally imposed targets so that local services better reflect the needs of local people. We are looking at ways we can increase the powers of local authorities and community councils so that local communities are given a greater say over what happens in their area.
For example we will provide more police on the beat and increase accountability and transparency in the police, ensuring that the communities of Scotland get the policing that they demand, deserve and pay for. We will do this by providing for the convenor of the joint police board in each police force area to be elected by voters at the same time as local authority elections. In addition, we will require our police forces to publish regular local crime statistics.
We will reverse the decision to scrap school boards and we shall empower parents to be the guardians of their children’s education. And we will give all headteachers the power they need to tackle the growing, and totally unacceptable, indiscipline they face.
We will scrap centrally imposed targets in the health service so that doctors – not politicians – make decisions in sickness and in health.
And we will create a leaner, fit-for-purpose Scottish Parliament, by cutting the number of MSPs to 108 as intended by the Scotland Act. Who says turkeys never vote for Christmas?! There is no doubt that a smaller, leaner Parliament will provide a more focussed Scottish Executive with enforced attention to the priorities of Scotland.
Over the past few months I have also been outlining some new and exciting policies, ahead of the elections next year, which I believe will also make a positive difference to Scotland.
To address growing crime and disorder, in August I unveiled a “three strikes and you’re out” policy, where offenders receiving their third jail sentence would see an additional tariff added on to their third sentence proportionate to the three sentences. That preserves the important component of judicial discretion but makes clear that society is simply not prepared to tolerate recurrent wrongdoing.
When I announced that policy I also flagged up the scourge of drugs in our prisons. I am actively looking at how we keep drugs out of our prisons and if this needs tough action then tough action it will get.
To try and encourage a greater responsibility towards the environment I outlined in September a new eco-bonus scheme. We would incentivise households, communities and small businesses to install modern energy creating and saving technologies, which will have the triple benefit of cutting their energy bills, reducing CO2 emissions and giving new small-scale renewable technologies a boost. Importantly, this goes right to the heart of encouraging personal decision making on these vital issues.
And so, following on from these announcements, today I want to address the crippling council tax that has disproportionately hit pensioner households. Council tax has risen by 60% in Scotland since the Conservatives left office. I think everybody understands that our senior citizens have far less flexibility and manoeuvring room when it comes to dealing with hefty financial charges. Many of them will have very limited financial options to cope with such challenges. I think someone has to stand up for them. That is why today I am announcing a policy to provide the necessary and overdue help.
We will introduce a 50% council tax discount for all pensioner households in Scotland. This will be funded centrally and will be additional to any discounts that the pensioner household currently gets.
The discount will not be means tested. A typical single pensioner in a Band D property will see a reduction in their council tax of £448 a year, while a typical pensioner couple will see their Band D bill fall by £598. This represents a significant saving for pensioners. And unlike announcements by our Lib Dem and SNP opponents – this plan is fully costed.
And we won’t stop there. I recognise that rising council tax is affecting all households in Scotland, not just pensioners. In the final analysis, it is up to Councils to keep council tax in check, but we can certainly help. To this end, with the exception of funding for our police forces, we will remove ring fencing on councils’ central grants.
No more councils having to meet centrally imposed priorities with ring fenced funds. Councils will receive their money, but they will now be responsible for spending it. That’s what I call real local accountability – that’s real devolution. And I have a message for voters – if your council doesn’t keep council tax under control – vote it out.
I have outlined three significant policies today, and I will announce many more in the coming weeks and months. We are going to make devolution work for the people of Scotland. No-one is a prouder Scot than I am, but I want to ensure that with a Scottish Conservative agenda we end up with a Parliament that Scotland can be proud of.
Thank you.