First Minister must show commitment to make devolution work

08/05/2008

Commenting after she challenged Alex Salmond at First Minister’s Questions on the issue of Scotland’s future, Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative Leader, said:

"Who would have thought that a Labour Prime Minister and a Scottish Labour Leader would be the SNP’s greatest ally in breaking up Britain? The future of Scotland and Britain may not matter to the Labour party, but it does matter to David Cameron, and it does matter to me.

"And for those millions of people in Scotland who do want devolution to work the Labour party may have abandoned them, the Conservatives have not.

"The First Minister must accept that, whatever his views about political opponents, a referendum on something so important as the constitutional future of Scotland, a country we all love, cannot be allowed to become a vote on the unpopularity of Gordon Brown and Wendy Alexander. That is an unacceptably dangerous road to take.

"The politics of grudge, gripe and grievance between Alex Salmond’s government and Gordon Brown’s government is unattractive, unimpressive and negative. With the exciting prospect of a general election the time has come to construct a new relationship between Scotland’s two governments. The First Minister must show he is committed to that."