It's taken a while but I'm finally beginning to feel a bit of disillusionment with Scottish Politics. Reading up on the state of play with 'police numbers' is a prime example of where the parties are going round in circles and not ending up any further forward.Let's start with this tweet from the Scottish Liberal Democrats official feed:
scotlibdems: Strathclyde’s recruitment freeze undermines SNP police promise says Robert Brown MSP http://bit.ly/b7BFfM
Fair enough, there was a manifesto comitment by the SNP to increase police officers by 1,000 so if this isn't met then scrutiny is required. However, it was fair to assume back in 2007 that the Scottish Executive would enjoy an ever increasing budget so said scrutiny shouldn't go much beyond acknowledging that there is less money in today's pot and future pots.
Furthermore, the debate, not just surrounding police numbers but effectively all devolved issues, should focus on 'the marginal pound'. That is, if we spend money on more police, if that is the best use of a certain part of the budget, then what will we not pay for, what is less worthy of that money? We simply can't debate the best use of budgets without looking at both sides of the trial balance, you can't call for a debit without admitting where the credit will fall, simple as that.
Needless to say, the Lib Dem press release makes no mention of what the party would like to see cut from the existing budget to fund extra police. The one-way debate serves to attack the SNP without contributing ideas of a preferred approach to the status quo.
So then we look at the UK as a whole and note that police numbers are dropping in England and Wales through recruitment freezes, similar to what is happening in Scotland. Furthermore, police numbers were reported to be dropping back in January 2010 so Labour's catcalls that the extra police policy is being "torpedoed by SNP cuts" is surely a low blow and more than a little two-faced.
The SNP, to its credit, has already achieved its manifesto commitment of 1,000 police officers early in order to tick that box and will no doubt strive to keep the numbers as high as possible before May. However, it seems unlikely that it will adopt the reckless approach of funding extra police just to insulate itself from political attack before the next elections.
It is another example of Governments, both Scottish and UK, doing the best they can with the resources available but when Lib Dems denounce falling police numbers when they are effectively presiding over the same state of affairs at Westminster and Labour continues its mock-outrage at cuts that it helped create through the credit crunch, then one can only shake one's head in dismay.
On current evidence it is going to be a truly abysmal election campaign in advance of May 2011 and I just hope that most Scots ignore the headline-grabbing rhetoric and simply vote for the party that treats them least like an idiot.
Many will say 'that's Politics' in an effort to excuse the above approaches but I maintain that other countries do not dumb down this low in order to capture the public's attention and, indeed, imagination.
We have good people representing good parties filled with good intentions, it's just a shame we somehow lack the all-important good debate that should come with it.
6 comments:
The tenor of the debate is set by the media in Scotland which seems to exist merely to amplify the oppositionalism of the 3 establishment parties.
Great post Jeff
It seems simplistic sometimes to state the obvious, but you've certainly captured my feelings on this topic. If Holyrood is about improving the lot of all who live in Scotland, then there must be honest dialogue.
I fear the 2011 Holyrood election could become a very and bitter ill-tempered affair indeed. The signs are there already in the media, from the opposition parties in general and Labour in particular.
I received a Labour leaflet today which completely slagged off all the other parties making a number of personal attacks, but unsurprisingly had little to say about what they would do themselves. Of course there was no apology for the mess they left the UK economy in after 13 years and the resulting spending cuts that are happening now, no apologies for the illegal war in Iraq, no apologies for planning to waste billions on WMDs in the Clyde, no apologies for the PFI schemes we will be paying off for decades and no apologies for the erosion of civil liberties with ID cards etc.
It could be very tempting for people in the SNP to respond in kind to the negative tactics Labour use against them, and more should be done to point out Labour's failures both in government in the UK and in opposition in Scotland. However the SNP must also give people a good reason to support the party, and the recent Scottish Household Survey gives encouragement that people feel safe and happy in their communities. This is the positive ground where the election should be fought on and issues like renewable as opposed to nuclear energy, free elderly care, prescription costs etc. Despite the awful recession caused by Labour and despite the Westminster cuts Scotland is a fairer, safer and healthier place than in 2007 but there is still much more to be done to change Scotland for the better. Labour spend so much of their time whipping up fear over knife crime and short sentences for non serious crimes. The SNP approach of having more police officers and sending people who commit serious crimes to prison for more than 6 months is more sensible and seems to be working well, and should be given the chance to succeed.
The SNP had been more or less written off by the media in the past couple of months, but now there's everything to play for in this election. As long as the campaign doesn't descend into a slanging match between Labour and the SNP, and assuming the TV & Radio media give all parties a fair go this time which surely they are legally obliged to do (and wasn't the case in the 2010 election), I'm sure the people will conclude the best thing for ALL of Scotland (and not just one small geographical area) is four more years of Alex Salmond and SNP (or SNP-led) government, extended powers beyond Calman, and full fiscal autonomy leading to eventual independence.
Iain Gray might shout his pre-rehearsed lines, waving his arms about and jabbing his finger unconvincingly at the First Minister when parliament returns soon and score a couple of points, but I really can't see him being able to motivate his supporters and activists in the same way that Alex Salmond can with the SNP members. Being a Holyrood election, the SNP will be up for it in a way that was unlike the UK election. Only time will tell, but I'm a lot more confident now than I was last week that the SNP can win a second term in government.
The problem is that only the SNP truly want the Scottish parliament, and Scotland, to succeed. The unionist parties are happy to have it ticking along mediocre fashion, but only if they are in government. A strong parliament and a strong Scotland undermines the union. Therefore the unionist parties don't put forward positive contributions or policies that may advance Scotland, but instead spend their time involved in a negative, attacking campaign. That's where the problem lies in Scottish politics. Otherwise allegedly good and principled people are hamstrung by their attachment to the 'greater' power of their Westminster masters' agenda.
The SNP should just get badges made up that say "What would Labour do?". It will remind everyone that the Labour party in Scotland have no policies other than slagging off everyone else and trying to get into the Westminster constituencies.
As to the Lib Dems. They conned me into voting for them once, but NEVER EVER again.
You mention the Strathclyde police recruitment freeze. For many years the Strathies have been forced to provide support to the Ministry of Defence police to control anti-Trident demonstrations at the Faslane submarine base. During the Faslane 365 demo this cost the Strathclyde force millions of pounds and, of course, took police off the beat and stopped them catching real criminals.
Yet another reason for scrapping Trident!
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