Truss’s vision will bring prosperity to whole of the Union
RAISED in Paisley, Scotland in her early years, Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss declares herself a “child of the Union”. Backing the Daily Express “Unite the Kingdom” crusade, she makes a strong argument for our continued togetherness.
“For too long, people in Scotland have been let down by the SNP focusing on constitutional divisions instead of their priorities,” says Ms Truss. “That won’t happen under my watch.”
She rightly points out that the 2014 independence referendum proceeded on the agreement that this would be a once-in-ageneration decision.
Yet SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is reneging on that by demanding a new vote in 2023.
The past poll was divisive enough and her determination for another so soon seems more a ploy to distract attention from her Government’s poor performance than reflecting a genuine demand among Scottish people.
Last month, a survey showed that 44 per cent of Scots did not want another ballot, while 43 per cent were in favour. With no great popular momentum for a vote, Sturgeon would be better focused on improving the everyday lives of her constituents.
Once the renowned jewel in the Scottish crown, its education system is in decline.
PAST reports show that Scotland’s international standing in literacy and mathematics has fallen over the last two decades. Fewer than 50 per cent of 13 to 14-year-old children are able to write well.
This year’s Highers results (equivalent of A-levels) showed that pupils in deprived areas fared worst. “A” grades were down by more than a third from 35.8 per cent to 22.1 per cent.
Following criticism, including “woefully inadequate” guidance during Covid lockdowns, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is being scrapped and replaced in 2024. Transport scandals have hit the headlines too, with the cost of repairing nationalised CalMac ferries tripling in the last 10 years to more than £200million. Two unfinished new ferries have racked up costs of £250million.
And earlier this year, the newly nationalised ScotRail faced the “worst cuts to rail services since the dark days of Beeching”, the Aslef train drivers’ union claimed, with a third of scheduled services to be cut.
Facing a £3.5billion financial black hole – according to the Institute For Fiscal Studies – SNP ministers recently pleaded for more cash from Westminster to fund inflation-matching public sector pay rises.
The spendthrift Scottish Government has vowed to push up welfare spending to give its citizens higher benefit payments than the rest of the UK.
But rather than taxpayer handouts, Ms Truss wants to get the Scots to help themselves to create wealth. “As Prime Minister and Minister for the Union,” she says, “I will deliver on my ambitious plan to capitalise on the opportunity to turbocharge the growth and business investment required to get Scotland’s economy moving.”
Hopefully that will include encouraging a more positive approach to North Sea fossil fuels, despite Ms Sturgeon, in alliance with the Green Party, virtue-signalling her opposition to opening up the Cambo oil field off Shetland, which could yield hundreds of millions of barrels of much-needed oil.
Fortunately, the UK Government overrode her objections earlier this year.
Former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns recognised Ms Truss’s commitment to the Union as he switched his support from Rishi Sunak to the Foreign Secretary.
“The whole machinery of government has been focused on pleasing politicians in devolved parliaments,” he said yesterday, wanting to see a shift in the current way of doing business. Truss is the leader to deliver that reform, he believes.
“For this reason,” he concludes, “Liz Truss is best placed to secure our Union.”
SCOTLAND and England have had a glorious past together, spreading British trade and influence around the world, creating a shared military and cultural tradition to be proud of.
Shattering that heritage would only be of interest to the SNP’s narrow concerns, but it is our joint future that must be the focus of the next decades.
Ms Truss needs to persuade Scottish voters – like those she met in Perth last night – of her positive vision of the time ahead based on smaller government, lower taxes and encouraging our naturally inventive spirit.
That shared enterprise kept us busy in the past and can continue to provide the glue that keeps us united in prosperity and success in the future.
“As a nation we are stronger together,” says Ms Truss, “and the UK needs Scotland as much as Scotland needs the UK.”
‘Sturgeon would be better focusing on improving the lives of Scots’