Accept defeat on HIE

Adefeat in parliamentary is a true test of any government. How do ministers respond to it? With humility? Accept the verdict? Or play for time with warm words but no commitment to accept the vote?

The latter course of action has been the Scottish Government’s approach to this week’s defeat of their plan to abolish the local board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Economy Minister Keith Brown is now offering discussions. But he has not publicly accepted that he lost the vote and the argument.

The P&J has given the HIE board’s future much coverage. Rightly so. The SNP do not understand why the region opposes their desire to abolish a local board and replace it with a pan-Scotland centralised monolith in the central belt. Have they learned nothing from the botched centralisation of Scotland’s police forces? Do they not notice the controversy over a Dundeebased fire control room covering the north of Scotland?

Now there will be a genuine moment of assessment on the SNP. A sensible minister would accept a parliamentary defeat where only his whipped troops voted for him. Greens, Tories, Labour and Lib Dems all argued to keep HIE’s board.

Keith Brown has so far ignored all of us who live and work in the region as we are not SNP. Now is the time for Brown to demonstrate some humility and drop this bad plan. I suspect Alex Salmond would never have let this happen. He was an arch pragmatist when first minister.

When the opposition threatened a vote of no confidence in the then hapless education secretary, Salmond moved her before a vote could happen. It was a lesson in minority government.

Salmond would not have let a Highland SNP backbencher dangle in the political wind as Sturgeon did to the excellent Kate Forbes. She made a spirited speech defending the indefensible. Kate should never have been put there by Nicola Sturgeon and Brown.

Parliament knew the SNP were in trouble. Not just because the opposition, for once, agreed. But because those called to speak for the SNP included Ian McKee and John Mason. Both represent Glasgow

“seats. McKee is Brown’s ministerial bag carrier. Hell would freeze over before he would criticise the SNP.

The SNP group on Highland Council fell to new depths of nationalist sycophancy by opposing a motion in their own council that called for the HIE board’s retention.

HIE has been a demonstration of two things. Bad politics from a party who used to be good at this. And a command and control operation from Bute House. Civil servants, journalists and trusted confidants all say this Scottish Government is Nicola.

Team Nicola is the only show in town. Able politicians such as former Health Secretary Alex Neil are sacked as they have their own mind.

To be part of Team Nicola is to show unadulterated commitment to the cause. The HIE fiasco demonstrates that. Sturgeon whipped her Highland MSPs to vote for something they would never have countenanced in opposition.

The stories of unhappy SNP MPs at Westminster, hiding on the banks of the Thames from their constituents, are now legion. But none have shown any desire to publicly call out their own government. And no wonder. SNP candidates all signed a gagging clause saying they will obey the great leader.

So here are the facts. The SNP lost the vote. They are a minority. Parliament has spoken. Holyrood has said keep the HIE board. There is no clever compromise available.

Anything less than complete acceptance of Holyrood’s democratic decision will defy the will of the democratic majority. Now, not after months of procrastination, waffle, discussions and talks about talks, the SNP government should say they accept the argument to keep HIE’s board.

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