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3. Chapter Three: Scotland 3.I Introduction
3.I.A Political Background
Scotland is one of the clearest cases of a stateless nation. As one of the early European states it secured its own monarchical and parliamentary institutions in favour of annexation by the English crown. Scotland maintained its autonomy until 1603 when the Scottish king James VI succeeded Queen Elizabeth I of England, thus uniting the crowns. Over a century later, in 1707, the two nations’ parliaments were also united creating a single state. Each side had its reasons to support the Union. The English were concerned with consolidating Scotland and prevent any possible Jacobite or French plots against England; whereas the Scots saw the Union as an economic opportunity. After all, the Union would secure free trade with England and a chance to expand together with the growing empire. Ever since 1707 Scottish nationalists have stressed that a great deal of bribery and intrigue needed to convince the Scots parliament to vote its own adjournment in the face of popular opposition to the move.
The result was a rather unorthodox one. Great Britain is neither a unitary state nor a federation, but a so-called ‘union state’.37 Despite having a unitary parliament, many elements of Scottish civil society and administration were retained including Scots law (at least for private law), the local administration system, and the educational system. Scotland currently has fifty-nine seats in the House of Commons out of a total of 650. Since 1998, however, the Scots have had a Scottish Parliament of their own – often referred to as the Holyrood – which has extensive authority over policy areas such as education, agriculture, the environment, health, local government, and justice.
37 Stein Rokkan, and Derek Urwin, Economy, territory, identity: Politics of West European peripheries, (London: Sage Publications, 1983), chap. 1.
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The Holyrood has 129 seats and the Scottish Government has 10 cabinet and 11 junior ministers. The Members of Scottish Parliament are elected through the additional member system. There are three major UK-wide political parties active in Scotland:
the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Liberal Democrat Party, and Scottish Labour.
Additionally there are several parties that are only active in Scotland most importantly there are the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Greens, and the Scottish Socialist Party.
Scotland’s heightened sense of national identity became political again starting from the second half of the nineteenth century. Two important factors are generally quoted to explain this. First, there is the expansion of the state’s role in the everyday economic and social issues; this posed the question of a Scottish administration.38 Secondly, there is the Irish Home Rule movement which gained the support from Prime Minister William E. Gladstone in 1886, which put the Scottish issue on the map.39 Initially, the Scottish home rule movement was associated with the radical wing of the Liberal Party, the Highlands’ land reform movement, and the industrial labour movement. Rising tensions were at their highest point right after the First World War.40 As a consequence, the cross-party Scottish Home Rule Association from 1886 was revived in 1918. Despite parliamentary debates and votes, no progress was made, and in 1922 the issue, once again, disappeared from the public eye. This was partially due to Labour and the unions’ renewed focus on class-related issues, and the Liberal Party’s political decline.41 The home rule movement’s frustration with the traditional parties became clear when in 1934 the Scottish National Party (SNP) was
38 Michael Keating, Nations against the state : the new politics of nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia, and Scotland, (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 1996), 170.
39 Ibid, 170.
40 Ibid, 170.
41 Ibid, 170.
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founded. Although the SNP’s share of the Scottish vote rose steadily from 1964 until 1974, no significant results were achieved throughout their golden decade. It wasn’t until the SNP’s breakthrough election result in 1974 that Labour was forced to organise a referendum a few years later on the question of a Scottish assembly. The 1979 referendum on devolution did not meet the required level of forty per cent support among the whole electorate – a requirement added at the last minute, but was nonetheless a turning point. As frustration among nationalists rose, the 1980s saw Thatcher and the Tories elected with minority support in Scotland. This contributed to the growth of territorial sympathies in Scotland and around the UK.42 Furthermore, Labour’s choice for Tony Blair as their new leader in 1994 is widely viewed as a move away from the Scottish image towards one more acceptable to southern English voters.
Overall, the loss of empire eliminated a first element of shared identity, thus exposing the weakness of British national identity. The weakening of Protestantism in a secular age is considered the demise of a second element of Britishness.43 The vacuum was swiftly filled by an ever stronger sense of Scottish national identity.
3.I.B Scottish Language and Culture
Scotland harbours two indigenous languages Gaelic and Scots. Scottish Gaelic was isolated from Irish Gaelic in the fifteenth century and, although never reaching all of Scotland, is still widely spoken in the western Highlands. According to the 2011 Census only 1.1 per cent of the population of Scotland can speak Gaelic.44 Officially,
42 Ibid, 172.
43 Ibid, 172.
44 National Records of Scotland, "2011 Census: Key Results on Population, Ethnicity, Identity, Language, Religion, Health, Housing and Accommodation in Scotland - Release 2A." Last modified
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the language is not recognised as a national language in the United Kingdom (unlike Welsh), but the Scottish Parliament passed the 2005 Gaelic Language Act, founding a Gaelic language development body. The so-called BòrdnaGàidhlig may require Scottish public bodies and cross border bodies implementing carrying out devolved functions, to provide their services in Gaelic. Scots, on the other hand, is a Germanic language linked to English and was the official language of courts and law before the Union. After losing much of its prestige to English in the eighteenth century never really developed to the point of reaching ausbau status, in other words, although Scots is sufficiently different from English to be considered a separate abstand language, it never achieved full usage in literary, scientific and technical functions.45 Despite being used in poetry and daily use by some, today Scottish people mostly identify only with their distinct pronunciation of the English language. In fact, according to Michael Keating, as the two ‘Scottish’ languages made way for English, “language thus ceased to be a marker of Scottish nationality …”46
Despite language being a less important part of Scottish nationalism, Scotland does have a strong cultural identity.47 In pre-Union Scotland the Highlands had a Celtic and Gaelic tradition, and the Lowlands had its own variant of Anglo-Saxon culture. In the sixteenth century the Calvinist Reformation added elements not commonly found in the rest of Britain. Although Highland dress was banned for some time after the Union, it was revived and disseminated to the rest of Scotland by nineteenth century romanticism as tartanry and the iconic kilt. These sartorial elements are now found around Scotland and Scottish diaspora in military traditions, ceremonial occasions, September 26, 2013. Accessed June 6, 2014.
http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/StatsBulletin2A.pdf.
45 Keating, Nations Against, 165.
46 Ibid, 165.
47 Ibid, 189.
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but also in everyday dress. Another element of the Scottish cultural revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century concerns the kailyard school of literature.
Kailyard authors such as Ian MacLaren, wrote sentimental popular literature depicting a wholesome, small-town Scotland free of the problems brought on by industrialisation. The same period also saw less stereotypically Scottish cultural production by greats such as Robert Burns and Walter Scott, followed by their twentieth century colleagues George Douglas Brown and McDougall Hay.
However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that a renaissance of indigenous culture coincided with the revival of nationalist sentiment. It was at this time that connections began to be made between culture and nationalism.48 Initially, theatre companies such as 7:84 and Black Cat, novelists – most notably James Kelman; and rock bands such as Runrig and the Proclaimers, used their art to set social issues in a specifically Scottish context. Since then culture has entered the political arena. The world-famous Edinburgh Festival has come under pressure to be more Scottish by including more Scottish acts and providing Scottish side entertainment as such profiling itself as a Scottish festival combining Scottish and global culture. A similar discussion arose when Glasgow was elected European City of Culture in 1990.
3.I.C General Development of Social Policy
The first decade of the twentieth century saw the birth of the British welfare state under Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Liberal). In 1908 the first foundation was laid out with the passing of the non-contributory Old-Age Pensions Act which protected the elderly poor. Three years later, in 1911, the National Insurance Act created contributory social insurance schemes covering parts of the population of the
48 Keating, Nations Against, 189.
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United Kingdom against sickness and unemployment.49 Throughout the interwar period Westminster generally seemed to favour a significant yet gradual expansion of social policy. For instance, the Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act of 1925 covered all workers, aside from those who were enrolled in possibly more generous occupational schemes. Although there were improvements in the areas of social housing and unemployment benefits, the schemes did not cover all UK citizens. Consequently, pre-World War II British social policy did lay the foundation for a comprehensive social security system, but did not yet constitute an identity building level of social protection.50
It was, however, not until Sir William Beveridge published his 1942 report entitled
‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’, that the idea of universal coverage was truly considered. In his wartime report Sir Beveridge advocated the construction of a unified social welfare state covering all UK citizens, thus protecting them against the five main social problems he identified to exist at that time: idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor, and want. Although the plans were not considered for implementation until after the war, the immense Labour victory in the general election of 1945 brought about a wave of social and economic reforms, giving shape to the modern British welfare state as we know it today. Most importantly, these reforms included far-reaching nationalisation – of gas, electricity, railways, aviation, road transport, steel and coal, and the Bank of England – and the creation of the three main components of the British welfare state: the 1946 National Insurance Act and National Health Service Act, and the 1948 National Assistance Act. These three major pieces of legislation made for a complete overhaul of social policy in the UK. The old
49 George Peden, British economic and social policy : Lloyd George to Margaret Thatcher, (New York: P. Allan, 1991), chap. 2.
50 Ibid, chap.2.
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fragmented system was replaced by the centralised National Insurance system, run by a ministry and operated from small, local branches all over the country. Additionally, there was the National Health Service (NHS). This organ, financed mainly through general taxation, provided free medical and hospital care to British citizens.
According to the constitutional logic of the union-state, Westminster had to pass separate legislation to create the NHS Scotland, administered by the Scottish Office.
However, as the system was completely created and funded by the central London administration, the social citizenship in question consisted of social rights and obligations defined in a British context; and granted and enforced by the British state.
Moreover, a range of other social measures such as public housing, cash benefits, and the old-age pension further contributed to the spread of a distinctly British social citizenship.
Important to note here is the use of the word ‘national’ in each of the major social policy organs. The loss of the empire and the superpower status that came with it meant the loss of an important aspect of British national identity. The role of the British national social policy instruments has been, purposefully or otherwise, to provide political, symbolical and social meaning to British citizenship. Indeed, the new universalist welfare state created distinctly British institutions that impacted the everyday life of the Scottish populace.51 First, British social policy created a system in which Scots and the rest of the United Kingdom would share similar economic, political and social interests in the functioning of the national welfare state. In other words, the construction of British universalist social programmes caused the social fates of Scottish people and the people of the other nations became increasingly intertwined. Second, aside from the previously described process of identity-building,
51 Lynn Bennie, Jack Brand & James Mitchell, How Scotland Votes (Manchester: Manchester Univ.
Press, 1997), chapter 2.
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the social policies of Labour after 1945 also facilitated the incorporation of the sizeable Scottish working class population into post-empire Great Britain.52 The new-born welfare state alleviated class-related grievances and narrowed the gap between somewhat poorer Scottish and slightly wealthier English populations, thus creating mutual social and economic interests in a British context.
All in all British post-war social policy is a prime example of the nexus between nationalism and social policy as described by Béland and Lecours in their first of six claims on the subject: “In developed multinational countries, both the state and at least one sub-state government are likely to use social policy to foster and promote competing national solidarities and identities”.53
3.II Discourse Analysis
In this section of the case study we engage in a detailed analysis of party discourse as found in political and election manifestos. More specifically, the analysis will focus on instances of discourse where the political party or nationalist organisation in question – in this case, the Scottish National Party and the Yes, Scotland Campaign – establish a connection between social policy preferences or interpretations of obligations to co-nationals on the one hand, and national identity on the other hand. In other words, we are looking for discourse containing elements of our three main theoretical claims. As we go over the different documents the thesis will indicate key political, economic or other structural conditions and events possibly relevant to the
52 David McCrone, Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Nation (London: Routledge, 2001), 15.
53 d and Lecours, Nationalism and Social Policy, 19.
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discourse. This section will cover discourse published in the period between 1997 and 2013.
3.II.A The 1997 Referendum and General Election, and the First Scottish Parliamentary Election of 1999
On the eve of the 1997 UK General Election the issue of a referendum on the creation of legislative assemblies in Scotland and Wales was one of the major election themes together with NHS waiting lists, class size, and internal divisions in the Conservative Party. The Labour Party - then called New Labour – ran their campaign with Tony Blair as front man and fully supported referendums on the creation of legislative assemblies in Scotland and Wales. New Labour won the elections with a total of 419 seats, fifty-six of which were won in Scotland. The Scottish National Party saw its popularity increase slightly receiving 22.1% of the popular vote, but not winning many constituencies.54
The Scotland Forward campaign was the main organization (movement) supporting a double yes vote in the referendum promised by Labour. The campaign was endorsed by the Scottish National Party, but also by Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Green Party. The 1997 election campaign was seen by many in Scotland as an opportunity to engage in early campaigning for the referendum. In the end, a resounding Yes-Yes vote (74.3% on the question of a Scottish assembly and 63.5% on the issue of tax-varying powers) created the Scottish Parliament.
54 The UK system for General Elections uses a first past the post system, therefore it is possible, as in the case of the SNP in 1997, to enjoy widespread popular support but only return six out of seventy-one seats.
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The 1999 first Scottish parliamentary elections saw the Scottish National Party set its highest electoral score since 1974, becoming the second largest party with thirty-five of 129 seats or 27.5% of the vote, second only to Scottish Labour which managed to win fifty-six seats. This legislature gave the SNP the opportunity to come to the forefront of Scottish politics as the main opposition party and gain much needed experience in matters of governance. In the run-up to these 1999 maiden elections, the political playing field was very much open.
Enterprise, Compassion, and Democracy
From the Scottish National Party manifestos of this period we can clearly distil three main values the Scottish National Party seems to ascribe to the people of Scotland.
The first two values – enterprise and compassion – are widely quoted in the 1997 campaign; a third value – democracy - was added to the earlier two in the SNP’s 1999 manifesto Scotland’s Party.55 Indeed, in the 1997 documentation, these values are implied to have been dominant in Scotland at a point sometime in the past,56 whereas in 1999 the complete trinity of enterprise, compassion and democracy are said to be Scotland’s “real priorities”57.
From the analysis of the manifestos it seems that the trend away from references to the past and towards references to the present and the future continues throughout the 1999 manifesto. In the 1997 manifesto we find an introduction referring to the
55 Scottish National Party, “SNP Manifesto 1997: Yes We Can, Win the Best for Scotland”, (Edinburgh: SNP, 1997), 4; Scottish National Party, “SNP Manifesto 1999: Scotland’s Party”, (Edinburgh: SNP, 1999), 3.
56 SNP, “1997”, 4.
57 SNP, “1999”, 7.
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education, administration and in sport.”58 The 1999 manifesto, however, focuses, as the title suggests, more on the SNP as embodying Scottish “needs and hopes”59 and understanding Scotland’s specific “problems and possibilities”.60 All of this seems to point at claims that Scotland is somehow socially and economically different, and therefore requires a different kind of administration and social policy.When we take a closer look at the manifesto, we see how the Scottish National Party appropriates the value of compassion as an intrinsically Scottish value. Sometimes, the text even contrasts Scottish social compassion with “London”61, “Westminster”,
“Tory” (Conservative)62, or even “New Labour”63 policies, which are represented as being incompatible with Scottish values and society. Of course, in the light of the recent socio-political history this is not at all strange. The memory of the recent Conservative government under Major, but especially the 1979-1990 Thatcher government, was still fresh in Scotland. Without ever gaining anything close to a majority of the vote in Scotland (between ten and twenty-two seats out of a total of seventy-one Scottish MPs), these two consecutive Tory governments had enacted policies of privatisation and retrenchment that were especially painful in Scotland, with its large public sector and unionised, over-manned industries, and above average unemployment.64 The Scottish Office, which was created to adapt Westminster
64 Earl A. Reitan, The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and the
64 Earl A. Reitan, The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and the