Form a Committee!


An Industrial Wing
The Scottish TUC has shown what it's really made of these days - with an underwhelming and lacklustre response - to the plans for a referendum on Scottish independence.

The rallying call of the STUC to the Scottish Government is - wait for it, wait for it - 'Form a Committee!'

Below is an extract of a letter from the STUC's general secretary - Grahame Smith - which is too rambling and boring to replicate in full - so here are some key points and passages.

The letter - by the way - is to Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond.

"To this end, and to ensure that the Referendum process is generally perceived to be fair and not biased in favour of a pre-determined outcome, the STUC believes that an independent Referendum Commission should be established immediately in Scotland, charged with the responsibility of making recommendations on the conduct of the Referendum, including those issues mentioned above.

While respecting the Scottish Government’s view on the legality of the Scottish Parliament holding a Referendum, the STUC believes that the UK Government’s willingness to devolve the power to hold a legally binding Referendum to the Scottish Parliament has the potential to resolve the issue of legal competence, if a mechanism can be found to reach agreement on the process. I believe an independent Referendum Commission offers such a mechanism.

It seems clear that an issue of particular contention is whether the Referendum should contain the scope for the people of Scotland to consider the option of further devolution of power to the Scottish Parliament short of Independence. It also seems clear that there is an appetite amongst some for a “third option” and for a two question Referendum.

However, it is equally apparent that, while there is a range of possible devolution settlements different from the current position, apart from the proposals in the current Scotland Bill (the future of which will be determined prior to the Referendum), there is at present no defined scheme, established from a credible source, that would justify consideration in the Referendum.

If an independent Commission was established, should such a scheme emerge, the Commission could recommend whether and how it be considered in the Referendum.

For the reasons I have set out above, the STUC strongly believes that an independent Referendum Commission should be established and I would urge your support for this proposal."

Now I don't know about you - but I'm always wary of people whose answer to everything is to form another committee.

We have enough talking shops as it is - and we now have a Scottish Parliament which ought to be the focus of important national debates in Scotland.

The idea of a small hand-picked committee taking the issue forward seems more than a little bit bonkers to me - because what would that bring to the party?

And why do we have all these MSPs and MPs - if all we're going to do with the big questions of the day - is hand them over to a small group of 'independent' wise men and women?

No doubt the STUC would want a seat at the table which - between you and me - is why they always favour this kind of bureaucratic approach to every problem - big or small.

I'll bet you a pound to a penny as well - that the 'independent' person from the STUC would turn out to be some dreary card carrying member of the Labour party.

Who would no doubt hold themselves out as some kind of genuine 'workers' representative' - yet in reality would be wearing two hats.

Maybe if the trade unions in Scotland and the STUC reflected the diverse politics of ordinary union members - things would be different.

But they don't.

And until things change the trade unions will continue to act as the industrial wing of the Labour party in Scotland - and not much more.

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