Hansard

The Conservatives could have brought a motion for debate that was purely about the Covid response, and they might well have found that they could win majority support for such a motion. However, they brought one that is about the relationship between Covid and the independence question. I suspect that most people would agree that it would be wrong and unwelcome to most voters to hold a referendum on independence in the middle of a pandemic, but, of course, the Scottish Government is saying that a referendum should happen after the pandemic—that is as it should be.

Equally, though, it is clear that there is a simple democratic principle at stake: the people of Scotland have the right to decide when they are ready to revisit the independence question, and, if they express that readiness by electing a pro-independence majority to this Parliament in May, their decision should be respected and the question of independence put to them in a referendum that is recognised by both sides. No party and no Government should stand in the way of that democratic process.

Maybe the Conservatives simply long for a repeat of their 2016 election theme as the party that talks incessantly about independence while simultaneously demanding that nobody should be talking about independence. I do not think that that will take them far this time, because, although the immediate Covid response is indeed a matter for the moment and must, for better or worse, be dealt with under the limitations of devolution and in the face of a UK Government that has nothing but contempt for this Parliament, Covid recovery, on the other hand, will be a long-term agenda. Scotland has the right to decide what level of self-government will be needed for that long-term recovery.

I understand the frustration that the Conservatives are displaying. They look at the UK and Scottish Governments and, I imagine, find it hard to understand why most people in Scotland have such a low opinion of their Prime Minister but do not have the same view of the First Minister. After all, both Governments have sometimes made the same mistakes on the timing of lockdown measures, care homes, mass testing, school exams and international travel. Perhaps the answer is that people in Scotland know that mistakes have been made but simply want clarity and honesty from politicians who admit those mistakes, which the First Minister did today, unlike the Prime Minister, who claimed this week that everything that could have been done was done. We all know that that is not the case, just as we know that no Government could have been expected to get everything right. More clearly, I think that there are differing levels of trust because people want politicians who appear capable of expressing genuine empathy and who can routinely speak in whole sentences. That should not be a high bar in politics.

Those who will never support independence regularly condemn what they call “nationalism”. In Scotland, that word is too often taken to mean supporting independence. Of course, many who support independence identify as nationalists, but the words are not equivalent. There are nationalists on both sides of the constitutional debate. Equally, there are people who reject nationalism—Scottish or British—but are clear about their view of our constitutional future.

It is the UK that has been most clearly in the grip of nationalism in recent years, seen most obviously in the withdrawal from the European Union, an act that internationalist Scotland rejected in the referendum and continues to reject.

The UK Government showed no willingness then to put divisive constitutional change on hold because of a pandemic. Although independence campaigning has been on hold here, the UK’s nationalism is still seen in the midst of the Covid pandemic, from Downing Street’s attempt to have tiny union jacks stamped on every bottle of vaccine to the British exceptionalism of ministers who have claimed the fruits of inherently international scientific research as though it is proof of national greatness.

That tendency is seen in trivial issues, such as a UK minister announcing that “British fish” are “happier fish”. It is also seen in deeply serious matters such as the vaccine programme, in which all eyes seem to be focused on any variation in the domestic roll-out and none focused on the urgent need to ensure that the world’s poorest countries can access vaccines at all.

Let us compare that with Norway. It is working with the EU, despite not even being a member state, to become one of the world’s first countries to share vaccine with the countries that need international help.

The Greens will continue to press the Scottish and UK Governments to step up their action where we think that their Covid response falls short. We will continue to assert Scotland’s freedom to choose our own future as the democratic right of the people who live here.

Although I support independence without calling myself a nationalist, I caution those who oppose it but have apparently nothing to offer in contrast except British nationalism. Although I believe that, given the choice, Scotland would choose independence, we deserve better than the false choice of one nationalism set against another. We deserve—and I believe that we are capable of—far better than that, as we ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be, what kind of country we will rebuild in the Covid recovery and what role we want for ourselves in the European and international community.