- Published
UK political debate has had a distinctly Scottish feel these last few days.
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debate → publish → feel
As the Scottish National Party has gathered for its annual conference at the Event Complex on the outskirts of Aberdeen, the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has been in Paisley and Edinburgh and the prime minister has been in Motherwell.
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minister → gather → Motherwell
The SNP is buoyant, its activists gathering for the first time since it won, in May, a fifth consecutive Scottish Parliament election, albeit with fewer seats than they won in 2021.
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they → gather → 2021
Next year will mark the moment the party has been in devolved power at Holyrood for 20 years.
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party → mark → years
It is quite the contrast with where the SNP found itself just two years ago, pulverised by the landslide at the general election in 2024 where Labour gained 36 seats from the SNP.
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Labour → find → SNP
As I wrote a year ago, the SNP's critics point to what they see as a dismal domestic record, on the NHS and the number of deaths among drug addicts, for instance.
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they → write → instance
The SNP counter Scotland has more police officers per person than England and Wales and the highest spend per school pupil in the UK.
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Scotland → have → UK
No matter the arguments, the result in May was clear - the SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney has his own mandate.
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leader → have → mandate
Little wonder, given the state of the party when he took the job, that the conference brochure has a front page photo of a smiling Swinney cradling a glass of whisky.
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brochure → give → whisky
And remember it wasn't just an electoral pummelling the SNP was dealing with, but the jaw dropping details which culminated in the jailing of Peter Murrell, the party's former chief executive - and estranged husband of the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon - for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
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which → remember → party
Swinney now looks ahead to a parliamentary term with all that behind them and a new prime minister to deal with in Downing Street.
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Swinney → look → Street
Burnham and Swinney share a diagnosis that Westminster has failed to deliver and political power is better administered closer to people than it ever has been.
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it → share → people
But, crucially, the prime minister sees the "drama" of the constant questions around Scottish independence as a distraction.
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minister → see → distraction
For Swinney, independence has been and remains his lifelong political goal.
We have had a glimpse this week as to how that dynamic between the two men may play out.
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dynamic → remain → men
Burnham's critics, including the SNP, have seen this former Mancunian mayor's devolutionary instincts as having a distinctly English flavour.
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critics → include → flavour
The prime minister, on his trip to New College Lanarkshire, sought to counter that.
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minister → seek → that
"I do want a good growth in every postcode here, and in the rest of the UK, and I want to work with the first minister to deliver it.
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I → want → it
We won't agree on everything, but we can agree on something," he said.
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he → agree → something
"I want us to design a new model together of regional economic empowerment across Scotland, one that puts control in the hands of local people."
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that → want → people
Burnham has offered to devolve powers on localised employment support, currently held by the Department of Work and Pensions.
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Burnham → offer → Pensions
Both he and the Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander, said Scotland was "one of the most centralised nations in Europe", an assertion flatly rejected by Swinney.
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Scotland → say → Swinney
Scotland's first minister has said he wants "much more opportunity for a regional dimension to take forward skills, economic opportunity and planning" and his team acknowledge this vision includes overlaps with the regional combined authorities seen in parts of England, albeit without mayors.
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vision → say → mayors
It will be intriguing to observe, given the rivalry and grit that exists between Labour and the SNP, how things develop beyond the prime minister's speech.
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things → observe → speech
Here in Aberdeen, activists have seized upon the prime minister's reflections on Brexit to argue that if he can revisit the outcome of the referendum in 2016 on the European Union, Scots should be able to revisit the one in 2014 on independence.
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Scots → seize → independence
There have been plenty of mentions too of an exchange in the Commons last month between SNP MP Chris Law and Andy Burnham, when Burnham suggested another Scottish independence referendum could be held, if public opinion showed demand for one.
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opinion → suggest → one
SNP folk think - perhaps hope - this represents the prime minister's authentic view.
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this → think → view
He and Downing Street have seen sought to squash this idea and he said he wanted to "move on" from a debate about Scottish independence.
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he → seek → independence
Privately, senior SNP figures accept the authority to sanction another referendum lies with Westminster and the UK government says no.
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government → accept → Westminster
So, their focus is seeking to steadily build the case for independence in how they choose to govern.
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they → seek → independence
Within the party, a new group called, you guessed it, "Independence" has been set up.
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you → call → it
Speaking at its launch event, the SNP's former Policy Convener Toni Giugliano argued that "countries don't become independent by waiting for permission.
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countries → speak → permission
They do so when support becomes unstoppable and when a national consensus for change is built".
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consensus → do → change
Furthermore, he argued, fundamental questions about what an independent Scotland would look and feel like must be answered now - such as the currency that would be used and how the state pension would work.
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pension → argue → currency
For now, the tussle is more short term, as the SNP ponders when the prime minister might call a general election.
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minister → ponder → election
Buoyed by its recent victory at Holyrood, the party senses Labour vulnerability in the swathe of seats Labour took from them two years ago.
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Labour → buoy → them
The Aporia
