Jim Murphy

Labour's Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy's speech to the 2009 Labour Party Annual Conference.

Wherever I go in Scotland I am in awe not just of the beauty of our country but the brilliance of our people.

Our cities that have helped shape the world can still have their best decades ahead of them.

Visiting our islands and seeing the wind and wave power technology of the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland and in Aberdeen which we want to be the renewable energy capital of Europe

On the River Clyde hundreds of apprentices I met making Britain safer by building Royal Navy ships

Labour's Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy's speech to the 2009 Labour Party Annual Conference:

Parents I listen to balancing all the pressures of modern life and putting their children first.

Scotland's pensioners who worked hard and saved hard to make Scotland all that it is - probably the most powerful small nation on earth.

And we are stronger, fairer and more self-confident. But after repairing decades of Tory damage we still have a lot to do to build on our success.

Of course we have so much in common across the UK but there are also many differences - that's the nature of devolution.

But the one big choice over the next year is the same - Labour government or Tory government; Gordon Brown or David Cameron; Gordon's experience or the most superficial Tory leader in modern history.

And David Cameron wants to make the Tories a one nation party again - but that nation isn't Scotland.

In Scotland David Cameron is even less popular today than Mrs Thatcher was in the 1980s - but he is no less a threat to Scotland's families and our economy.

And the Scottish Tory candidates are probably the most hard-line in living memory.

They think the only problem with the 1980s was that their party didn’t go far enough in cutting back the welfare state and they can't wait to finish the job.

Back then they allowed generations of Scots to get stuck on the dole and would have done the same in this recession because they opposed Labour's £500 million investment to prevent the newly unemployed from becoming the long term unemployed.

Of course Labour will cut costs, but we'll protect frontline services. However, the Tories would make savage cuts immediately, they would risk the recovery.

Because they believe in small government; in the politics of sink or swim and in the politics of your on your own. Today’s Scottish Tory candidates are Mrs Thatcher’s grandchildren.

And Scotland's distrust of the Tories isn't just because of what they did in government in the last recession but because of what they have said in opposition throughout this one.

They are probably the only opposition party anywhere in the world demanding that their government does less to help those on modest and middle incomes during this global recession.

In Scotland they are hated by many for their past and distrusted by most because of their present.

The Tories still don't get Scotland. But Scotland gets them. And doesn’t want them back.

It will take an enormous effort from us but we have the team to do it. I am delighted to introduce Labour's Leader in the Scottish Parliament and Scotland's next First Minister Iain Gray.

Gerry Hassan brings us A Tale of Two Labour Manifestos: ‘Choice’ and the Absence of England, well worth a read.

Voters in Scotland and Wales increasingly have a complex labyrinth to navigate working out whether an issue is Scottish/Welsh or British. Moreover, the wider democratic deficit in the entire process is actually England, for the supposed British Labour manifesto is in fact in many respects an English manifesto, with many of its proposals not travelling north to Scotland or west to Wales. However, it is an implicit English agenda, rather than an ashamedly explicit one, lacking the straightforwardness of being labelled as ‘English’ and lacking any sense of aiding and nurturing the development of an English voice and democratic space.

Previously the Times had informed us that Scottish Labour would ditch "guarantees to voters on health and education being made in the rest of the UK and will fight the general election instead on key pledges on knife crime and apprenticeships". But the BBC's at-a-glance guide to the Scottish Labour manifesto includes a plethora of promises on health and education.

For example:

• Make hospitals cleaner and safer.
• Placing literacy and numeracy at the centre of the primary curriculum

So, what gives?

Labour have decided that the Scottish public should have the right to decide on devolved matters even in a General Election that elects the legislature that deals with reserved matters; as Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, tells us in his introduction to the Scottish Labour Manifesto, "The fact we are in opposition in the Scottish Parliament will not deter us from voting our values into laws".

And under Labour's twisted logic, everything English is British, rather than explicitly English, so it makes perfect sense for Scots to take devolved issues - which may be matters for the Scottish parliament, or matters that by rights should be decided by English MPs on behalf of the English public - into consideration at the General Election.

Shouldn't the Electoral Commission take a stance on this manifesto muddlement?

UPDATE

From the Scotsman:

In Motherwell, on the site of the former Ravenscraig steel works, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy revealed the party's Scottish manifesto, stuffed with pledges on devolved issues that Labour cannot deliver even in the event of a general election victory.

In doing so, the party fired the starting gun for the 2011 Holyrood poll, pledging to push for the enaction of policies on health, education and justice in opposition in Scotland, before using them as the basis of its Scottish election fight.

This article in the Scotsman is illuminating:

In a significant move, the UK government has asked HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to set up a panel of advisers to help with the "technical and practical implementations" of handing more tax powers to Scotland.

Making the announcement, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said giving greater powers to the Scottish Parliament – part of the recommendations from the Calman Commission – would help to grow the economy while protecting jobs and businesses.

His move came just hours before a study, published today, suggested that a "devolution backlash" is growing in England as a result of voters' perception of a democratic and financial deficit within the devolution settlement in the UK.

The Calman Commission recommendations clearly can't wait until after the General Election now that fault-lines have emerged between the Unionist parties.

The Scottish Labour Party are panicky about the findings of IPPR's new report on English attitudes to the Union, and the St David's Day poll that found that 56% say they would vote for a Welsh Assembly with full legislative powers . There is a feeling that the devolution juggernaut is careering down the hill, out of control. I expect that Labour are also extremely conscious of George Osborne's embryonic plan to abolish the Barnett Formula in favour of a needs-based formula:

“My initial look at the formula suggests that Wales might well be missing out under the Barnett arrangements. I think it is in Wales’s interest that we have that needs-based assessment, which is independently done … My view is that you want to move on it pretty quickly, as soon as a new Government is elected.”

Ironically the very last thing that the Labour Party wants is a funding formula based on social need (see Killing Home Rule by Kindness).

The Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, has promised Scotland that Labour will deliver for Scotland if they win the next election.

Speaking exclusively to The Times, he put forward, for the first time, a specific timetable within which Labour, if elected, would deliver the proposals on devolution, published last year by the Calman Commission.

“We will legislate early in the first year of the next Parliament,” he said. “It would be in the first legislative programme of a fourth term.” Both the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, he said, were “signed up” to the timetable.

Gosh, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are with the programme and ready to deliver for Scotland! Salmond must be quaking in his boots. I wonder if Jim Murphy has considered that England may yet have its say, through the House of Commons? The anti-English Labour Party may not be prepared to give England a positive choice in how she wishes to be governed, but there is nothing to stop MPs elected in England from speaking negatively for England by preventing more power moving away from Westminster in a manner that damages English voters further, thereby preventing an increase in the democratic deficit.

Murphy reflected on why the Scottish people had turned against independence.

"Scottish people know that if it had not been for the taxpayers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we could have been in as bad a situation as Iceland and the Republic of Ireland."

Who said idealism is dead?

It will be interesting to hear what Cameron will promise for Scotland - I can tell you now that he won't promise anything for England.

What an intelligent and erudite fellow that Jim Murphy is, I wish we in England had an English Secretary of State with but a fraction of his razor-sharp wit and repartee.

I cite this exchange from the "Jim Murphy webchat" on the No. 10 website as an example.

Ulysses: Why not have a devolved Parliament for the English?

Jim replies: That’s up to the people in the regions of England and we had a referendum on regional assemblies in the North East of England and they voted no. So that hasn’t gone any further.

You chinless, pasty, arrogant, anti-English twat.

Dear Mr Murphy,

I was under the impression that the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland was to be axed, but it appears not.

Would you tell me how much taxpayers' money it takes to run the Scottish Office, and explain to me the benefit to English taxpayers in maintaining this department now that Scotland has its own government.

Many thanks,

Thank you for your e-mail of 15 October 2008 to the Secretary of State for Scotland. I have been asked to reply.

The Scotland Office was created on 1st July 1999, after the introduction of legislative devolution in Scotland. The Scottish Office's duties were split, with the majority transferred to the newly created Scottish Executive. The Scotland Office retains responsibility for certain key policies in Scotland. The Secretary of State and the Scotland Office manage the devolution settlement and represent Scotland's interests in reserved areas within Government.

All matters that are reserved to the UK Parliament are listed in Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. These reserved subjects include the constitution, foreign affairs, social security, defence, oil and gas and fiscal policies. Such matters remain reserved because they have a strategic importance in which the entire population of the United Kingdom shares a common interest.

The running costs of the Scotland Office for last year are detailed in the Scotland Office Annual Report, where you can also read about the work of the Scotland Office. The report is on our website and can be found here: http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/uploads/SO%20REPORT%202008.pdf

Yours sincerely,

The Secretary of State for England:

Now I’m Secretary of State for England I’m going to carry on blogging and I look forward to having a dialogue about the really important issues that face our country.

I’m very proud to have been appointed as the Secretary of State. I will be England’s man in the Cabinet, representing and defending England’s interests at the highest levels.

I will work with anyone who wants to advance our interests. But I will also vigorously oppose ideas and actions that will damage England and her people. I love England. I am passionate about its past and optimistic about its future. No political party has a monopoly on patriotism and I will challenge anyone who says otherwise. We have a great diversity in England but we can all be united by the Cross of St George.

I am determined to work to create the best chances for England, its employers and its employees. As Secretary of State I will be relentless in my pursuit in the interests of England. I will be out and about, criss-crossing the country. Travelling from north to south, to cities, towns and villages to meet businesses and voluntary groups, to visit workplaces and factories, to host round-tables and hold debates. I will listen, learn and act. I will passionately put the case for our current constitutional settlement. Ours is a great nation, with a proud history and a great future. I look forward to meeting you and talking to you – and most of all hearing from you. This is the first of what will be a regular blog.

Just kidding....That was the Secretary of State for Scotland, New Labour's Jim Murphy on his blog launch.

UPDATE

The "blog", if you can call it that, is now available here.