The future for Malc...

I can’t be the only one who is just feeling a bit… well, unenthusiastic about the Scottish Parliamentary campaign thus far.  I know.  I’m never the most enthusiastic when it comes to our political parties (I always expect far too much from them) so perhaps its just me at my Victor Meldrew best.  But this campaign has just failed to inspire me.  Thus far, that is.

I don’t want this to be a full-on moan, but there are some things I have noticed in the way the campaign has gone.

Usually when a party has been in government they’ve had to defend their record from attacks from their opposition… but not this time.  And this is despite the fact that, as a minority government, the SNP haven’t been able to deliver on everything they promised in 2007.  And yet, they’ve had a largely free-ride to remind the electorate what they’ve done so far and make a few more promises to boot.  They’ve also kept it largely positive thus far, focusing mostly on themselves and the strengths of their team.  But its the latter element that is slightly concerning when it comes to policy.  Yes the team of Salmond, Sturgeon, Swinney, MacAskill, Russell and Lochhead (not to mention Crawford et al.) is impressive – and, in my eyes, considerably more impressive than the alternative – but the people are only as good as the policies, which we haven’t heard that much about.  Sure, the big ticket items – the Council Tax freeze, the keeping fees free, keeping the 1,000 police officers – they’ve been happy to trumpet, but the main message has been “if you like our team, vote again for Alex Salmond for First Minister”.

Contrast that with Labour – the supposed government-in-waiting.  They spent the whole of the previous parliamentary term picking fights with what the SNP wanted to deliver… then when the starting gun went for the election, they adopted many of these same policies in their manifesto.  They decided that their campaign shouldn’t focus on the election in question and instead re-fight last year’s UK election (which was successful for them) and the 1980s battles with the Tories (which weren’t).  When they realised that folk didn’t like that negative message, they turned their fire on the SNP, calling Salmond “dangerous”.  Other than the SNP’s policies in Labour colours, the discredited knife/ prison policy and the increasingly negative (and in some cases, vitriolic) critiques of the SNP, I don’t know that much about what Labour are about – and I really don’t know what they’d do in government.

The media have made this an SNP-Labour fight, but the Tories have managed to look distinctive on certain issues.  Or perhaps that “distinctive” should be “controversial”.  Taking 14 year olds who don’t want to be in school out of school and putting them into apprenticeships has been billed as the Tories forcing children into work.  Which tells you what the campaign has been like really.  On the face of it, that’s an accurate description of the policy – but scratch the surface a bit, and think it through a bit… maybe it makes a bit more sense than you first think.  By all means, disagree with it if you don’t think its a good idea – but lets have less of the hyperbole.  Its not putting kids into work – its letting them have a choice about what is good for their future.  Anyway – that’s a distinctive Tory policy.  They’ve also claimed responsibility for freezing the council tax, town centre regeneration funds and 1,000 new police officers and since the SNP needed their votes to deliver these things, I suppose that’s fair cop.  But what are they proposing for now?  Apparent from the apprenticeships thing… I really don’t know.

And then there’s the Lib Dems.  They’ve taken a different tact from the other parties and made their campaign about one issue: stopping the amalgamation of Scotland’s police forces into one force.  They even made their PEB about it.  Tavish is driving a car with the slogan “Save our Police” around Scotland for two days to hammer home the message.  If people know one thing about the Lib Dems in this campaign, its that they want to “Save our Police”.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, since knowing more about them means equating them with the coalition) that’s about it.  They’ve talked so much about the police issue that even my Gran knows that’s what they stand for (not that it helps – she won’t vote for them!).  But neither my Gran nor anyone else knows anything else they would do in the next Scottish Parliamentary term if they are in a position of influence.  I could mention the Scottish Water thing – but even then I only know about that because I watched their campaign launch.  Since then its been police, police, police.  Just think about that – a liberal campaign focused on justice.  For me, they need to make the next week about something else – partly so we know a bit more about them and partly so we don’t get bored.

The Greens… well, Scottish media have decided this campaign is about the SNP & Labour and given the Tories and Lib Dems their necessary airtime but largely ignored the Greens.  Which is a shame for several reasons, not least because they are actually saying things which are radically different from the other parties.  They want to keep tuition fees free – and pay for it with a rise in tax.  They want to stop the cuts – again paid for by an increase in tax.  And they want to insulate every home in Scotland.  Three clear objectives which set the party out as distinct.  But again, I’ve heard little about the policies (mainly because the Greens have mostly been counted out of political debate).

So – next Thursday you can vote for a party with a great team to run Scotland.  Or a party who will simply criticise everyone else without saying what they’ll do better.  Or a party who (apparently) want to force children into work.  Or a party who want to “Save out Police” and nothing else.  Or for a party who the media have decided don’t really count.

Any of those choices sound appealing?  I don’t know, maybe I’m just being cynical (never!) but I’d like to have a bit more than soundbites and personalities to go on when I go to vote next week.  Since none of the campaign thus far has focused on it, can we have a final week that focuses on policy please?  I won’t hold my breath.