In full, Willie Rennie's leader's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Dunfermline, 27 October 2012:
You know I’m going to start by talking about
‘strong liberal voices’. It says it right here. It says it on the wall behind
me. It’s how I live my political life. It’s what all of us try to be every day.
Thinking. Working. Speaking up.
You will remember that the Dalai Lama visited
Scotland in June. I was fortunate to have an audience with his Holiness
in Dundee. I attempted to relay to him the joy his visit had brought to
our country. I told him this was impressive as Scots are often regarded
as dour. But he wasn’t familiar with dour. I called on Rikki
Fulton’s character to support my explanation. I’m afraid that didn’t
really help. It turns out that the broadcast signal of Hogmanay
programmes to northern India isn’t what it could be. Well I’ve now put
that right.
I paid £5.99 to send His Holiness a DVD of Rikki’s
work. I can confirm that the Dalai Lama is now a well-informed fan of the
Reverend IM Jolly. Who says Lib Dems don’t change lives?
But despite his positive spirit it wasn’t all joy
and laughter in June. I was embarrassed by our Scottish Government’s
treatment of the Tibetan spiritual leader. I met him. Nick Clegg showed
him respect. Even David Cameron took the time to show his support. But
our First Minister slithered, jabbered and blathered. He made every
possible excuse to avoid the Dalai Lama. One bit of pressure from the
Chinese Government and he buckled. As one keen supporter of his Holiness told
me: “If that’s the kind of Scotland Alex Salmond wants then I want nothing of
it.”
It was illiberal and it took Liberals to stand up
against it.
But our First Minister has a track record of
courting the rich and the powerful. Remember, he spoke out for Rupert Murdoch
on phone hacking. Stood up for Donald
Trump – that worked out well. And now he’s skulking around under orders from
the Chinese Government. Whether you’ve got a billion pounds or a billion people
one thing is for sure - you can count on Alex Salmond.
I was annoyed;
Scots were disgusted;
Alex Salmond should be ashamed.
Since we last gathered here in Dunfermline we have
lost good Liberal Democrat councillors. Back in May I felt the
loss. It was very hard, painful to see so many lose their seats through
no fault of their own. I’m sorry if
you’ve lost your seat and I am also sorry for your constituents who have lost a
hard working local representative. I want you back. And I need your help
to get you back. I need your help to win again.
Why? Because liberal values are so important
for Scotland and for your community.
Donald Gorrie knew that. He worked his way back
from bad times at the end of the 1970s and 80s. A thinker. A worker. A winner.
And a liberal. A generous public servant. And an inspiration to very many of us
in this room. Donald, I am sure you are
up there waiting for your turn in the next debate. Desperate to show your
support for the leadership. Donald, I am glad you shared your life with
us. I’m sorry you are gone. But, Donald, you will not be forgotten.
Over the summer I spent a lot of time on the
doors. In Cupar, Perth, Edinburgh, Lockerbie, Annan, many others but most
importantly in Kirkintilloch. In May we secured 2.5% of the vote. In
September Susan Murray in a great by-election increased our share ten-fold to
run the SNP and Labour close. Susan – for your style, for your energy and
your drive - thank you.
Everyone here can help our candidates in two more by-elections:
John Paton-Day in Melrose and Hugh Young in Annandale.
Kirkintilloch is in Jo Swinson’s
constituency. Congratulations, Jo, on your new position in government. I
know you will be a first class minister on consumer rights, post offices, equalities
and business. Another Scot at the heart of government, and one still rooted in
campaigning in her constituency. Thank you also for your service as my
Deputy. Alistair Carmichael has a hard act to follow but the arts of the
whips’ office will be of great benefit to the referendum debate.
Liberal values are important. Community,
Opportunity, Internationalism, Sustainability, Openness and Fairness. We cannot
trust these values to other parties. It’s not just the Dalai Lama. Look at the
centralisation by the SNP with the creation of the National Police Force.
The SNP are guilty but the Tories and Labour were their partners in crime. We
warned them all against the power grab. Now we see big cuts in police budgets.
We warned their big bang reorganisation would cost, not save money. But
they did not listen. I must give them credit though – Scotland now has record
number of bobbies – but they are to become backroom bobbies. Not police
officers on the frontline tackling crime but forced into the back office
because their trained civilian support has been made redundant. That’s not the
way to make our communities safer.
And our next challenge is to turn back the
government plans on corroboration of evidence. Callum Steele from the
Scottish Police Federation said earlier this week:
“The requirement for
corroboration where one piece of evidence supports another is a fundamental
tenet of Scots law and one which provides safeguards for the public and for
police officers."
He’s not alone. He has the backing of the
High Court judges, the Law Society, Justice Scotland and many more. Our MSP
Alison McInnes leads for us on justice. She
has been doing an excellent job to warn the Government on this. Her worry, it
worries us all, is that feeling of “here they go again” removing parts of the
Scottish justice system. Don’t we all remember the threat to our courts from
the interfering minister who said: ‘he who pays the piper’?
On corroboration I say this: For the sake of the victims,
for the sake of our cherished justice system Kenny MacAskill, turn back and
turn back now.
Liberal Democrats with our strong liberal voices
make Scotland a more liberal and democratic country. We are needed because who
else can you rely on? Not Labour who still have not learnt the lessons of their
economic mismanagement.
Not the Conservatives; Dismissing nine out of ten
Scots as unproductive, following in the footsteps of that international
diplomat Mitt Romney. And wanting to slash benefits and leave the EU. A
Conservative government would be free to use the power of the executive
unfettered by the Liberal Democrats.
It shows that no matter how uncomfortable, no
matter how painful, I’m glad we’re in the coalition at Westminster, acting as a
block to a right wing party that is forever drifting from fairness.
And you can’t rely on the SNP either. They only
care about one thing. They had a
reshuffle at the end of the summer. They cut the number of infrastructure ministers.
Doubled the number of foreign ministers. Created more ministers for
independence. And told every civil servant to focus on winning the referendum.
So, I have to say, it is something of a surprise,
with all that effort going on, that they are making such a monumental mess of
it. Look at the chaos this week. What a week it has been. The situation is now
such that it is no use asking the First Minister for a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’
answer on anything. He doesn’t know the difference between them. He thinks the two words mean the same thing
and are interchangeable. In that light, we will all, need to check very
carefully the instructions given to returning officers about how they are to
count the votes in the referendum. YES. That pile. NO. That pile
as well. This politics by assertion we have seen from the SNP has to come to an
end.
It fell apart this week on three counts. They had
asserted that they already had the power to hold a referendum. But still jumped at the chance to sign an
agreement with Mike Moore to give them the power. They asserted that people
were clamouring for a second question. But people didn’t want it by two to one.
They asserted that Scotland could continue in the European Union on the same
terms as now. And, on that one, they just made it up.
I asked the First Minister about all this on 13th
September. He said “Willie Rennie seems to be doubting the legal advice even
before it is published”. What did he mean? Did he mean doubting the legal
advice ‘in the terms of the debate’ that underpinned all government documents
that had ever been published in the last six years? Or the legal advice that he
went to court to keep secret, wasting taxpayers’ money, fighting the information
commissioner even though it didn’t actually exist?
It’s not so much the Thick of It. It’s more
do they really think we’re thick enough to believe this half-baked, bunkum and
baloney?
The guessing game on independence has to end. If
Scotland votes to be an independent country, there is no going back. People
shouldn’t have to guess about the terms to be part of the European Union. If
the Scottish Government don’t start negotiations until after a Yes vote, the
whole referendum becomes a guessing game. We cannot live off guesses. If they
are wrong on Scotland becoming an automatic member of the European Union on the
same terms as the UK with the same opt-outs, it gets very serious.
Like for other new members of the European Union,
that could mean joining the Euro and being bound by the Fiscal Stability Pact. That
means cutting the Scottish deficit from 7.2% of GDP to 3% of GDP. Five billion off the budget. Or five billion
on taxes. That’s a thousand pounds for every man, woman and child in
Scotland. That could be the price to pay. It’s crazy. The SNP say they
want Scots to decide our future by ourselves. But the SNP want an
independent Scotland to be faced with a choice of keeping the pound, under the
control of a foreign UK government or adopting the Euro costing us
billions.
Alex Salmond wants Scotland to choose between a
Pound rock and a Euro hard place.
So we cannot afford to let them off the hook.
For a start we can’t let them distract us with the
red herring of the ‘ministerial code’. They
want a decision to end a country, to go it alone, to permanently depart. Those
who are advocating this change need to set out the legal basis. And that has to
be shared. After all, they haven’t just got to convince the Scottish Cabinet –
I suspect they are pretty well on board already. They need to convince cabinets
in 27 other capital cities around Europe. And the people of Scotland. We all
have to see the full argument and the legal basis, and see that it has been
accepted across Europe. Because, after a week when confidence in what they tell
us has been shattered, we cannot rely on the Scottish Government to faithfully
interpret that evidence for us. They have to show us the legal evidence and
show us that it has been agreed across Europe.
The SNP have simply got to stop the guessing game
on separation. The First Minister told his conference last week that to secure
the gains of devolution Scotland needs to back independence. Dismantle
devolution to protect the gains of devolution? With that logic he’ll be
telling us he wants the Pound, the Queen, the Bank of England to make Scotland
independent.
Alex Salmond is showing all the signs of a leader
afraid of his own policy. He now includes more and more of the British
state he has previously demonised. He’s sending us a covert
signal. Perhaps he too thinks we’re better together.
The best way to protect devolution is not to destroy
it but to build on it. Scotland has an alternative. If we want to keep our influential place in
international bodies, but with strong domestic powers, people don’t have to
look very far from this room. Home rule for Scotland in a federal United
Kingdom keeps us as a powerful force for good in the world. Thank you
conference for supporting the report on Home and Community Rule this morning. Thank
you to Ming Campbell for leading the work. It is a credit to him and our
party. It’s another substantial contribution that takes forward the work
on home rule and federalism of Russell Johnston, David Steel and Ray Michie. Major
transfers of power and authority. Constitutional power which gives the
Scottish Parliament permanent powers not powers on loan from Westminster.
Financial power to the Scottish Parliament with up to two thirds of spending
raised through taxes controlled in Holyrood. That will ensure that
MSPs can determine how much is spent as well as what it’s spent on. This puts
Liberal Democrats, once again, ahead of the debate. Leading the way with
fresh thinking.
The challenge for the other parties is to join us
in this debate. We can work with them. I am pleased the Labour Party has
started their review. I am also encouraged that the Conservatives are
investigating this too. All of us in the
Better Together campaign want to win the referendum with a clear and
significant majority. That will help to settle the issue of independence.
To win big, people want to be assured that No to independence doesn’t mean No
to change. So I urge Ruth and Johann to start the dialogue with me and
others on a new package of reforms, to be put to the voters in the 2015 General
Election. A decision to keep Scotland in the UK should open the door to
change across the UK.
But the SNP have a role too. I know they
didn’t turn up for the Claim of Right, the Constitutional Convention, the
Calman Commission or even the expert panel on the referendum question. If they
lose the referendum will they join the discussion, to develop a sustainable,
stable model for the UK? I believe they have a role and I invite them to
join us. It’s an open, genuine offer to the SNP. When you are ready we’ll
be ready for you.
Our plans for home rule in a federal UK should be
the rallying point. It is what people want and we are determined to deliver it.
And we will work with other people to make it happen.
And we can work with the SNP too, on next year’s
budget. We will work constructively to influence the Government. We did
it last year for colleges, house building and early intervention and we’ll do
it again this year. Our ambition is certainly to see our colleges get a fair
funding package. But this year we need to go further to address the long term
needs of the Scottish economy.
I want to see 2 year olds from the poorest
backgrounds get the early education they need, to give them the best start in
life. The Nobel laureate Professor James Heckman has worked out that the
highest rate of return in education is from investment before the age of three.
One pound then saves £11 later. The reason that number is so astonishing is
studies have shown that a child’s development at 22 months accurately predicts
their development at 26 years. That is why it’s so disappointing that the
Scottish Government has plans for just 1 per cent of 2-year-olds to get free
childcare and education.
If we can get that up it will have an impact on
long term participation in the economy. Our
Scottish growth and prosperity needs 100% of people contributing to our economy
and our community. Education unlocks that door for the people who get left
behind. So, one per cent should not be the end of the story. In England they
are extending childcare to 40% of 2-year-olds. We’ve shown the Scottish
Government where they can find the money. Next year’s priority is to bring in free
childcare for those 2-year-olds. Scotland is falling behind the rest of the
United Kingdom. I want to discuss with the Scottish Government how far and how
fast we can go next year. I say that those children deserve a chance in
Scotland.
A chance they will get in England. Conference, you
voted for this policy this morning and I am determined to take it to the
Finance Minister’s table. With all the long-term pressures on the budget, that
makes sense for taxpayers, for our economy and for our children. Strong plans.
Thoughtful plans. Good for Scotland. What we achieve in this party comes from
the depth of our thought and the strength of our voices. So, thank you to Mike Moore for the calm,
professional approach to his work. On the referendum powers he cut
through what could have been a slanging match between London and Edinburgh.
Thank you to Ming Campbell and his Commission who
have given us the well-argued case for federal home rule. Thank you to Jo
Swinson who has grown in Scottish politics with us, and now takes her place at
the dispatch box as a minister in the House of Commons. Thank you to Danny
Alexander – from Lochaber High School to the Treasury. Delivering bigger tax cuts for low and middle
earners than the Tories ever thought possible. And bigger taxes on the banks
than Labour ever dared to propose.Thank you to Alison, Liam, Tavish and Jim –
the mighty handful at Holyrood. To our big Westminster voices. To the new
friends we made on the doorsteps in Cupar, Perth, Lockerbie and Kirkintilloch.
You know, I have been in this party since the
1980s. I remember that we were the first to talk about investment in education.
We were the first to talk about climate change. We have shown that we can
achieve so much. That you can’t rely on the others. But we will set out again,
from today to be the vital spark of serious thought for the long term. On early intervention that gives every child
a chance; On the environment and energy; On a settled, stable constitution; On
an economy that gives every person an opportunity to succeed. Liberal thinking,
liberal action – strong liberal voices.