It’s time for serious grown-up politics again - Ian Murray

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meeting First Minister of Scotland John Swinney at Bute House, Edinburgh, during the PM's tour of the UK following Labour's victory in the 2024 General Election

The era of post referendum politics was one of populism and cakeism in Scotland. SNP ministers told Scots they could have their cake and eat it too. That was never sustainable, and those decisions have now come home to roost. So too, has their instinct to divide people into camps and promote tribalism. I will always support Scotland’s place in the Union, I campaigned passionately for a No vote in 2014. It was correct then and it is correct, even more so, now.

But on door after door during the general election I spoke to people who told me they voted to leave the UK and had voted for the SNP in election after election but would not be voting for them anymore. People voted for change. Change from the SNP and the Tories. On many occasions over the last decade the so-called Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has been a bigger threat to the Union than the nationalists themselves.

Time after time, pro-UK Scots must have looked at the behaviour of Tory prime ministers with bemusement and frustration. These politicians claimed to support the Union, but constantly seemed to endanger it through bad policy decisions and playing into nationalist grievances. From the sleaze of Partygate and the disastrous Liz Truss budget, which crashed the economy, to breaking our public services and hiding the true financial inheritance for the new government, time and again Tory policy decisions and conduct in government put the Union in peril.

The truth is the Tories and the SNP spent the post referendum decade locked in a co-dependent, symbiotic relationship. Constantly arguing over a second referendum most Scots didn’t want and which never came, while our public services faced increasing pressure and our economy grew weaker. They became mirror images of each other. Each equally happy to divide Scots into camps for their own electoral gain. The result – a lost decade for Scotland.

A decade on, we need to move past this division. It’s time for serious, grown-up politics to start delivering for people again. Since being appointed as Secretary of State, I have given the Scotland Office four key priorities: Economic growth, green energy, Brand Scotland, and tackling poverty. Some of these issues will require close working with the Scottish Government. That is why I have worked hard to reset the relationship between Scotland’s two governments.

Labour will never agree with the SNP on independence or many other issues. But grown-up politics means two governments working together when there is a common purpose. It’s what most Scots expect and I’ll do my part to make it happen.

I don’t care how people voted in the past – what I care about is the better and fairer Scotland that we can build together. We may disagree with the final destination, but we all know that Scotland needs change now. We offer a decade of national renewal after a decade of division.

Ian Murray is MP for Edinburgh South and Secretary of State for Scotland