Latest Tory resignation highlights disillusionment with major parties
To paraphrase the great playwright Oscar Wilde, “to lose one MSP may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness”.
The exuberant Russell Findlay, a tabloid journalist turned leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has spent the weekend contemplating the shock resignation of one his most highly respected MSPs. Jeremy Balfour, who resigned last week, has been a member of the Scottish Parliament for nearly a decade and a member of the Tory Party for over three decades.
He is no fly-by-night, fiercely ambitious young politician, determined to find a career in whichever party will have him. Balfour, a list MSP for the Lothians, is a serious man. A former solicitor and Baptist minister, he was born with no left arm, and his right arm ends at the elbow. He is a vocal proponent of disability rights. And he was, until Findlay was elected leader last year, the Conservative’s spokesperson on social justice.
He gave welfare reform as one of his reasons for jumping ship. He wrote in his resignation letter: “We know that the social security budget needs to be looked at, but the leadership has just taken the view of ‘let’s just cut benefits’ without looking at what those benefits do, how they work, what effect that will have on employment, what effect it will have on individuals.”
He also said the Conservatives had lost their way in Scotland, but he ruled out joining another party, preferring to sit as an independent MSP until the elections next May. His erstwhile colleague, Jamie Green, defected from the Tories a few months ago. He joined the Liberal Democrats after accusing his former party of becoming “Trump-esque in both style and substance”.
Balfour also accused Russell Findlay of “chasing cheap headlines”, which is perhaps not surprising given Findlay’s former job, but he does make a serious point, one which all parties, not just the Tories, need to heed.
Politics is a mess at the moment. Voters are disillusioned by the established parties, whether it’s the SNP, Labour or the Conservatives. They don’t have faith in any of them to fix the many things that are wrong in our society today, from our sluggish economy to unregulated migration.
Many people are fearful for the future but have lost trust in the system to protect them, so are attracted by the easy solutions offered by parties like Reform. Its leader Nigel Farage has positioned himself as an alternative to the old order which a growing number of voters believe has failed.
Jeremy Balfour is not joining Reform, or even the Lib Dems, but he has not ruled out standing as an independent in the Holyrood elections. Perhaps that is what Scotland needs, more independent-minded MSPs who are not tied to a party whip or hidebound by rigid dogma, but who instead represent the concerns of the people who voted for them.
People like Joanna Cherry, the former SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, spring to mind. And Jeremy Balfour has proven to be a determined and effective champion for people whose voices are often ignored. His departure, simply because his former party has changed direction, would be a big loss to the parliament.