The Government gave a poor account of itself in answer to an oral question from Alistair Lexden about Scotland’s position in the United Kingdom on 4 November (see below for details).
It did little better when the subject returned on 19 November through a further question.
Alistair Lexden invited it to “agree that a strengthening [of the Union] is the cardinal requirement at this moment.” An important, independent report on “UK Government Union capability” has been in the hands of ministers for some months. It is due to be published by the end of the year. Would its recommendations “help to secure that great objective” of strengthening the Union, he asked?
He was told only that the report would “make very clear this Government’s commitment” to the Union. That has never been in doubt. What is lacking is strong action to back up those words—action needed more urgently than ever after Mr Johnson’s description of devolution two days earlier as “a disaster.”
Another speaker referred to the need for “a modern compelling unionist vision for the future of our United Kingdom.” No clear indication of such a vision was forthcoming; only that government spending and the welfare system provided “a story that unionists from all parties should tell.”
The final speaker asked about “workable alternatives” to existing arrangements “before the United Kingdom implodes”. It was a suitably pessimistic note on which to end.
