Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction: Scottish Liberalism and Scottish Society
- 1 ‘The Party of National Patriotism’: 1832–1880
- 2 ‘The Only Relevant Feature of Scottish Political Life’: 1880–1906
- 3 Liberal Scotland: 1906–1922
- 4 The ‘Strange Death’ of Liberal Scotland: 1922–1946
- 5 ‘Intransigence and Domestic Strife’: 1946–1964
- 6 ‘Home Rule in a Federal Britain’: 1964–1979
- 7 ‘Breaking the Mould’ of Scottish Politics: 1979–1988
- 8 ‘Guarantors of Home Rule’: 1988–1999
- 9 In and Out of Government: 1999–2021
- Conclusion: Whither Scottish Liberalism?
- Appendix 1 Party Leaders
- Appendix 2 Election Results
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion: Whither Scottish Liberalism?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 August 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction: Scottish Liberalism and Scottish Society
- 1 ‘The Party of National Patriotism’: 1832–1880
- 2 ‘The Only Relevant Feature of Scottish Political Life’: 1880–1906
- 3 Liberal Scotland: 1906–1922
- 4 The ‘Strange Death’ of Liberal Scotland: 1922–1946
- 5 ‘Intransigence and Domestic Strife’: 1946–1964
- 6 ‘Home Rule in a Federal Britain’: 1964–1979
- 7 ‘Breaking the Mould’ of Scottish Politics: 1979–1988
- 8 ‘Guarantors of Home Rule’: 1988–1999
- 9 In and Out of Government: 1999–2021
- Conclusion: Whither Scottish Liberalism?
- Appendix 1 Party Leaders
- Appendix 2 Election Results
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the run up to the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections – held as the UK emerged from a long, gruelling lockdown – Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (SLD) since 2011, repackaged an old rallying cry. ‘As we recover from the pandemic,’ he argued, ‘a federal UK would allow us to chart a course together that allows us to reflect our common interests and our more local needs.’
Rennie also alluded to strained inter-governmental relations and rising support for Scottish and Welsh independence:
I believe that the United Kingdom will only be secure when its constitution clearly recognises the shared sovereignty of all four constituent parts of the Union and finds a way to ensure that the UK Government, the governments of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the various parts of England can work together with rather than grandstanding for political advantage.
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, a former UK Liberal Democrat leader and chairman of the old Scottish Liberal Party, added that:
In the 1980s and ‘90s, Scottish Liberal Democrats worked across party lines to build the case for a powerful Scottish Parliament and succeeded … Despite this … the SNP seek to offer the people of Scotland a binary choice – the status quo or independence. As Scottish Liberal Democrats we reject that.
The lofty rhetoric from Rennie and Campbell disguised the reality that the Scottish Liberal Democrats were no longer in a position to deliver either a federal UK or indeed fend off the SNP. With just five Members of the Scottish Parliament and four Members of the UK House of Commons, the party had been reduced to a minor political player. It had been in such a situation before, but it was no less painful for that historical reality.
All political parties like to tell stories about themselves, and these usually leave out inconvenient details. As Eugenio F. Biaghini has observed, under leaders from Gladstone to Asquith, the Liberal Party proved itself ‘good at managing and absorbing Celtic separatism, turning a potentially destructive force into an important asset for both the stability of the United Kingdom and the electoral success of their own party’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A History of the Scottish Liberals and Liberal Democrats , pp. 201 - 211Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2022