The referendum is over – the challenge is to keep everyone engaged in politics
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Version 0 of 1. David Cameron stumbled on his words towards the end of his momentous statement on the Scottish no vote today, but the greater surprise was that he was able to read it out at all. The relief was palpable; the adrenaline of near death still surging through his veins. In the event, the margin of victory was a clear 10 points, but as so often his path had been blighted by muddle, uncertainty and panic. He will not go down in history as the prime minister who lost the union; he will go down in history as the prime minister who avoided ignominy solely because he was plucked to safety by his bitterest opponents, most notably Gordon Brown, the prime minister he so acrimoniously replaced. Cameron’s position is secure, but it is not one reached with any great aplomb. His statement addressed the problems and opportunities that now lie ahead. A new settlement is promised, not just for Scotland but for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Lord Smith of Kelvin, a former BBC governor, will supervise the implementation of more devolution on tax, spending and welfare in Scotland, with draft legislation ready by January 2015. There will be more powers for Wales. Devolved institutions in Northern Ireland will be enhanced. And the English genie is out of the bottle. Cameron appeared to promise a decisive answer on the perennial West Lothian question with English votes in parliament on English issues. All this addresses long held grievance and heralds opportunity. But even now, in the can-do aftermath of this momentous vote, there is the worry that the prime minister is trying to do too much too quickly. There is worry, too, that the process will lead to the establishment of new and unnecessary structures. Today, several major newspaper titles across the north of England, including the Journal in Newcastle and the Northern Echo, call for more effective representation in Westminster, but significantly they warn against the creation of more institutions. “We do not seek another tier of government. What we do seek is a stronger voice in Westminster and greater control over our own affairs,” their joint declaration says. “The party leaders were shockingly complacent over the mood in Scotland. Now that the votes have been counted north of the border, there must be no complacency over the north.” As ever for the prime minister, the devil resides in the detail. In England, too, there will be turbulence. With the speech just over, Nigel Farage popped up on Radio 4’s Today programme presaging the bitter debate there will be over the prime minister’s promise to stick by the Barnett formula, which allocates disproportionately generous funding per head to Scotland. Farage sees the formula as unfair. Lord Barnett, who gave his name to the calculation, has condemned it as outdated, yet Cameron is now obliged to stick to it. Alex Salmond may have lost, but in matters such as this he won handsomely. One might argue that this is the point of a union, to allocate resources to areas that need them most. In any case, it couldn’t be helped. Cameron had to bet the farm. He had to get it done. These are some of the technicalities, but this is a heady day because the debate has always been about so much more than technicalities. Cameron in his speech talked about the example we have set the world in being able and willing to address a matter as important and potentially divisive as secession via democratic, peaceful politics. In parts of the world, as was once the case here, this is the stuff of war. It is a heady day because of what the referendum campaign has done for our politics; the embrace of this intensely political issue, not just by a political class but by ordinary people in pubs and clubs, shopping malls and high streets, offices and classrooms. Heady because of the extraordinary extent to which that interest manifested itself in voter participation, with turnout figures as high as 90% of the electorate in some areas – a UK record. If it was tense towards the end, that was to be expected – these were matters of history and destiny – but here was the resurgence of mass interest in politics that we have yearned for across the nation for several decades. The enemy now will be the status quo. Establishments resist change not by erecting barricades but by smothering it slowly under chloroform and a pillow. For all today’s fine words, that is the possible outcome of today’s no vote. That is what must not be allowed to happen. It may be that we need to reassess how politics engages the public. Is the language right? Are the issues framed in such a way as to engage the electorate? But here’s the outstanding opportunity, for the notion that there is limited appetite for politics, that people can’t or won’t grasp the issues and that the torpor can’t be overcome, has been well and truly exposed by the glorious Scottish referendum process. The referendum is over, the spirit of the referendum must endure. That is the challenge and that is the prize. |