Scottish Secretary urges the Yes camp to move on

‘No excuse’ for SNP’s culture of grievances says Carmichael.

Alistair Carmichael has claimed a raft of new powers coming to Holyrood will mean “no more excuses” from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Secretary said the proposed increase in devolution, including full control of income tax, means voters will want an end to what he describes as the SNP’s “grievance industry”.

In an interview with The Sunday Post, the Lib Dem MP said it was time to end the constitutional navel-gazing and spell out what each party would do with the extra controls being devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Under the cross-party deal agreed in the Smith Commission, Holyrood is to get the power to set income tax rates and control air passenger duty and some parts of welfare. The changes will not come in until 2016 at the earliest but next year will see other powers, including stamp duty, devolved.

Mr Carmichael points out this will make Holyrood the fifth most powerful devolved parliament on tax powers in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the third wealthiest on overall spending.

He said: “We are in the A-league globally as a powerhouse parliament and I really do think there is a diminishing appetite for constitutional discussions in Scotland.

“The people can now see they have the parliament of the sort they wanted or it will be when the reforms are all made so thereafter there can be no more excuses.

“If the performance of the Scottish Government on childcare for example continues to lag behind the rest of the UK, people will want to know why.

“The Scottish Government must get on with using the powers it has but we, as Scotland’s other government, must also get on with using the powers we have and all of the parties must say what they will do with the powers that are coming.”

He added: “The Smith Commission is a fairly straightforward process. The Nationalists are manufacturing this grievance industry in Scotland, growing the grievance industry in Scotland if you like.

“They say, ‘Oh you can’t be trusted to implement the Smith Commission even if it was good enough’, which of course in their eyes it never will be.

“But for us not to implement Smith would be the surest way of keeping the independence issue and prospect of another referendum alive.

“And you don’t need to take my word for that, look at what happened in Canada.”

The months following September’s referendum left many commentators bewildered as, despite losing the vote, the SNP saw membership numbers soar. But Mr Carmichael doesn’t accept that more should have been done to capitalise on the momentum of the decisive No victory.

He said: “We’ve got to stop talking about the referendum. As soon as we go back to defining ourselves as the 55% or the 45% we will never heal the deep divisions which we have been left with in some cases. There is no No camp.

“The referendum is over and we shouldn’t have a No side as much as we should not have a Yes side. In September, the No camp said, ‘That’s it, we’ve got the decision, let’s get on with life.

“The posters came down, the stickers came off cars and people got on with their lives. The Yes side have found it more difficult but it’s happened and we have to move on.

“I think what you have seen with the spike in support in membership for the SNP is the response to losing a campaign which had that much emotion invested in it. Time will tell if it is a permanent change in Scottish politics.”

The powers coming to Holyrood will mean much more is decided north of the Border away from Westminster but Mr Carmichael claims this will actually mean a greater role for the Scottish Office and UK Government.

He said: “The need for a voice and a presence for the UK Government in Scotland is greater now than it ever has been.

“If you look at the powers still at Westminster they will still be significant. Universal credit, foreign affairs, defence these are things that matter to people in Scotland.

“What happened in 1999, at the time of devolution, was that the then-UK Government virtually left the field of play in Scotland and as a result the role, the apparent legitimacy, of the UK Government in Scotland was hollowed out by the Nationalists.”

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson hit back at the Scottish Secretary’s comments.

He said: “Alistair Carmichael has ended the year with yet another broken Lib Dem promise. Having just said he wants to reset the relationship and work with the SNP Government, he has broken his own pledge and resorted to immature abuse.

“It seems that not even Alistair Carmichael believes Lib Dem promises any more, never mind the electorate. The people of Scotland will see right through the Lib Dem spin at next year’s General Election. They know the Lib Dems are a party with absolutely no aspirations for Scotland.”