As so-called minister for the union, Boris Johnson has been the real disaster for devolution

Editorial: If the system has turned into a catastrophe, then it has a lot to do with the way the prime minister and Michael Gove have behaved in office

daily-cartoon (Dave Brown)

Christmas is a time for giving, they say, and Boris Johnson has generously donated to the Scottish National Party the gift that keeps on giving – an unequivocal expression of English contempt for Scotland. In the opinion of this quintessential Bertie Woosterish Old Etonian, “devolution has been a disaster north of the border”, and Tony Blair’s biggest mistake (presumably exceeding the Iraq War). As Nicola Sturgeon has already stated, the unguarded remark has been duly bookmarked and will be referred to constantly in the months leading up to the Scottish elections in May. 

The SNP and the cause of independence have been making popular progress in recent months, and post-Brexit chaos and the prime minister’s big mouth will no doubt push things even further Ms Sturgeon’s way. The unflattering contrast between blundering Mr Johnson and the cooly efficient Ms Sturgeon has been especially highlighted during the coronavirus crisis. Although the overall performance of the various parts of the UK haven’t wildly diverged, it is Mr Johnson who looks the least decisive and most accident-prone.  

Even if the elections to the parliament at Holyrood cannot necessarily be formally taken as a vote in favour of a second independence referendum, an SNP landslide would certainly add moral and political pressure. At any rate, it will be far from a vote of confidence in the union, still less the Johnson administration.

It is worth taking a moment to remember that Mr Johnson is not only prime minister, but that he also appointed himself “minister for the union” when he took over from Theresa May in July 2019. It was called a “cynical rebranding” at the time, and indeed the position carried no formal responsibilities until a few weeks ago. The formal job description reads: “As minister for the union, the prime minister works to ensure that all of government is acting on behalf of the entire United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.” The problem is that Mr Johnson doesn’t, and hasn’t, done any such thing.  

If devolution has turned into a disaster, presaging Scottish withdrawal from the union, then it has a lot to do with the way the prime minister and his senior Scottish colleague, Michael Gove, have behaved in office.  

The interests of the devolved administrations have been consistently ignored and derided. Scotland and Northern Ireland, for example, voted to remain in the EU, and are now faced with a hard Brexit. Mr Johnson refers to the first minister of Scotland as “that bloody Wee Jimmy Krankie woman”. He has ratted on his promises to Arlene Foster, first minister of Northern Ireland, and her Democratic Unionists. 

During the Covid pandemic, Mr Johnson pretended that the devolved administrations, responsible for public health, didn’t even exist. Measures applying to England were passed off as national. The denial of reality was Trumpian in scale. Since Brexit, Mr Johnson and Mr Gove have attempted an all too blatant power grab under the guise of the Internal Market Bill, repatriating economic powers to Whitehall. It means, for example, that Scotland will be forced to agree to any new trade deal with America even if it damages Scottish farming or food standards. It is infuriating many in Scotland, and rightly. Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson are to all intents and purposes not speaking to each other.  

It is no surprise that arch unionists such as Mr Johnson and Mr Gove would rather that devolution had never happened and would love to dismantle most of it. What is more startling is that they make so little attempt to disguise their disdain, pointedly refusing to use the existing machinery designed to make devolution work.  

Thus, the Joint Ministerial Committee rarely convenes, never produces any initiatives and has never discussed the pandemic. Cobra and it’s associated bodies have little input from Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast. The Dunlop review of the workings of devolution, commissioned by the UK government, has reported but its conclusions are unpublished and are gathering dust in some forgotten corner of SW1. The Sewel Convention, requiring consent from devolved administrations to changes in their status, has been downgraded by the UK Supreme Court and virtually abolished by this government.  

So far from devolution being a disaster for Britain, it is Mr Johnson who has proved a disaster for devolution and the union he is supposed to be protecting. The reason why devolution came to Scotland was because the Scottish people voted for it in 1997, in a general election and a referendum. That, in turn, was in large part because they were fed up with being governed by arrogant Tory governments in London. Mr Johnson is doing a great job in repeating the mistakes of the past. Maybe he needs to appoint a new minister for the union, seeing as the present incumbent is a bit of a flop.