Devolution is to Labour as Europe is to the Tories

In yesterday's post, I discussed the BBC programme The Fall of Labour. I thought I'd give some thoughts on what the programme's senior Labour figures said.

My understanding is that Labour wanted to see off the rise of the SNP. To do that, they came up with the idea of devolution. Once a Scottish Parliament was created, they argued, there'd be no reason for the SNP to continue.

However once the Scottish Parliament was created, Labour didn't know what to do with it. There appears to have been a reluctance by Westminster to let go of the powers they'd given to Holyrood. Claims are made that Gordon Brown had a rather unhealthy influence over what Scottish Labour did in the Holyrood chamber; much friction between MSPs and MPs resulted.

This division is still plaguing Labour today. Although the split in the Tory party over Europe is well known, it appears that the split within the Labour party over Scottish devolution is only now beginning to be noticed. As my title says, it would appear that Devolution is to Labour as Europe is to the Tories.

This split could tear the Labour party apart. Senior voices are calling for greater autonomy for SLAB within UK Lab, others for an independent SLAB, and still others for maintaining the Westminster-led system.

If it is true that Labour only created the Scottish Parliament to kill off the SNP, then this is perhaps the biggest political blunder of our generation. Instead of killing them, it gave the SNP exactly the platform they needed and the SNP have flourished; Labour, on the other hand, have suffered.

The conclusion then is this: the threat of the SNP in the decades prior to devolution is what ultimately decimated Scottish Labour. If Labour hadn't created the Scottish Parliament, would the SNP be the force they are today?