16/03/2014 Scottish Conservative Party Conference

This is no ordinary conference here. This is the year of the independence

referendum and lately, the UK government has been having it say.

First came the chancellor, George Osborne. The SNP says that if

Scotland becomes independent, there will be a currency union and

Scotland will share the pound. People need to know that that is not

going to happen. If Scotland walks away from the UK, it walks away from

the pound. Then the UK Cabinet came to Scotland for the first time. They

met in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe. A good chance for the prime

minister to get into his overalls. I think it makes a strong argument

about the United Kingdom and how the broad shoulders of one of the top

ten economies in the world has really got behind this industry. And

we are continuing to stabilise this industry to get the maximum

benefit. Soon after, big business weighed in with their thoughts. The

message was the same - independence is risky. After successive

government ministers coming north to say no, the campaign to save the

union and a nickname - project fear. say no, the campaign to save the

In fact, one newspaper reporter even described it as the Dambusters

approach. But prime minister David Cameron came to conference to tell

delegates here and to tell Scotland that this was not about highlighting

risks, this was about busting the myths.

Where the SNP are spreading outright myths about this referendum, we have

got to take them on and take them apart. And, let's be frank, there

are a few myths doing the rounds. There is the myth that any talk

about the consequences of separation is all bluff, or bluster, or even

bullying. Warnings on the currency, warnings on the European Union. The

Nationalists say this is just a big political conspiracy from south of

the border. Just dig for it. But that is wrong, and it is frankly

irresponsible. Just think about it. You have 4 million people on the

brink of a decision that will affect their lives in a profound way, the

money in their pocket, the job they have, the chances that children will

have. This is a major life changing decision, and you don't make one of

those without getting all the information you can. You would not

buy a house without getting a survey done. You would not choose a car

without an MOT, and you should not make a decision about changing your

nation forever without knowing in full what the consequences would be.

And just look who is laying out those consequences. The governor of

the Bank of England, the president of the European Commission. Business

chiefs from companies like of the European Commission. Business

Shell, Alliance trust and Lloyds, Barclays. The list goes on. They are

not political puppets, they are serious, nonpartisan figures. So the

idea that these are empty warnings and political scaremongering, that

is a myth, and we owe it to the people of Scotland to take that Ms

apart. -- to take that myth apart. Let me be absolutely clear. A vote

for no is not a vote for no change. We are committed to making

devolution work better still, not because we want to give Alex Salmond

a consolation prize if Scotland votes no, but because it is the

right thing to do. Giving the Scottish Parliament greater

responsibility for raising more of the money it spends, that is what

Ruth believes, and it is what I believe, to. So here is the recap.

Vote yes - that is total separation. Vote no - that can mean further

devolution, more power to the Scottish people and their

Parliament, but with the crucial insurance policy that comes with

being part of our United Kingdom. So, my friends, where there are

blatant myths being spread around, then yes of course, we must

challenge them. But my big message to you today is this. Let's leave

the negativity and the narrow arguments to the Nationalists, and

let us make the big, generous, positive argument for our United

Kingdom. What about risks, not about rivalry, but about how we, in these

islands, are great, agenda making, expectations mashing, punch above

our weight success boring. Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, a

family of nations that should stick together. But we know that the

bigger part of the argument is not about our past, but about our

future. Relentless competition is a fact of our modern world. The rise

of China, India, Brazil, Russia. These are the earthquakes in the old

order. Of course, it is not doom and gloom. It is not that they win and

we lose, but we have got to be ready, more dynamic than ever to

seize these new opportunities. Employment is up by 100,000 people

since the election. 2.2 million Scottish taxpayers have more money

in their pocket, thanks to our tax cuts. From next month, the typical

taxpayer in Scotland will be ?705 better off. That is a huge

difference for families across this country. So together, we have come

through the great recession as the fastest-growing economy in Europe.

And together, there are huge prizes to be taken in the future. Too many

people in this country have been made to feel that you can't be a

proud Scot and a proud Brit, that somehow, you have got to choose

between the sole tyre and the union flag. It is the lie that these

islands are somehow written with division and difference. But just

look at how we live together. Today, 800,000 Scots lived elsewhere

in the UK. More than 400,000 people were born in the rest of the UK now

live in Scotland. But guess what? The vast majority of us actually

like each other. This is a family of nations, argumentative at times,

yes. Competitive at times, but a family nonetheless, a family forged

through shared endeavour. A family forged through the fires of war, the

tests of economic hardship. This family of nations has ducked

together, and I say, let us stick together still. Four nations, one

family, one United Kingdom. Let us fight for it, and together, we will

win. So the prime minister has put an

offer of more powers for the Scottish Parliament on the table,

but how firm is that offer, and how far will they go? Well, the Tories

have commissioned Lord Strathclyde to write a report into the matter.

Those findings will not be published until May. Meanwhile, here is what

Stephenson had to tell us. I would predict that not only will we win

the referendum, I think the majority of people, and I hope a sizeable

majority, want Scotland to remain part of the UK. And I think that

will hurl the SNP believes the water line. But I think then, we have to

live up to the pledge that we will give more powers. I would like to

see the Strathclyde commission coming out with robust reforms.

Personally, I am not privy to what Tom Strathclyde is thinking on this,

but I would like to see full fiscal autonomy. I think we should be

standing on our own feet this gully, responsible for raising and spending

all our own money. That means income tax, corporation tax? Everyone that

earns money in Scotland would be taxed in Scotland, and we would pay

a preset oil revenue tax to London to cover the non-devolved areas.

Whether that comes out in the wash, I don't know, but in the long term,

that is the only way to stop the drift to independence. Some of your

critics within the party would say that that is independence by another

name. Well, having had the begging bowl system for the past 15 years

since the Scottish parliament was set up, we have almost found

ourselves set up, we have almost found

independence. So clearly, that has not worked. You have got to make

Scotland stand up on its own feet and be fiscally responsible.

Meanwhile, on the conference floor, a debate on the Strathclyde

commission told a different story. How does the commission ensure that

in adhering to the clamour for more powers, we don't in fact give away

independence under a cloud of devo max, that in fact, we suggest that

the Scottish Parliament has more powers and that maybe, ten years

down the line, people think, what is the difference between what the

Scottish Parliament now has an full independence? Devo max is a

nationalist delusion and we are not interested in that. -- a nationalist

solution. We want a interested in that. -- a nationalist

works simultaneously and mutually in the best interests of Scotland and

the rest of the UK and the UK as a whole. Devo max does not do that. It

is a scheme of power that is a perversion of devolution. In the

sense that it is designed not to deepen and strengthen the union, but

to break it. So there is no question, for example, that

immigration powers could conceivably be devolved within a single state,

and yet that is one of the things that I understand the national

conversation was talking about. If we truly believe in localism, should

we not be targeting a situation where every unit of government as

far as is practicable, races the money it spends? Devolution is not

alien to Tory thinking. It money it spends? Devolution is not

of our being. But we are not interested in the devolution of

power from one government to another, but from the devolution of

power away from government to people. That is what the localism

agenda is about. Look at the contrast between the way in which

local government is being reformed in England and Wales under David

Cameron's government, and contrast that with the way in which power is

being centralised here in Edinburgh. The SNP don't believe in

devolution, they believe in hoarding power for themselves. Compare and

contrast the fact that we now have one single police force for the

whole of Scotland and the chief constable is directly accountable to

Alex Salmond, whereas what's Theresa May has done in the Home Office in

England is to have police and crime commissioners who are directly

elected by the people of their communities full of that is

devolution in action. My view is that that is what we should be

embracing. I hope I am successful in convincing the Strathclyde

commission. I am joined now by political editor Brian Taylor. If we

start by looking at the Strathclyde commission, we have had three

differing views of what the Conservatives may like to offer.

What is your opinion on what you have heard? I think the consensus in

the Conservative Party will fall around what the leaders are

recommending, which is enhanced tax powers for the Scottish Parliament,

but those tax powers continue to be shared with Westminster.

Someone fiscal autonomy and others are wondering why they are

recommending enhanced tax powers for a Parliament edit not like much in

the first place, but that group has diminished in size and certainly in

volume when you consider that even a few years ago, the idea that the

Conservatives would have been backing substantial tax powers for

the Scottish Parliament would not be believed. The reason they are doing

it is firstly as a response to nationalism and secondly because it

is where they are from the leader down and thirdly tom it allows them

the scope to offer tax cuts if the Scottish Parliament has substantial

tax powers. So how will the Tories' proposal be seen elsewhere? They fit

within the context of proposals coming from other prounion parties.

We had the Labour document published this weekend. We know of the Liberal

Democrat proposals. Will they come together with a pan unionist

opposing? I don't think so. They don't fully agree, for one thing. At

the same time, we have the perspective from the SNP and the

Scottish government and those who advocate independence, who say that

each of these puzzles are disparate and fall short of what Scotland

actually requires, which they would say is full independence. So, after

all the talk of prospective new powers for the Scottish Parliament,

it was a return to form for UK Government ministers. Once again,

highlighting the risks of independence. This time to defence

and national security. The overall drum beat of

shipbuilding work for the Royal Navy from the type 45 destroyers to the

carriers to the type 26 frigates is just enough to sustain one complex

warship building yard for the whole UK.

So when the separatists talk about maintaining warship building in

Scotland to meet the needs of a separate Scotland's navy, they are

either deluded or they are seeking to delude.

And the question for the SNP is this, with a budget of around just

?2 billion spread across defence, security, cyber and intelligence,

having to pay for the creation of Armed Forces from scratch with all

the start-up costs and a continuing huge diseconomies of small scale,

how much of that defence presence could they afford to retain? For

sure, not everything that they are promising. And, how could a Scottish

navy headquarters at FAs land hope to employ even a fraction of the

8,000 skilled jobs the Royal Navy will sustain -- Faslane -- on the

West Coast of Scotland by 2018? If Scotland voted to Goyt alone, press

scowled would be an important enforcer but it would lose its

automatic access to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and the UK's wider intelligence

capabilities. The information, technology, processes, people and

partnerships would do so much to protect us from harm. The continuing

UK could not allow Scotland to become a convenient landing point

for migration into the United Kingdom. So that would mean border

controls between a separate Scotland and the United Kingdom. Passport

checks to visit friends and relatives. A literal and figurative

barrier between our nations. So there is a great deal at stake on

the 18th September. A United Kingdom which has brought so many benefits

and means so much to people in each of its nations, prabltical

cooperation in the fight against crime, an immigration system which

works in our national interest, the freedom to move around these

beautiful islands without let or hindrance. The Citizenship of

generations who are yet un unborn. It's a momentous decision and there

will be no going back. So let's make sure the people of Scotland make the

right choice and let's all affirm that we are better together.

If you thought this conference was going to be all about the

independence referendum, you'd be wrong. Even at a debate on the

referendum, we found other things to talk about.

How do we put to rights the basic things close to the ballot box and

close to the hearts of many Scottish people? What Iain Duncan Smith is

trying to do is aimed, not welfare, but aimed at dependency on welfare.

When he visited Easter House, he discovered that the worst form of

deprivation is dependency. What he's trying to the is, not cut the

budget. In fact, welfare budgets are rising, they are rising as quick as

anything. But he's trying to retarget the way that money is

spent. What he wants that money to do is get people out of the houses,

back to work, into productive employment for two reasons. Firstly,

it's good for the soul, I'm a good old-fashioned Tory, I believe that

work is good for the soul. But as well as that, it does that second

thing, it provides labour within the economy. I know you all think I'm a

young thing, but I've got a son of 31, a daughter of 27 and they are

both married and both have a family of their own. They both managed to

maintain themselves on a household income which is about that level

that after tax it takes them down to that ?26,000 a year which is the

benefit cap, yet they manage to make their way in the world. And the

people who complain to me about those who would rather not work and

the people who are paying the highest proportion of their limited

income in tax, they are entitled to their share, the people who work for

a meagre return are entitled to choose how they spend their money.

At the moment, there is a genuine concern that too much of that tax

money is being used to support people who should really be in a

job. In 1997, scotch people voted for a Scottish Executive within a

Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom. They didn't vote for

a Scottish Government. We've allowed the SNP to call themselves a

Government because they happen to win three-and-a-half years ago. That

was Newsnight the Scottish Act. They are still an executive. No, they're

not -- that was in the Scottish act. I didn't think Lord Strathclyde

thought that was the case. Anyway, we have allowed them to shift the

ground in another way. Remember the big argument about whether or not it

was Scotland's oil. It seems to have fallen into a situation now where we

are discussing it's 5.9 billion or 3.5 billion. Originally, most of us

would have thought, well, it's UK oil, discovered off the coast of the

UK, what if it had been discovered off the coast of England? You I

travel up and down between Stonehaven and Elle Edinburgh on the

trains quite a lot, as many people do. I'm prepared to travel on the

East Coast Main Line trains. You are very brave. However, when I'm

travelling on these trains, I meet a lot of men coming back from work in

the North Sea with their kit bags. They usually like a drink because

they have not seen one for three weeks maybe. But these men are from

Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Sunderland. They're men who learned

their trade in the shipbuilding industry and now work in the North

Sea and I take the view that these men are entitled to be working there

in the North Sea, but what I can never understand is that how the oil

can be Glasgow's oil but it can't be Newcastle's oil or Sunderland's oil

or Middlesbrough's oil. David McNevery was the

Conservative's first party leader in the Scottish Parliament. He died

Conservative's first party leader in seven months ago after a battle with

cancer. His successor paid this tribute.

David's conservatism deprived from basic principles, the freedom of the

individual, the obligation to maximise opportunity for all, the

provision of choice to individuals, the empowerment of individuals and

minimum interference from or direction by the state. All

underpinned by a genuine and practical concern for those in need

of support. David gave his party his best. We

are hugely in his debt. There can be no better recognition

of his contribution, no better repayment of that debt and no better

tribute by us to him than to go out and secure a resounding victorious

no on September 18th. David would and secure a resounding victorious

expect nothing less of the Scottish Conservatives and that is the very

least we can do for him. And so to closing speech to Ruth

Davidson. As I travel around Scotland, I meet folk from every

corner of our country who share our belief and aspiration in and

responsibility and hard work, who want the Government to give help

where it's need and to get out of the way when it's not, people who

want to know that if they do the right thing, work hard, provide for

their family, play by the rules, then the country will do right by

them. Sometimes it's hard to come out as a Conservative and I should

know. But do you know what, if you believe in self-finances, then you

are a Conservative. If you believe in personal freedom, personal choice

and personal responsibility, then you are a Conservative. If you

believe in aspiration, in opportunity, that ambition and

success are not duhhy words but something worth striving for, then

you are a Conservative. I want you to help us fight to keep our country

together. I want you to give something back to the hard-pressed

taxpayers of Scotland and I want you to help us turn our schools once

again into the envy of the world. The competition that our young

people face for the jobs of the future isn't just from kids from

Birmingham or Swansea, they'll be competing against a highly skilled

and highly motivated workforce from the Far East and other emerging

world economies. We want to end the monopoly of mediocrity that traps

too many of our Scottish children into lives of low expectation. Not

all children learn the same and they shouldn't be taught the same. I

all children learn the same and they more choice for our people, more

power for our parents, more power to select the right type of school for

their children and to end the postcode lottery which locks

thousands into failing schools. The truth about our unreformed education

system is that it too often fails the ablist without giving real help

to those who need it most. It's time that changed.

Under the SNP, the number of nurses and midwives in Scotland's gone up

and down like a fiddler's elbow. 2,000 posts gone in two years, right

now hundreds of places down, creating an intolerable pressure on

those who're left. That's why today, I'm able to announce the Scottish

Conservatives will pledge an extra 1,000 nurses and midwives for

Scotland. Once introduced, we will not let numbers drop below that

mark. We'll pay for it by restoring the prescription charge, not for the

young, pensioner, preing Nanteses or poor. They'll stay exempt as they

always were, but for people who're earning and overwhelmingly happy to

make their contribution, they will know that their small sum will make

a world of difference in wards across the country. Alex Salmond

says on his six fig salary he should get free aspirin. I say, we should

have enough nurses to do the job, enough nurses so that patients get

the care that they deserve, enough nurses to make sure health care work

whoers have the support they need. That's my priority, that 's the the

Conservative priority. APPLAUSE

A no-vote allows devolution to develop. Independence kills it stone

dead. The clath collide Commission, a responsible Scottish Parliament,

dead. The clath collide Commission, independence defeat and a stronger

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde Commission.

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde Our United

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde us,

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde together, we have

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde together. This

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde we

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde too.

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde the

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde through

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde are

United Kingdom -- the Strathclyde you.

APPLAUSE you.

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Scottish you.

they were seen you.

other than you.

she's you.

the public you.

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something that you.

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