25/03/2012 Scottish Conservative Party Conference

Welcome to Idlib and the Scottish Conservative conference. -- welcome

to Troon. Remember, they are not called the Scottish Conservative

and Unionist Party for nothing. have to tell you that there is no

we'll to which I would readily picked my shoulder and keeping a

strong Scotland within a strong Britain. -- put my shoulder.

Keeping Scotland in the UK will be the party's number one priority

between now and the independence referendum. We have got to show to

that I love of Scotland does not belong to one party. For too long

we have allowed the SNP to claim ownership of patriotism. The

Saltire is the symbol of a proud nation, not just one political

party. That is the thing about the SNP. They have spread the idea that

if you truly love your country you have no choice but to go it alone

but believing in the union they say is treasonous. One of them said

that leaders of the pro United Kingdom parties were anti-Scottish.

The same SNP politician has also compared the United Kingdom to an

abusive relationship. What planet are these people on? Was it an

abusive relationship that stood alone against Nazi Germany or

abolished slavery or that turned these islands into one of the

greatest economic and political success stories. It is not an

abusive relationship, it is a union. It is not just a place on a map. It

is an idea and an ideal. It is not just about our history but it is

about our future. Together we have got global planning. A seat on the

UN Security Council. The 7th richest economy in the world. The

4th largest defence budget in the world. We can pool our resources to

provide a safety net, and NHS and education for everyone. It is a

partnership for security and prosperity, Scotland is better off

in Britain. Now the Conservative Friends of the Union launched today

is going to see just that. We walk taller, stand prouder, shout louder

together. That is why I say today not only can you love Scotland and

blub the United Kingdom. Not only can you drape yourself in the

Saltire and the Union Jack but you can be even prouder of you're

Scottish heritage than you British heritage, as many are, and still

believe that Scotland is better off in Britain. All of this is why this

Prime Minister and this party is going to fight for the United

Kingdom with everything we have got. At the last election, Alex Salmond

asked for a man date on a boat for independence. He won that the

election and I have offered him the referendum and now he will not take

it. First he wanted a referendum in 2010, now he says he needs 1,000

days. First he wanted one question now he is flirting with two. Now he

is talking about devo max. Soon it will be devoid the sequel. I

thought we were meant to be watching the movie Braveheart but

it turns out it is chicken run! APPLAUSE. What is he waiting for?

He says he wants to know whether more devolved powers are on the

table. No one can accuse me of being dogmatic about this. In the

Scotland Bill we have got at new transfer of fiscal powers. A

Scottish income-tax. A proportion of the budget that could be raised

in Scotland which will more than double. This week we reached

agreement with the Scottish Government on further issues they

wanted in D Bell. This is a Bell delivered in Westminster are

delivered by a Conservative Prime Minister can serve -- I promised

respect and that is what we are giving. Scotland's two Government

and two parliaments working together. I am open-minded about

the transfer of both -- more powers so long as those powers are about

improving the lives of people in Scotland. Not just bargaining chips

in some game of constitutional poker. I see no reason, no reason

at all, why up party that is moderate, sensible, centre right,

cannot represent millions of people in Scotland. This is at nation

founded on the virtues of thrift and daft. Of paying your way, not

running up debts. A sense of responsibility gets Scottish

workers through the snow and to work on a winter morning. There is

a buccaneering spirit and a passionate belief in family,

community and country. For Conservatives, looking at these

qualities and values it is like looking in the mirror, they are our

qualities and our values. Walker Hall in Troon had a Friday

afternoon facelift for the rally for the union. Many brought their

different perspectives to launch be friends of the union campaign for

the Conservatives. It is now time for Mr Salmond and his cronies to

answer the questions on currency, debt, financial regulation,

immigration, our future role on the EU, on overseas diplomacy, growth,

enterprise, welfare, universities and to tell us how he is going to

pay for all of these things without making as the most highly taxed

country in Europe and without fobbing us off with the old story

that North Sea oil will pay for the SNP's most extravagant spending

bonanza. We also need to make it clear that the Conservatives are

fighting for unity in spite of the electoral changes that it would

give the party. It could be the biggest gerrymander in history and

we could be the winners but conference, what we want, what is

right for our country, is a bit like our mission to sort out the

deficit. It is about putting our party interests aside and working

in the national interest. Just as we will not leave future

generations with Asmaa moth debt we should not leave for future

generations a collection of weakened nations which once stood

as a strong union. -- a mammoth debt. We came out with a campaign

that was intended to break the union. We knew what that cost in

terms of boar and blood. We came out of that successfully because of

the sacrifice of so many people in the police and armed forces. We

came out of it because we also won a political argument. That is

crucial in many respects. The argument we put to the people in

Northern Ireland was the one about the benefit of being in the United

Kingdom. How by being part of a larger unit our own political

difficulties could somehow be more easily reconciled and were

delighted by being in the larger being rather than being forced

continuously to look at the narrow ground of our own place. We have

our own identities, we are Ulster men and British, Scots and British,

Welsh and British. There is a British component within our

identity. We have a shared historical experience over 300

years. There is a common experience and common component within our

identity which is there. I have to say to Scottish nationalists that

by driving through a programme of separatist nurse and taking be

Scottish identity out we are doing violence to part of the identity of

every Scotsman. There is a British component within the identity of

every Scotsman. To try to bring about separation is doing violence

to a person's own sense of identity and that is not good. This morning

I visited a company in Preston which has as strong presence in

Scotland and in Wales providing jobs and investment for both of our

countries. There are other firms, too, providing that link for all of

us. Scottish & Southern Energy, First Group, Edinburgh woollen Mill.

I went to a company that is building part of the installation

for the wind farms in Wales and I have seen something fabricated here

in Scotland which will be installed in Wales the next time I see it.

That contributes to the economic growth across the United Kingdom.

The next 90 days could decide which passport we hold, which currency we

spend and which army protects us. It is that important. It is time

for us to think about what kind of country we want Scotland to be. Do

we want to be part of the 7th largest economy in the world? Do we

want Scotland to be part of the most successful military alliance

in history, NATO. Do we want to continue in the most successful

union of nations that the world has ever seen? The treaties that we

have signed and alliances we have forged across the globe or do we

want Alex Salmond to scrap our union with Wales, England and

Northern Ireland and become equal to so many nations to do not share

our language and currency? making a case for staying in the UK

enough for the Conservatives or do the party need to spell out how

independence will evolve if it happens? There is a fundamental

difference between independence and devolution, between sustaining the

union and the break-up of Britain. Separation is a fundamentally

different proposition from any scheme of devolution and that is

the question which needs to be answered above all else and before

all else. In my opinion some proponents of different models of

devolution are playing with fire if they seek to introduce second

questions or multiple choices into the referendum. Wittingly or

unwittingly we are playing Alex Salmond game because it deflects

from the main issue. It is part of a good job as Unionists, as part of

the No campaign, to hold Alex Salmond to account on the true

consequences of the 'yes' vote on the referendum. People should be

aware of the true consequences of voting no to the referendum. The

Prime Minister, as we have already acknowledged, look at the

possibility of more powers to the Scottish Parliament. It must come

as no surprise that the First Minister immediately responded by

asking what that meant? Many other people are genuinely puzzled by

what further powers might be and understandably so. It can be no

coincidence that in a recent poll 8% of undecided voters said they

would definitely vote No to independence if they knew that the

parliament were to get further powers and they knew what those

powers would be. They must have an idea of what those powers would be,

it might secured an old boat. -- a LED me put a scenario to you. Alex

Salmond has chosen a date to and a half years away because he knows he

cannot win that argument at this point in time, and he wants time to

win people round to his way of argument, to give him the best

chance of winning that referendum. That is why he has put the date

two-and-a-half years away. Make no mistake. You all know him by now.

People do everything in his power, I would suggest, not to have a

referendum. If that came about, and it is a big if, then I think the UK

Government would have an absolute right to say, for three years, you

have played this card and promised the people of Scotland a referendum

which he won now refusing to do. We will give them that referendum and

I believe that under that sort of extreme set of circumstances, it

would be damaging. But me remind you of the motion that being part

of the Union takes precedence over any scheme of the union and we

should focus exclusively on this. That is the motion before you. As

many of York are of that, please show. Against? The motion is

carried. Yes. Although the referendum dominated

the weekend, conference had a couple of other debates. On energy,

there were some strong views about wind farms.

Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that

wind farms in the United Kingdom earned �1,100 million for their

owners. �500 million of this was electricity. �600 million of this

was subsidy. Who pays this subsidy? The householder. And every single

electricity bill payer in Scotland is paying roughly �20 a year at the

moment. In 2020, that could be �50 or more. And because it is paid at

a flat rate, the people who are bearing the burden of this are not

the well off, not the energy companies. We are taking money out

of a pockets of the poorest people in our country and putting it into

the pockets of rich energy companies, many of which are owned

by foreigners, and into the pockets of rich landowners. Apart from the

Prime Minister, the most senior member of the UK Government to

address the conference was the Home Secretary, Theresa May. Whenever I

visit Scotland, I am reminded of the fighting spirit of the Scots.

It is envied across the globe. Now, you might have noticed, I am not

Scottish! But I have often observed how do receive a warm welcome

wherever you travel. It is one of many things to be proud of. Indeed,

how many people abroad, some of whom might not have even visited

these shores, would like to claim roots in Scotland? Your country and

its people are the admired and everybody wants to be part of it.

But the Scotland they love is part of a bigger whole. And I am here

today to talk about why it should stay that way. Separatists like

Alex Salmond one to duck the tough questions. He calls himself a

Democrat, yet he fails to deal with the many issues for democracy that

arise from being a separate Scotland. He calls himself a

progressive, but what is progressive about breaking Scotland

off from the rest of the United Kingdom and then giving away powers

to Europe? It completely defeats the SNP argument that Scotland

would fare better with more control over its own affairs when they seek

to hand over so many serious areas of government elsewhere. In the UK,

we maintain control over our borders. Joining Europe's

borderless area could open Scotland's border to mass

immigration. In the UK we have an opt-out on justice and Home Affairs

matters. Almost certainly, Scotland would not have that. All serious

issues with huge implications for Scotland. Immigration is a policy

area that is retained and for which I am responsible as Home Secretary.

However, the SNP and Labour believe that all immigration is good. I

don't agree. We need to reduce and control immigration. For those who

add value to our economy, the door will always be opened. Indeed,

recent changes to the system we have made make it easier for them

to come. We won the brightest and the best, those who will contribute

to the economy, to come to the UK. And of course, we will always

welcome those who genuinely seek refuge from persecution. But under

Labour, net migration to the UK number at 2.2 million people. Some

of those will have settled in Scotland. Understandably, some

communities struggled with such rapid change. They found that

Labour's decade of mass mismanaged immigration policy had a huge

impact on public services, like health and schools. And then

there's illegal immigration, sham marriages, illegal working, people

staying on with expired visas. We have made it our aim to get net

migration back down to the tens of thousands. Cutting immigration is

not simple and it will take time. But we are taking action on every

route to the UK. And whilst it isn't simple, it is vital, so don't

let Labour and the SNP 10 you any The Home Secretary, Theresa May,

whose speech focused on immigration issues. It is less than a year

since Ruth Davidson was elected to Hollywood. Then she was elected

party leader. This was her first keynote speech. Friends, there are

moments in history when it falls to a group of people to take a stand,

to say what they believe and with conviction, with passion, with

right on their side. To know that however allowed their detractors

will try to shut them down, we will not be diverted from the cause.

Knowing that they speak for asylum majority and we shall prevail. --

for the silent majority. Conference, this is our time, our duty and are

calling. The next 1,000 days will shake the very future forever. This

is a battle we must win and we will win. We will settle the separation

question. But, Conference, that question of separation is the

elephant in the room that dominates everything, often to the exclusion

of everything else. We have an SNP leader are so obsessed with

separation that it is neglecting to do the job it was elected to do as

the devolved government of Scotland. This week, I spoke to a young man

who e-mailed me about the desperate need for a Cancer Drugs Fund in

Scotland. This is what he said. I lost my mum back in October 2010 to

cancer. Watching something so full of life dive was so painful to

watch. Her death has had a profound effect on me and that is why I

joined Cancer Research UK, so I can make sure no one ever regain has to

go through what my mum did, and families do not have to watch what

I had to watch. I feel that with the greater availability of cancer

drugs, my mum would be here today. Scotland has a poor record when it

comes to cancer and we need radical change. I believe this change can

come from a Cancer Drugs Fund. Those are the words of a 17-year-

old boy who is desperately hurting and working to make a difference.

He has been let down. We cannot allow others to put the future of

their country on hold whilst they pursue their own agenda. So, Alex,

get back to your desk, get on with the job that you were elected to do.

Let's look at child care. Five years ago, they promised a 50% rise

and they have spent those five years of failing to deliver. During

that time, the number of pre-school places had dropped, each and every

year. A quarter of registered creches have closed in the last two

years alone. In Scotland's classrooms, there are nearly 4,000

fewer teachers and when the SNP came to power and one in five

newly-qualified teachers find themselves without a job. Alex, get

back your desk, get back to work and do the job that you were

elected to do. And to those who want to break

apart our United Kingdom, I say, we respect your view but you are wrong.

If to supporters of other political parties to share our view, I say

this. Join us in defence of our union. As Conservatives, where we

need to lead we will lead. Where we need to join, we will join. And we

will not be found wanting. There are dividing lines in politics but

there are absolutes that can unite us, too. Scotland's course is

bigger than any one person or any one political party. So I say,

skull and expects us to work together, and we are. Scotland

expects us to op lead, and we will. Scotland expect us to put aside our

differences and pull together for the common cause, to give a voice

to the silent majority, to build a course across our nation. Today, we

stand on the brink of history. The world is watching. This is a cause

and we will not be found wanting. We will add ours sound to the

millions of voices declaring us as one strong Scotland him one a

strong Britain, together for good. Conference, let's get to work.

Our political editor, Brian Taylor, is here with his analysis. Have the

Conservatives found a new sense of purpose with this? They have found

a way to project a new sense of purpose. The argument was that the

union is natural ground for the Conservatives and they regard

themselves as a premier Unionist Party, a phrase we heard over the

conference. What they are suggesting is that they can fight

on that ground and so reinvigorate their own party themselves, because

that is natural territory for them, and the Prime Minister they buy

argues that they go from that position to argue and campaign on

issues with a very firm Tory perspective. He issues like the

economy and society. They are saying there should be no more

arguing and hand-wringing. And they start with the Unionist campaign

and pursue it and win that campaign for the union, and as a consequence,

reinvigorate the Tories as well. the Conservatives need to spell out

just how devolution could evolve if there is a no vote have to

independence? That is open to debate, a debate we had on the

fringe with some MPs say in no, leave this until later, concentrate

on the independence referendum. And then spelling out what the

alternative would be and what the new union would look like with new

powers. I think the very poor perspective, David Cameron says,

opened the new powers and others saying it is for after the

referendum. It is now on a yes/ no question. Then the issue of further

powers could come later. How hard will it be for the three big pro-

Union parties to work together? is tough. They are rivals,

opponents. Particularly for Labour and the Lib Dems to work with the

Tories, who may have decried down the years and the decades, and

particularly hard if the referendum, as now seems almost certain, is in

the autumn of 2014. By then, a UK general election is looming and

these parties will be fighting each other as well as having to face

working together. But I do think that imperative will trump

everything. I think the three parties will work together and find