My feelings are these:

1.  I think the EU has failed to reach an agreement that will solve the current financial crisis.  I think this agreement will fail to save the Euro.

2.  I have some concerns that the aim of European leaders is a little too much to save banks that have loaned money to various European states rather than about saving any national economy.  There is a little too much of the poor paying the price for this global financial crisis.

3.  I have some concerns that the French are no friends of the importance of London as a financial centre and wish merely to curtail its power.  I also think the French have a bad habit of thinking France and Europe are synonymous.

4.  I worry that with the Euro, fiscal and monetary policy is basically aligned to what suits the German economy and that it is almost the case that a common European currency may as well be the Deutschmark.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for every economy, but I doubt it would ever work well for the UK economy (and incidentally I doubt it would be right for any independent Scottish economy, should that ever happen, in the future)

5.  I think France and Germany were trying to get Britain to bail the Euro out.  I believe the UK should participate in doing what needs to be done to bring financial stability but we are not part of the Euro and should not bail it out.

6.  I think David Cameron went over there to veto the deal and to appease the many Euro sceptics in his party.  There are rather too many Euro sceptics in his party and their Little Englander nationalism is not good.  I think, therefore he was far too quick to veto and could have taken a far more subtle approach.  There was no win-win created.

7. In fact I think David Cameron was somewhat out manoeuvred by Sarkozy and my impression is that he has not done a good job with his diplomacy – rather overplaying his hand and getting a quite unnecessary result.

8.  In actual fact we have vetoed the Euro Zone doing something we don’t mind – the Eurozone working within the EU to support their fiscal union.

9.  However, in doing this we have failed to stop something we do in fact mind – the 26 countries acting as a bloc on  single market issues with the UK on the outside.  This is not good.  It is not good for the UK long term and it may damage our trade and industry.

10.  I argued previously that we are right not to be part of the Euro – a currency zone that does not work for us and is, and seems likely to remain, inherently unstable.  It is right and very important that we are part of a supra-national body like the EU that is far more than a free trade area, but stops short – and always stops short of full integration.  Our global relations and flexibility – especially openness to the growing far east and so-called BRIC countries remain important.

This may be a watershed moment.  It is just possible that Europe may never be the same again.  If this all means a two tier Europe, then so be it (I’m not sure how the Euro Zone will play out anyway).  However, we must remain an integral part of the EU and we must work to achieve our interest within it and to take a lead.  France are too self interested to be left alone to it and so, in the final analysis, are Germany.

The EU needs us and we need the EU.   It is important that we avoid total isolation because there are trade deals to be done and diplomatic influence to be wielded – if we have any left!  To this end, as a puzzle what happened and where that leaves us I am asking, “David Cameron, what was that all about?”

Scotland punches massively above its weight in the UK.  It has often been punished for having the audacity to be progressive by UK governments that are not – especially in the 80s and 90s – but it has also suffered at the hands of governments that have taken it for granted.  Labour’s record from 1997-2010 is a shameful one – their lazy assumption that Scotland would just vote Labour led to Scotland’s interests being ignored.

 Scotland has progressive and radical heart, its strong sense of community makes it inclined towards social democracy, but it has a personality that is unmistakeably individualistic, dare I say Liberal.  Scotland’s nature is to be Liberal. The job of Liberal Democrats is to connect with Scotland’s Liberalism and to campaign in a way that chimes naturally with the Scottish natural identity. 

I’m an Englishman, but I consider myself a northerner and British before I consider myself English, as a Cumbrian MP, we share much of the same media and have incredibly strong economic and cultural ties.  I’ve more in common with folks in Galashiels than I do with folks in Guildford for example, and the same can be said of my constituents. 

It breaks my heart that Alex Salmond has an agenda to fracture Britain in a way that will make us all poorer.  A proud Scottish identity is vital, but a centralising, intolerant nationalism is an anathema to what it is to be Scottish.  Salmond is an effective politician, an admirable operator – but already he is showing that his instincts are illiberal, and proving the age old case which is that in opposition nationalists may be radicals and reformers, but in government they become centralist control freaks, with alarming traces of prejudice and reaction. 

 It’s questionable now whether we can really call the SNP a party of the left any more – nationalists rarely are.  For Liberal Democrats, well our identity is in the spotlight too.  We are in coalition in Westminster with the Tories and that has had a real impact on how the electorate sees us – almost irrespective of what policies we pursue!  

 But back in May 2010 we had no choice. The electoral maths meant that there simply were not enough Lib Dem and Labour MPs to form a government, but thanks to Nick’s incredible performances in the leaders debates the Tories absolutely did not get it their own way so instead of having a bunch of frightful Englishmen in the Scottish office, we have our own Mike Moore!

 And when it comes to the other opposition in Scotland – well, the Tories had the choice of radical change in their leadership election, and despite the public declaration by Murdo Fraser that they were finished if they didn’t redefine their identity, they picked a candidate with a ‘steady as she goes’ approach and for Scottish Tories that means continued irrelevance.  For Labour, their best talent opted to stay in Westminster, their second string got beaten in the May elections, and so on offer now is essentially the Labour 3^rd team – not terribly enticing. 

But despite some dreadful results for the Scottish Lib Dems in May, there has been a massive silver lining to that dark cloud – it was the election of my friend Willie Rennie, both as a Member of the Scottish Parliament and as the new Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.  Willie is comfortably the best, most tenacious and most effective opposition politician in Scotland.  He’s the right man in the right place at the right time and I am confident that he will help to reinvigorate and rebuild the Party as we face our next electoral tests, starting with the local elections in May.

President Jed Bartlett, The West Wing – Aaron Sorkin

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