Whisky shows Scotland’s still an afterthought to Labour

If anyone still held out hope that a Labour administration at Westminster would treat Scotland as an equal partner in the UK, the mask has now well and truly slipped.

From the hallowed halls of Whitehall to the corridors of Downing Street, the political priorities of the Westminster government could not be clearer: Scotland is an afterthought; a province to be distracted with empty promises while attention is lavished on projects south of the border.

The latest examples are the Labour Westminster government splashing out funding for universities in the North of England, yet again nationalising parts of its steel industry and, astonishingly and most recently, giving English whisky protected status as if it was some deeply historic product.

Meanwhile Scotland is left watching from the sidelines as Scotland’s Labour MPs act like tumbleweed.

When Scotland is mentioned by Labour Ministers, it is usually to boast about empty shell projects like GB Energy – a venture already tarnished by revelations that over a third of its workforce lives outside Scotland.

It seems Labour’s idea of “investing in Scotland” is writing “Scotland” on a brass plate, mounting it on the doorway of an office in Aberdeen, whilst sending the wages southward.

As the SNP’s Westminster economy spokesperson, Kirsty Blackman MP, has noted, the political project in London has become entirely self-absorbed, operating as if Westminster represents England alone.

Their latest action on English whisky is just the latest example of how they think they can treat Scotland but nothing illustrates this systemic neglect quite like the saga at Grangemouth.

During the election, Labour made grandiose pledges about saving the plant, and when they failed to even do that that pledged a £200 million injection from the National Wealth Fund to safeguard jobs and usher in a green transition for the historic industrial site.

Yet, as a recent Freedom of Information response has laid bare, not a single penny of that £200 million has actually been spent on projects at Grangemouth.

Promising £200 million for Grangemouth and delivering zero pounds is the political equivalent of putting a picture of a hot meal in a cafe window and telling a hungry person that picture is their meal.

It is a cynical phantom promise designed to win votes by deception and tossed into the long grass the moment the ballot boxes are closed.

This pattern of bait-and-switch has been standard operating procedure for Westminster since long before the latest election.

Cast your mind back to 2014, when the Westminster government, desperate to stave off Scottish independence, effectively promised that Peterhead in Aberdeenshire would host the world’s first gas-fired carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility.

Fast forward to today’s reality and while Peterhead has been repeatedly mothballed and sidelined, the Treasury greenlit nearly £22 billion in pledged funding for carbon capture clusters in Teesside and Merseyside.

It is a familiar Scottish story.

When Westminster needs Scotland’s votes, Scotland gets exciting press releases. But when Westminster writes the cheque they aren’t made out to the promised Scottish post code.

Scotland’s green transition is treated like a spare wheel – dusted off for campaign photos, then locked away in the boot when it’s time to drive off.

So where is Westminster money going under Labour?

A quick glance at the Westminster government’s spending ledger reveals a striking geographical bias.

Only this year the Treasury found a staggering £1.3 billion to help fund a Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire. 

Apparently, funding real-world industrial infrastructure in Grangemouth is an impossible fiscal strain, but buying rollercoasters for the Home Counties is an urgent national priority.

It’s just like how Labour focussed on the same area shortly after election with funding to turn the corridor between England’s two elite universities into a domestic ‘Silicon Valley’.

Because if there’s one region in the UK that Westminster thinks requires more public cash, it’s the golden crescent of England’s elite universities.

Or take millions in Chinese investment. Whilst Labour blocks hundreds of jobs around Inverness for a turbine factory, they merrily support millions of Chinese investment throughout England.

Whether it’s backing a third runway at Heathrow or pushing through approval for the massive Lower Thames Crossing, the pattern remains identical. Multibillion-pound megaprojects in  England receive the green light, while Scottish projects are met with blustery, austerity lectures and administrative delays.

To call Labour’s approach “scant attention” would be overly generous; it is a posture of profound arrogance. Of a party that thinks they can treat Scotland as an afterthought and get away with it.

Whether its Scottish Labour MPs boasting about nationalising steel south of the border whilst shafting Grangemouth, energy bill changes that save Scottish families an insulting £3 a month while bills remain hundreds of pounds higher than promised, and a complete refusal to honour democratic choices, this is the reality of Westminster control.

Scotland’s resources, energy, and revenues continue to prop up the Westminster state, yet in return, Scotland is handed leftovers and broken promises.

If Westminster ministers are content to govern purely as a government for England, they must answer a basic question: By what right do they deny the Scottish people the democratic right to choose their own future?

Scotland cannot afford to remain an afterthought in someone else’s country.

It is time for a fresh start with independence – where Scottish resources are spent on Scottish priorities, every single day.