The Scottish Government may have its failings – and we are not slow to point them out.
But the idea that the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum vying to be leader of the Conservative party should hold Holyrood to account is laughable.
The Scottish Parliament could do with reform and Labour’s Anas Sarwar has outlined plans on that.
But trying to pull Scottish civil servants down to Westminster for a review once a year is a non-starter.
The proposal from Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss sounds as if Scottish politicians and mandarins would be carpeted in the headmaster’s office.
The Tory candidates’ sparse ideas for Scotland show how little they or their party understand about how the country works and what makes it tick.
Anyone with ambitions to be both Prime Minister and a statesperson would use a trip to Scotland to build diplomatic bridges with the government and voters, even non-Tories.
But these two are shamelessly pandering to the hard-right voters of the Conservative party and deploying every trope they can to cast Scotland and its government as some kind of bogeyman that needs confronted.
There is nothing more guaranteed to inflame nationalist sentiment in Scotland than stirring nationalism in England.
And Truss and Sunak are outdoing each other on that score.
Once again the Tories prove that no matter who they choose, they are the biggest threat to the Union.
A sensible voice
At last, a man with a plan.
Keir Starmer’s radical £29billion prescription to do away with the shocking energy price rise this winter has the ring of reassurance about it.
Labour called for a windfall tax months before the Tories were dragged to the table to deliver a half-cocked version of the plan.
Now they’re back with Windfall 2.0, a plan to save Britain this winter.
Properly taxing energy companies and cancelling the price cap is the solution that will stave off heating or eating poverty for millions.
It is not the nationalisation that the left have called for.
That would take more money which is needed right now to keep people’s homes warm.
It is a temporary measure but it has more detail and more thought than either of the two Tory candidates for PM have come up with or outgoing Boris Johnson could be bothered with.
It’s refreshing that there really is a potential Prime Minister out there, backed by a team who appear able to read the economic graphs as well as read the mood of the country.
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