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Scotland and the Union

Of course those people are entitled to their opinions, and I hope that they make them clear. We want to hear the opinions of business people throughout the course of the debate. However, there is no way that members of my party would get into the game of insulting such people, unlike the Prime Minister, who spoke about George Mathewson. I shall not disparage and insult the people who we saw this morning, for example. They are entitled to their views. We will leave such actions to the Prime Minister, if the Minister does not mind. As I said, the Prime Minister is back in Scotland today. We know how bad it is for the Prime Minister because when he last came to Scotland, he pleaded with the Scottish people not to give him one more kicking. ““I am going away,”” he assured them, and for that they will be eternally grateful. ““Do not give me one last kicking,”” he said. We Scots are a reasonable people, and, as far as possible, we would like to oblige and indulge the Prime Minister. However, we will give him one hell of a kicking on Thursday. The Scottish people will have their say about him, and it will not be a pretty sight. It will not be a pretty sight for the Prime Minister and it will not be a pretty sight for the Chancellor, who is probably now even more unpopular than the most unpopular Prime Minister since records began. The elections will be a disaster for the Chancellor in his own back yard because he will be defeated. What type of Prime Minister will he be then? I make a plea to Labour Members: please keep the Prime Minister in Scotland until Thursday. We want to ensure that we get our vote out so that we have as large a majority as possible. Will they keep the Prime Minister in Scotland for as long as they can? His presence in Scotland has focused attention on the Government’s policy in Scotland. Why has the negativity failed this time? Labour Members thought that they simply needed to put the frighteners on the Scottish people one more time and they would all fall into line. That will not happen and there are two very good reasons why it will not. First and most important, the Scottish people do not believe a word that this Government and the Prime Minister say anymore. If this Prime Minister and the Government are prepared to tell untruths—I will not go into why—about why this country went to war, which is the most important fundamental decision that a Government can make, why should the Scottish people believe them about anything else? Why should they believe what the Government say about the details and features of our policy to replace the hated council tax when they tell such huge whoppers about going to war? Of course, people do not believe a word that the Government say anymore.