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Scotland and the Union

I shall try to keep a straight face after listening to that. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan) for winning this important debate. Fifty-nine years ago—in a fortnight’s time—I was born in the Lanarkshire mining village of Lesmahagow. I was born and bred a Scot and have had the joy of spending 40 of those 59 years living in Scotland. For 19 years, I lived and worked in a Nottinghamshire coalfield as a miner—a coal face engineer. In 1968, when Scottish miners were chasing jobs owing to the world dependency on cheap oil, I was one of those industrial gypsies forced to seek a better standard of living in England. With my family—my wife and baby son—I had to up and move to the Nottinghamshire coalfields. In 1987, I returned as Member of Parliament for Clydesdale. In my maiden speech, I likened that experience to that of the salmon returning from the sea to the fresh water. However, those 19 years spent living in England, where my daughter was born, and where I now have two grandchildren, provided an invaluable life experience. I begin with that small tour of my personal history to make a point that is central to my fundamental beliefs: I am proud of my place of birth and of the mining stock from whence I came, and to have been born and bred in a country that taught me community, brotherhood and humanity. It did not instil in me negativity and insecurity, or the belief that I am a better person for having been born on a certain side of the street, river or border. We live in a Europe that has seen the scourge of war fired by sectarian nationalism. Surely, if we have learned anything from that dark history it is this: that we achieve more together than we do apart, and that imposing divisions based on the road, the river or the map promotes not brotherhood or humanity, but a sectarian divide that says, ““We on this side are better than you on that side.”” I reject the politics of envy and grievance that encompass the worst extremes of nationalism. I make no apology for my description and analysis of the politics of such elitist nationalism in Scotland today—the smarmy arrogance that all too often accompanies nationalism and its politics of grievance and untruths. It is truly unpalatable. I go further than that and have a message for those in the media who flirt with nationalism: ““You, in the comfort zone of your cosy, chattering-class environment, purvey half-truths and myths to serve a nationalism that has little history of defending freedom.”” I now turn to the European Union. We are told that Scotland will become a member of the EU when it is divorced from the United Kingdom. I have almost 20 year’s experience of working on EU treaties and the European Scrutiny Committee, so I know that it is simply not true that Scotland would be welcomed by the EU as a member state. The SNP knows that. Before there can be further EU enlargement, there must be a treaty change and a unanimous vote by the 27 members of the European Council, which includes many states, such as Spain, Germany, Belgium and France, that would veto any such proposal. The SNP says, ““It is not enlargement,”” but that is not true. Scotland would need to change the relevant treaty to get a commissioner, a seat on the European Council, and representation on the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Auditors. EU membership is just another incredible SNP policy resulting from its huge gamut of presumptions and distortions.