Ming Campbell opens Scottish Liberal Democrats conference

On Friday afternoon, Federal Party Leader Ming Campbell opened the Scottish Liberal Democrats conference in Aviemore.

For me politics is about determining what is in the national interest and acting upon it.

And we should do it with determination, seriousness and vigour.

Liberal Democrats should always see politics in this positive way.

We should always see politics as an opportunity for change for the benefit of our citizens.

We should always see political challenges not as setbacks but as calls for action.

But as we approach this year’s Holyrood elections, Scottish politics is being diminished and devalued.

Sterile exchanges between the SNP and Labour disguise the issues at stake in a fog of rhetoric and statistics. This is not a great debate but a grand deception.

What Scotland needs is a party that will put Scotland’s interests ahead of short-term advantage. And we are that party.

Labour and SNP locked in bitter conflict while Scottish Conservatives cower in the corner.

Rather than the elephant, the Scottish Tories are the mouse in the room.

But we will fight this election in the interests of Scotland. And that means standing on our record of achievement in Scottish government.

For we have been the driving force behind radical reform in Scotland – not just for the headline achievements for which we are already known:

The abolition of tuition fees, free personal care for the elderly, and PR for local government.

But also for the detailed policies which make a real difference to Scots’ daily lives – trebling recycling rates, investing in medical diagnostics, and freeing up teachers so that they can spend more time helping children to learn.

And so in this election we will be focussing on the issues that matter: increased investment in local health services, smaller class sizes and increased police numbers.

There is of course another issue in this election that is critical for Scotland – the future of the Union.

Alex Salmond wants to use this election to re-open the constitutional debate.

The nationalist leader claims that Scotland’s future is his highest priority.

I wish I could be certain his own future is not his highest priority. (It is JFK in reverse – “Think not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you!!”)

This is the man who uses Scotland as a convenient vehicle for his own personal ambition.

From Scotland to Westminster. From Westminster to Scotland. And then back again. He is in perpetual political motion.

He is like the Grand Old Duke of York of Scottish politics.

When he was up he was up. And when he down he was down. But most of the time he is half way up and neither up nor down.

But I tell you this. We are going to keep him down in Gordon.

But Mr Salmond needs to make his mind up this time and resign immediately from his Westminster seat.

The nationalists are playing politics with the Union. They are playing fast and loose with the future of Scotland.

For the SNP the aim is not good government at Holyrood, but populism in pursuit of divorce from England.

It is no secret that I care passionately about international affairs.

Because it is in that area that I know a strong and united Britain can be a force for good. A Britain committed to the rule of law and the United Nations.

The challenges facing the world today are more complex than at any time in our history.

Terrorism

Conflict.

Third world poverty and debt.

And climate change.

These challenges can only be met by concerted international action and support for international institutions.

The United Kingdom has a proud record only recently tarnished in its support for these values.

The core values of democracy are the best foundations to underpin international affairs.

The world needs countries that stand for these values.

That’s what I think of when I think of the Union.

And that is why I attach real worth to the United Kingdom because standing together the countries of the union can be a force for good on a scale that would be impossible if they were standing apart.

The end of Great Britain would not only spell uncertainty for Scotland’s domestic future, it would weaken our voice for good in the world.

That is not to say that our constitutional arrangements are set in stone.

As Donald Dewar said “devolution is a process, not an event”.

But that is a view the Prime Minister has never truly embraced.

He came to office with a commitment to constitutional reform. But after initial enthusiasm he lost interest.

Opinion polls show that most Scots want a strengthened Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom and that is where we stand too.

We are in touch with Scotland’s priorities.

And that is why we have never been stronger.

Second place in votes and seats in the 2005 Westminster election.

A stunning victory in last year’s Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. A swing of 7% in the Moray by-election, starting from third place.

This is a party on the move. I know it. You know it. And Jack McConnell knows too.

Why else would Labour have stepped up its criticisms of the Liberal Democrats?

And on what grounds does Labour attack us?

With an opportunistic intervention on local taxation.

Our principle is simple.

People should pay taxes in accordance with their ability to do so.

Those who earn less should pay less.

Labour supports an outdated and creaking council tax system that takes no account whatsoever of the earnings of those it taxes.

The lowest earning fifth of households in this country today still pays a greater proportion of their income in taxation than the richest fifth.

Is that Labour’s message for this election? That under Scottish Labour those who earn less should pay more?

Is that what Labour means when they tell us that they are getting tough?

Are they ready to take that message to the streets and housing estates of Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow?

Or to voters in the Borders, the Highlands and Islands and Fife?

Well let’s be clear the Liberal Democrats will not be joining them.

Labour’s attitude to taxation relates to a wider problem.

Tackling the scourge of poverty in 21st century Scotland.

The facts are chilling.

One in five Scottish children still lives in poverty. And in Glasgow – where I was born – it is a shaming six out of every ten.

And among working age Scots adults with no dependent children poverty has actually risen since Gordon Brown became Chancellor.

We need a government with the polices that will cut poverty levels in Scotland.

That is why I have signed up our party to the goal of ending child poverty by 2020.

But we must do more than that. Because our ambition is to go beyond Labour’s dependency culture creating genuine opportunity for those seeking to better their lives.

And we will shortly unveil new proposals for tackling poverty, social exclusion and inequality of opportunity. These will be costed to ensure that any additional spending commitments are offset by savings from elsewhere.

I want to increase opportunities and incentives to work and to save while strengthening the safety net for those who are unable to do either.

We can do this by creating a decent citizens’ pension.

By simplifying the benefits system.

And by ensuring that benefit levels are fair and reasonable.

Employment is the best route out of poverty.

Under Gordon Brown means testing has resulted in thousands of Scots facing effective tax rates of up to and over 90%.

This discourages ambition and penalises hard work.

We must reform the Government’s approach to helping people with disabilities to find work.

Unemployment among this group is higher in the United Kingdom than it is in any other European country.

Many of them want to work but find that the rules make it impossible. Or else they want to work but cannot get the child care they need in order to do so.

What does it say about Labour’s Britain that it is easier to get help from the government to stay out of work than to get help to get into work?

Are you ashamed that the United Kingdom was at the bottom of this week’s UNICEF league table for the well-being of our children? I know I am.

The Prime Minister is in Scotland today burnishing his legacy.

But there is no legacy here for him.

Only an indictment of the failures of his government at home and abroad.

On 3rd May the Scottish voters will give him a verdict he will not like.

He should heed that verdict and go!

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor tell us that every child matters.

But their policies have failed millions of children who feel vulnerable and unsafe.

As Nicol Stephen has made clear young people will be at the heart of our election manifesto.

I am determined that we shall be a party that provides opportunity for the whole of society. For those who work hard to make ends meet. And those who want to better their lives.

It is the Liberal Democrats who are ready to take on the challenge posed by deprivation and exclusion in Scotland today.

One of the greatest challenges to a new Prime Minster will be in foreign affairs.

Britain’s foreign policy should be based on our long term interests.

Britain should have independent foreign policy based on British priorities.

It should have an ethical dimension with the promotion of human rights as its centre piece. That is what Labour called for in opposition. But in Government it has delivered something different.

The alignment of the Bush and Blair foreign policies has sometimes been so close that it has been difficult to distinguish one from the other.

The war in Iraq is the prime example. Our opposition to that war has always been clear and firm. It was an illegal war based on a flawed prospectus.

The failure to plan sufficiently for Iraq’s reconstruction has brought into focus the reality that this war was about regime change.

But what has the change of regime brought to Iraq?

A state of near civil war.

With more than 34,000 civilians killed there last year.

And with a degraded infrastructure where public services like water, electricity and sewerage are worse than they were under Saddam Hussein.

We have been there for four years now.

But as I made clear in the House of Commons last month our presence in Iraq is no longer sustainable.

Britain’s most senior soldier, Sir Richard Dannatt, has said that our presence in Iraq exacerbates the security situation.

A majority of Iraqis think that coalition forces are legitimate targets and an even greater majority think we should leave.

Meanwhile President Bush dismisses the advice of the Iraq Study Group.

Its sensible recommendations for a change in strategy, for regional engagement and dialogue with Syria and Iran were rejected.

The irony is that it was welcomed by the British Prime Minister before it was rejected by the American President.

Against that background we would need overwhelming justification to remain in Iraq.

I do not believe that justification exists. In truth it is time to go.

Of course we must continue to fulfil our obligations to the UN and the Iraqi people to assist reconstruction and regional engagement.

But we can do that without a military presence.

What I am offering is a clear, structured and honourable framework for withdrawal from Iraq by the end of October this year.

The British-American relationship needs to be renewed, reviewed and rebalanced.

And sooner rather than later.

Because there are ominous signs that some in the United States might consider military action against Iran in response to its nuclear programme.

The regime in Tehran is authoritarian, nationalist and oppressive. But in spite of its distasteful characteristics it has interests and influence that cannot be ignored.

Iran must be engaged rather than isolated if we are to stand a real chance of neutralising its nuclear programme.

Already this week international engagement has led to a possible breakthrough in persuading North Korea to modify its nuclear programme. This is an illustration of what can be done.

Military action against Iran would buttress the regime, fan nationalism, further destablise the region, put coaltion forces at risk and disperse nuclear material.

The case against it is overwhelming.

Tony Blair is in Scotland today.

By serving out the longest period of notice in British political history the Prime Minister is creating friction within his Government and uncertainty in the country.

He says that he is speeding up reform but his continued presence is holding it back.

Will a change in Labour’s leadership benefit Scotland?

I very much doubt it.

Regardless of our opponents we know that ours is the party determined to address Scotland’s needs.

We have the ambition. We have the policies. And we have the leadership too.

It was the leadership of Malcolm Bruce and Jim Wallace that went to the Scottish Constitutional Convention and argued for a Scottish Parliament, elected by proportional representation and designed to create the new politics that so many Scots craved. While the Tories ignored the Convention and the SNP stood aside from it.

Our Party has made an immense contribution to the Parliament born of that Convention.

The first years of devolution will be remembered for that Liberal Democrat contribution.

And now we have a new leader to build upon the achievements of Jim Wallace. Nicol Stephen has ambition, energy and drive in abundance.

With the political wind behind him, the collective efforts of those around him he has the potential to turn the Liberal Democrats into the largest single party in the Scottish Parliament.

In doing so he will have the chance to ensure that Scotland’s future is a Liberal Democrat future.

Under that leadership let us seize that chance.