The SNP’s ceasefire posturing is a moral scandal

During the 1980s, numerous Labour-controlled local authorities throughout the country proclaimed themselves to be “nuclear-free zones”. We may be grateful that the extent to which this tactic was effective in protecting them from attack by Soviet missiles was never fully tested.

The central aim of such declarations was not, of course, civil defence, but rather to allow local politicians to emphasise their moral superiority over their political opponents. If it cost the council money in terms of resources and publicity material to do so, well, that’s what the rates were for, wasn’t it?

A similarly fatuous and pointless exercise is being carried out at the Scottish Parliament today. Even Humza Yousaf and his Scottish Labour counterpart, Anas Sarwar, will surely understand that the future peace of the Middle East does not depend on how MSPs will vote on a motion demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Staff at the Israeli Embassy in Edinburgh will not be waiting on tenterhooks for the final vote to be taken so that they can radio it immediately to Benjamin Netanyahu with the message, “Holyrood has spoken – withdraw the troops.”

Today’s vote, however, is nonetheless about “sending a message”, even if the recipients of said message are domestic, rather than international. While the majority of Scots won’t spend a lot of time fixated on the deteriorating situation in Israel, Scotland’s significant Muslim population certainly does.

Criticism of the very existence of the Scottish Parliament will be further energised by today’s pointless, self-important and self-righteous debate. It would be unwise to demand that Holyrood be legally prevented from discussing any subject other than those for which it is responsible. After all, every local parish council can, if it wishes, express disapproval with world leaders for this or that policy, so why not Holyrood?

Still, at a time when MSPs have collectively proved the case against devolution, when all their efforts over a quarter of a century have merely confirmed that devolution has made no measurable improvement to the quality of life of Scotland’s citizens, this is not a good time for such self-indulgence.

Scottish Labour has, perhaps reluctantly, adopted a different approach from that of its UK leader, Keir Starmer, supporting something that would give the Islamist terrorists vital breathing space that would allow them to regroup in advance of their next promised attack.

What makes this vote truly extraordinary is that it falls on the same day that it was revealed that CalMac, which provides ferry services in Scotland, is assuming that the winter 2024/25 timetable will proceed without either of the two new ferries that were commissioned by SNP ministers having been delivered.

The debate is being held in the shadow of an NHS crisis in which one in seven Scots languishes on a waiting list while the minister in charge is fighting for his job after racking up £11,000 in data charges for a parliamentary iPad. The attainment gap between poorer and wealthier pupils in Scotland’s schools – the closing of which former first minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged her party should be judged upon – remains as wide as ever.

The plight of Gaza will no doubt be described in emotional terms by MSPs of all parties, as Scotland continues to suffer the worst rate of drug user deaths in Europe.

With this in mind, it might be wise politically for MSPs from the two governing parties (the SNP and the Scottish Greens) to devote time in the chamber to an issue over which they have no power or influence. After all, on issues where their judgment does hold sway, they have proved themselves unable or unwilling to improve things for the better. So why not opine for a few hours about Israel? 

For the rest of us watching from the outside, today’s debate and vote is a prime example of the vacuity of devolved politics in Scotland. It’s all about the sound bite, the performance, the virtue signalling. God forbid that our representatives focus on the topics we sent them to Holyrood to fix.