Professor Ben Thomson CBE, FRSE was educated at Edinburgh University, where he received a BSc (Hons) and honorary doctorate (Arts), and was a Scottish international athlete. His main career has for 35 years been in finance, and between 1997 and 2010 he was chief executive and then chair of the Scottish investment bank Noble Group. After leaving Noble Group he became a founding partner and chair of two new Scottish fund management companies, Urbicus and Inverleith.
Ben has been actively involved in government policy and the Scottish public sector. In 2007, he founded the think tank Reform Scotland, and chaired the campaigns for greater fiscal responsibility (2010), Devo Plus (2012) and Scottish Home Rule (2016). He has advised the Scottish government on the banking sector and produced the Thomson Report on the Scottish legal system in 2010. He was also a director of Scottish Financial Enterprise and a chair of the National Galleries of Scotland and Creative Scotland.
Ben is currently chair of Inverleith, Planet Organic and OMNOS, and a visiting professor at the Business School of Dundee University.
In memory of
Alick Buchanan-Smith
Scottish Home Rule
The Answer to Scotlands Constitutional Question
Ben Thomson
First published in 2020 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
10 Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
Copyright Ben Thomson 2020
ISBN 978 1 78885 378 1
The right of Ben Thomson to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Designed and typeset by
Mark Blackadder, Edinburgh
Printed and bound by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
Contents
Appendix I
Summary of UK Parliament Powers Under a Home Rule Settlement
Appendix II
Summary of Current Scottish Parliament Powers
Appendix III
Summary of New Scottish Parliament Powers Under a Home Rule Settlement
Foreword
The Rt Hon. Lord Campbell of Pittenweem CH, CBE, PC, QC, FRSE
I think I was about twelve years old and tall for my age when, in the early 1950s, I was encouraged sign the Scottish Covenant, the brain child of Dr John MacCormick, calling for Home Rule for Scotland.
In 1978 I was a small player in the Scottish Liberal team led by Russell Johnston, the long-time MP for Inverness and passionate supporter of Home Rule, which negotiated with the Labour Government represented by John Smith MP, then a Minister of State, some small changes in the Bill for a Scottish Assembly which failed to achieve the 40 per cent of the electorate hurdle in 1979.
And I stood with Charles Kennedy MP, later Leader of the Liberal Democrats, as we both signed at the same time the Claim of Right, the outcome of the constitutional convention of the late 1980s in which neither the Scottish Conservatives nor the SNP participated. Influenced by the legacy of John Smith, the Claim of Right ultimately led to the United Kingdom Parliament passing the Scotland Act of 1998 and the Scottish Parliament.
But following the Gladstone and Asquith tradition, I never lost my belief that Home Rule was and remains to this day the best and most effective and stabilising devolving of power from Westminster to Edinburgh. Its hardly surprising, therefore, that I should need no second bidding to endorse Ben Thomsons lucid, well argued and impeccably researched case for Home Rule.
At the time of writing, the political, economic and social consequences of Covid-19 are so uncertain that even the most noisy advocates of Scottish independence have felt it necessary to turn down the volume. But Thomsons assumption that at some time in the future the constitutional issue will once more be presented to the people of Scotland is hardly unreasonable.
In the negotiations led by Michael Moore MP, the then Secretary of State for Scotland, and Nicola Sturgeon, then Deputy First Minister, between Edinburgh and London, David Cameron set himself against any other choice in the 2014 referendum than a binary one.
There are those who believe that if Home Rule had been on the ballot paper it would have prevailed. Ben Thomson argues persuasively that Home Rule should be included in any future test of Scottish opinion. He does so by way of an informed account of the Home Rule movements origins and the efforts of its supporters to promote it.
But this book is not a list of wishes. It contains detailed analysis of the fundamental issues of taxation and the division of powers between Edin-burgh and London. This being Scotland, he can hardly expect unity of response. But those who accept the need for lasting and stable constitutional reform to meet the aspirations of the Scottish people and to secure Scotlands place in the United Kingdom will find much to encourage them that Home Rule is both desirable and practicable.
Menzies Campbell is the former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Member of Parliament for North-east Fife. Since 2015 he has been a member of the House of Lords.
Preface
In my 35 years of business I have seen many management styles. Generally, however, managers and their organisations fall into two camps: the first favours heavy centralisation and getting things done through a chain of command, while the second favours delegated management, with responsibility devolved to those in charge of the relevant part of the business. I have always and unashamedly been in the second of these camps. Fundamentally, I believe that people will rise to the job if they are given responsibility within an organisation and allowed to stand on their own two feet. As this book will demonstrate, it is this principle that has guided my support for Scottish Home Rule.
Of course, sometimes it is risky to delegate, and sometimes people may let you down, making good guidance and support all the more important. And, yes, often the person with greater experience could have done a task faster, but doing so would have meant denying others the experience they needed to improve. Overall, though, my own management career has been amply rewarded by seeing so many people rise to the responsibilities they have been given.
I have long been interested in politics, and between school and university I worked as a researcher in the House of Commons. Government at any level involves a wonderful (and sometimes not-so-wonderful!) mix of people, ideas and beliefs. Everyone can and should contribute. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to meet and debate with politicians from all major parties, and through advising government have been able to gain insight into how it operates. It has always struck me how similar the structure and management of business organisations and government is. In my assessment, government errs towards centralisation and so struggles to delegate this applies across the board, from the civil service executive who carries out public sector work to the various local and community levels of government. Arguments regarding organisation often heard in large centralised businesses are echoed in Westminster: the quality of local politicians not good enough and blame comes back to the top, so the top must manage things.
