‘Scottish Control of Scottish Affairs’

This chapter continues its analysis of Scottish Conservative ‘nationalist unionism’ by tracing the evolution of the party’s more ostentatiously nationalist ‘Scottish Control of Scottish Affairs’ agenda after the Second World War. This was the consequence of several forces in Scottish and British politics, chiefly rising nationalist sentiment in Scottish society (though the SNP remained weak) and the then Labour government’s centralising policies in relation to nationalised industries. Sensing an opportunity, Scottish Unionists made a nationalist ‘offer’ to the electorate, which helped the party recover at general elections in 1950 and 1951. By outbidding Labour with its Scottish policy agenda, Scottish Unionists were able to present themselves as the most ‘Scottish’ party and the most credible defenders of its distinctiveness within the Union. At the same time, Labour was depicted as ‘anti-Scottish’ and the Home Rule movement (which wanted legislative as well as administrative devolution) as too extreme.