Last week the Tory Government was caught like a rabbit in the headlights of public opinion when faced with the prospect of thousands of steel job losses.
The Business Secretary was in Australia on a trade promotion that turned out to also be an extended holiday. The Prime Minister was in Lanzarote. The junior minister, left minding the shop, said that “nothing had been ruled out”, foolishly raising false hopes of real Government intervention.
These were soon dashed by Sajid Javid ruling out public ownership, even for an interim period. Unfortunately he had next to no idea what to rule in.
And this weekend he screeched into a double U-turn and said temporary public ownership was possible if not likely. All this Tory confusion points to some deep lessons.
Firstly, presiding over the end of the Welsh steel industry will be a mark of Cain for the Tories just as it was for them in Scotland when Ravenscraig was closed in the early 1990s. It will haunt them not just with steelworkers but with all those deeply uncomfortable with the idea that you can run the economy without actually making anything tangible and that industrial communities are therefore expendable.
That is a view not just confined to left wingers. It was Winston Churchill who once warned of the dangers of “making finance too proud and industry too poor”. We are now in that position in a deflationary spiral with just about every resource-led industry, whether it be farming, oil or steel, in deep trouble.
George Osborne has been accused kowtowing to the Chinese but the real criticism should be not his pursuit of the relationship but rather what the Chancellor’s key objectives have been.
Osborne’s aim has not been a productive industrial partnership but rather Chinese financial institutions parked in the city of London and Chinese gold for nuclear power.
That is the explanation for the bizarre wrecking role that the UK has played in European initiatives. Instead of joining in the emergency measures to counter the dumping of steel the UK Government led the opposition and now the UK steel industry is being hoist on the Osborne petard.
Secondly, those who suggest that “there is no alternative” or “nothing can be done” are just examples of politicians born without imagination. In international terms the British steel industry is tiny. China has produced more steel in the last two years then the UK in the last century.
However, much of the domestic output is of high quality and specialist steels. There are still markets to be won with the right product mix but the disadvantage of sky high energy prices relative not just to the Chinese but compared to just about every competitor has to be addressed as does the steel pension fund black hole.
This could be achieved by having a supported program of on site renewable energy plants for heavy energy users and by parking the steel pension liability with a Government guarantee, as was done for the Royal Mail a few years back.
All of that would cost money but it would be a more sensible use of public funds than pouring £170 billion of lifetime costs down the Hinkley Point nuclear black hole or paying for a lifetime’s unemployment for redundant steel workers.
That brings us to the third point which is the contrast between the won’t do inaction of the Westminster Government and the can do approach of the Scottish Government.
When faced with closures in Clydebridge and Dalzell, the Scottish Government convened a taskforce, bought the assets from Tata and then sold them on to the international metals group Liberty House, which is at the forefront of the “green” steel initiative whereby recycled materials are used as the key raw material.
The initiative may or may not be wholly successful, although the early indications are very positive. However, at least it is an example of doing something and not sitting back.
At the end of the day it boils down to what kind of country we want to be. There is one future for Scotland which sees us as a regional outpost of the UK rentier state with its vast disparities of wealth and power both socially and regionally.
This is a deeply imbalanced system which is heading for the social and economic sands.
Alternatively we can marshall the natural and human resources of this country, mobilise its intellectual capital and international reputation to build an outgoing European democracy.
That is a future worth having and is the real lesson that the crisis of Welsh steel has for Scotland.
Boris could be independence’s ‘Trump’ cardIs there more to the connection between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson than their hair styles?
Last week Johnson proclaimed that being mistaken for the Republican front-runner by a young lady in New York was one of his “worst moments”.
There is no record Trump has ever been mistaken for the London Mayor or what he would think about it if he was.
However perhaps there is more to the New Yorker’s mistake than meets the eye. There are similarities between the pair. The Donald is a billionaire who campaigns against the establishment.
The Boris is an old Etonian who projects an image as a rebel. Both men have a degree of popularity. Johnson leads the Tory hopefuls to replace Cameron as Prime Minister. Trump tops the Republican hopefuls to be the candidate to become the next president.
Both are short in detail. Faced with any serious interviewer, Trump crumbles. Boris melted like a snowflake in front of the forensic examination of the Treasury Select Committee.
If asked to choose between the American demagogue and the Tory deep blue sea then I would choose the blue. Boris is unlikely to build a wall at Calais, propose a nuclear armed South Korea or consider nuking Europe.
And, as Prime Minister, Boris would be the best recruiting sergeant for Scottish independence since Margaret Thatcher!
Fantastic role modelWhich major-winning Scottish golfer apart from Paul Lawrie is still playing at the top level professionally?
And which Scottish golfer has the best chance of making the Olympic team?
The answer to both questions is Catriona Matthew, winner of the Women’s British Open in 2009. More than 20 years as a tour
professional, she is still at the top of her game as she demonstrated yet again this week in the ANA Inspiration tournament.
There is no better role model for youngsters than the immaculate Catriona Matthew.