Ferryman Flynn and the Eighties revival keep John Swinney chuckling

A fter a confusing conference season in which Labour and the Conservatives went back to the Eighties and the Green Party self-destructed over Israel, it is left to John Swinney to say what it all means for Scotland at the SNP conference this week. The UK parties have helpfully rolled the pitch for him. There’s a lot for the first minister to like about the reversion to class politics. (That’s when he’s not chuckling inwardly at the misfortune of his putative rival, the transport secretary Stephen Flynn, currently impaled on a gas leak from the Glen Sannox . “Stephen recognised that he should have been across [that] issue,” a grinning Swinney told Laura Kuenssberg, adding: “Nobody’s perfect.”) Most commented 1 Zelensky repeats offer to hold elections if Russia agrees to ceasefire Russia-Ukraine war 1,923 comments 2 Tiger kills man who ‘jumped’ into pen at Yorkshire Wildlife Park 710 comments 3 Christa Pike discharged from hospital after botched execution US news 167 comments 4 Forget fragile defending, I’d much rather glorious attacking than a 6-3 Rugby union 91 comments 5 How John Swinney’s public sector plans revealed deep splits in SNP Scotland 49 comments The new Burnham agenda is in many ways an SNP tribute act. Free personal care? Been in operation in Scotland since 2002, albeit with deficiencies I itemised last week. Water industry nationalisation? We got that. And, of course, the Scottish parliament is elected using PR, which is also on Burnham ’s wish list. Top stories 1 Starbucks ‘explores takeover’ of Chipotle Mexican Grill US business These measures predated the SNP’s ascension to power, but the Scottish government can legitimately claim to have been actively “delivering” them. SNP wants a debate on new powers to tax alcohol, tobacco and vaping Advertisement Burnham may promise to fix the tuition fees mis-selling scandal , but the SNP abolished fees nearly 20 years ago. That brought its own problems, of course, just like rent controls, which Burnham also seems eager to emulate. Top stories 1 Mortgage rates dip after weeks of painful rises Mortgages Manchester Man’s rhetoric is laced with Sturgeon-era social democracy. “We can’t have national security without social security,” he told the Labour conference. Burnham laid into Thatcher’s right to buy council homes. And, of course, the prime minister made clear that he wants to take Britain back in to the European Union. So John Swinney may appear to have little left to add apart from “we got there first”. But it will still require a recalibration of SNP rhetoric to deal with Burnham’s lachrymose leftism. Swinney will, of course, generate righteous conference anger over the “great pensions robbery”. His claim that Burnham’s “adjustment” to the state pension triple lock will lead to Scots pensioners “losing” £2,000 a year has been widely criticised. But Swinney stuck to his guns on Kuenssberg. That Burnham’s plans for a national care service (been there, NOT done that) could involve billions returning in “Barnett consequentials” he regards as hypothetical. Until last week, there had been little sign of the Burnham Bounce bouncing over the border. However, it stands to reason that this Labour PM will be more congenial to Scottish sentiment than Keir Starmer. Burnham’s claim that the UK took a wrong direction 40 years ago under Margaret Thatcher is a message that still resonates with “civic Scotland”. Advertisement Most Scots still want to return to the European Union. What the PM said in his speech about Europe was gnomic. But the briefing since then has made it clear that Burnham is serious about rejoining, with or without a referendum. This is both a problem and an opportunity for Swinney. A problem: if the UK is rejoining the EU, why do Scots still need to vote for the SNP? An opportunity: Swinney can indulge in a fine old rant about how Scotland was dragged out of the EU by English votes. The case for a repeat referendum on independence is unanswerable. However, it clearly is answerable, since there is no obvious demand for an early referendum in Scotland — of any kind. And the reality is that, outside the UK, rejoining the European Union would be a complex two-step process. Much easier if Scotland is part of Britain, with its negotiating clout. That’s if it ever happens. A bit like the first minister’s inchoate plans for public sector reform , revisiting Brexit means entering a minefield with no exit. But, on balance, any focus on borders is safe ground for the SNP. As is culture. Scotland is different, Swinney will insist, and needs no lectures on social democracy or internationalism from UK parties. Tory, after all, is still a four-letter word in Scotland. Advertisement Swinney will assuredly have fun at the expense of both the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch , and Reform’s Nigel Farage. If Burnham has taken Labour back to the Eighties, Badenoch has gone back to the middle of the last century by scrapping inheritance tax on family homes without any upper limit. A £100m castle could now be handed over tax-free. This is arguably the most regressive fiscal measure since Margaret Thatcher halved the top rate of income tax, and it could play badly in Scotland. Only a handful of Scots are actually liable for inheritance tax as things stand, because the average house price is considerably below £325,000 (plus the £175,000 nil-rate band), let alone the £1m that can be inherited by a spouse under IHT rules. This is a transparent pitch to well-off former Conservative voters in the South-East of England. There are only around 11,000 houses in Scotland worth more than a million pounds. Not a lot of potential Tory votes there. Swinney will also no doubt cast shade on the other party of adjacent plutocracy: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. These alleged populists seem to have a rather disturbing affinity for cryptocurrency billionaires who have been funnelling tens of millions into the Farage fighting fund. Who pays the piper? Badenoch helpfully took aim at the Faragistes for allegedly claiming that black football players aren’t really English, even if they were born here. The former Tory home secretary, Suella Braverman, now a Reform spokesperson, says it was “absurd” to call herself English. Reform insist that they’re not racist or “ethnonationalist” but they do seem to be preoccupied with skin colour. Of course, the original ethnonationalists are arguably the Scottish National Party. But they have inverted the race issue by defining as ethnically “Scottish” anyone who happens to live here. Swinney has to be a tad careful about raising the bogey of immigration, given the recent asylum confrontations in Glasgow and other towns. But he can say to acclaim that black football heroes are welcome to come here and become instant Scots. Advertisement Mind you, that is partly because only 1 per cent of Scots defined themselves as Black or Afro-Caribbean in the last census. As the SNP membership demonstrate, the predominant pigmentation of Scots remains blue-white, with a dash of ginger. No skin-colour issues here.