Councillor Thomas Heald is a Scottish Conservative councillor for Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, former Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Dunfermline and former political advisor in the Scottish Parliament.
There was something almost inevitable about the famously shy former First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, travelling to Belfast and declaring that a united Ireland might happen before Scotland becomes independent.
For Scotland’s nationalists, the Republic of Ireland has always served as both an inspiration and a reassurance. It is proof, in the nationalist mind, that a relatively small country on the edge of Europe can separate itself from the United Kingdom and make a success of independence.
Of course, this argument is very selective when it comes to remembering the violent years of revolution, civil war and economic decline that followed. Nor does the nationalist ‘love-in’ with Sinn Fein, who strive for the creation of a single political entity on the island of Ireland, make much sense when you realise that the raison d’etre of nationalists in Scotland is to create a border on the other island.
Nevertheless, perhaps there are lessons that Scotland can learn from its neighbours in the Republic of Ireland without the need for independence.
I must, at this point, declare an interest. My wife is Irish, my children are therefore half Irish and I spend most of my holidays on that wonderful island. I am, as you might say, Hiberno-British.
The Republic of Ireland is far from perfect. The housing crisis in the country is severe, infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with population and economic growth and public services face many of the same pressures as our own. In addition, the state’s reliance on corporation tax receipts from a comparatively small number of multi-national businesses presents obvious risks in the medium term.
Nobody sensible would suggest importing the entire Irish economic model wholesale. Countries are not flat-pack furniture, and political systems rarely come with an easy-to-read instruction manual.
Yet Ireland’s political mainstream retains something that has largely disappeared from Scottish politics: an unapologetic belief that economic growth, private investment and individual ambition are good things.
Last week, new planning exemptions came into force in Ireland permitting qualifying homeowners to construct detached homes of up to 45 square metres in their gardens without going through the full planning application process.
There are, rightly, conditions. The accommodation must meet building standards, homeowners must notify the local authority and restrictions apply as to its use. These are not shanty towns being waved through by ministerial decree.
Nor will garden homes single-handedly solve Ireland’s housing shortage. But the reform reflects an important presumption: where people can safely create additional accommodation for relatives or tenants, the state should try to enable them rather than erecting yet another barrier.
Compare that with Scotland. Our permitted-development rules allow homeowners to erect sheds, garages and other ancillary buildings, but explicitly prevent those buildings from being used as separate dwellings. Someone may be permitted to build a garden room in which to work, exercise or store several bicycles, but using it to provide a home for an elderly parent or an adult child is another matter.
This distinction rather neatly sums up the Scottish approach to housing.
We have declared a national housing emergency. Councils have declared local housing emergencies. Ministers have published plans, strategies, frameworks and road maps. In Scotland, we have come to pride ourselves on our ability to produce several strategies more quickly than building the house itself.
Meanwhile, rents remain high, younger people struggle to find secure homes and developments are held up by an expensive and adversarial planning system.
Of course, not every garden is suitable for another home. Neighbours have rights, standards matter and local infrastructure cannot be ignored. However, the starting point should be that responsible development is desirable, not that every proposal represents a potential threat requiring years of negotiation.
The Irish example matters beyond planning.
Irish ministers regularly speak about allowing working people to keep more of what they earn, attracting investment and ensuring the country remains competitive. Ireland has not abandoned public spending. The recent investment in access to disability services for example is notable in its ambitions and scale. However, its politicians recognise that these investments must be underpinned by economic growth.
The Scottish Government’s default position is that additional taxation pays for better public services. This would be a stronger argument if people believed that those services were noticeably better or indeed if the government’s tax policy achieved its stated aim of more cash for the Scottish Exchequer.
Last week brought further evidence that the Scottish Government’s policies may not be achieving its stated purpose.
Analysis of the latest HMRC figures suggests that Scotland’s 48p top rate may have cost the Scottish Exchequer roughly £22 million during its first full year.
As Conservatives, we know that tax is not merely a method of collecting revenue. It sends a message about what a country values. For the entire existence of the Scottish Parliament, Ministers have consistently told successful workers that earning more will be met with a steadily increasing claim on their income, even if the state becomes less capable of delivering the services that supposedly justify it.
Ireland’s message has been different: work, invest, build and create employment and you will be welcome.
That approach has not been without cost or mistakes. But there can be little doubt which message is more likely to attract investment and encourage ambitious people to stay.
The SNP will look across the Irish Sea and see a constitutional destination. Conservatives should look there and see a challenge.
We need to be asking two very basic questions: why should Scotland not be as determined as the Irish to attract investment and why should our planning system not make it easier to build homes?
None of this requires independence.
The Scottish Parliament already controls planning, skills, economic development, business rates and significant tax raising powers including the setting of income tax bands. What they lack is not the constitutional authority but, ironically, the political appetite to look to our neighbour to the west.
A genuinely confident Scottish Conservative policy programme should take the best lessons from Ireland while avoiding its mistakes.
A more stable and competitive tax system; planning rules that favour responsible development; infrastructure delivered alongside new housing; stronger technical education; support for domestic businesses; and a renewed belief in home ownership should all be top of Russell Findlay’s wish list when it comes to budget negotiations.
It would also mean recognising that growth is not a regrettable side effect of capitalism from which ministers must extract as much revenue as possible. Growth creates the jobs, wages and tax receipts on which every functioning public service depends.
The Unionist case should never be that Scotland has nothing to learn from its neighbours. Indeed, one of the strengths of the United Kingdom is that we can examine what works elsewhere without erecting new borders between us.
Nicola Sturgeon prefers to look to Ireland for reassurance that Scotland will eventually leave the United Kingdom. We’ve heard this all before and, frankly, the former First Minister’s track record for constitutional predictions is far from stellar.
The more simple lesson is sitting in plain sight.
Small countries prosper when they welcome investment, reward work and allow people to build. Scotland does not need Irish-style independence.
It needs some Irish-style ambition.