Following my Scottish Leader

26 September 2011

Scottish Labour and possibly the Scottish Conservatives are following the Scottish Christian Party lead for distinctly Scottish structural reform to the national Party.

The Labour Party is at last devolving power to the Scottish Labour Party on devolved issues and will elect their Scottish Leader for the first time.  Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader of the Scottish Tory Party, has declared that the Scottish Tories need to be a separate Party from the English Tories.

The Scottish Christian Party went down this course last year when a new Scottish Executive Committee was created with a new Scottish Leader with responsibility for devolved issues in Scotland.

In the 2011 Holyrood Election, the Scottish Christian Party had a Manifesto for Scotland, which would create jobs and develop the economy through improving Scottish transport infrastructure, with long term development of the whole of Scotland by integrating transport and the renewable energy revolution.  The SNP Manifesto was not even Central Belt - it was Edinburgh and Fife, with little to offer the Highlands and Islands.

Christians who complain that the SCP has little influence in Scottish politics may want to pay more attention to what we are doing, but how do the Scottish Tories fare?  Murdo Fraser has said: “We are still a long way from being a real force in Scottish politics. In order to become one we require renewal and change.”  His proposal to have a separate political party in Scotland is an admission that central Tory Party policies have not gone down well in Scotland, and evidently he does not see much prospect of change in the near future.

This should make Christians think.  We have pointed out the lack of Christian leadership in the Scottish Parliament, and we have no idea who will take the lead in the debate on homosexual partnership being included in the definition of marriage.  The Christian community did not elect a Scottish Christian Party politician to articulate the case, so we are waiting to see who will to do it for them - and for us.  For we are all in this together. 

John Mason, MSP, in defending his “perfectly relaxed” attitude to homosexual partnerships, points out that he is not only a Christian but he is a member of the SNP and Scottish Parliament.  This shows that even strong evangelicals are hamstrung by their political affiliation, and it demonstrates the need for the Scottish Christian Party in politics.  He thought his position is not different from Christians working for an unchristian employer.  If this is so, then it simply demonstrates that strong evangelicals are also hamstrung by their employment.  This website has repeatedly shown the squeeze that is on Christians in the workplace and elsewhere.

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