Trump and Farage prove there is such a thing as Scottish values

The Herald Scotland

05-05-2025

The citizenry ask: Is this what we stand for? Should we not hold these principles dear? Why don't we leave these traditions behind?
Indeed, currently all across Britain, the VE Day celebrations are a clear example of a country considering its values, mythologies, and place in the world.
But Scotland is unique. Rather than speak about our values, we run in fear of the discussion.
In Scotland, a huge swathe of people even deny that Scottish values exist; as if every nation on Earth is permitted beliefs informed by shared tradition, culture and political history - apart from this one.
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It's confounding. Evidently, there's the additional tension here of Scottish values being weighed against English values, or British values, or the values of one or other of the constituent parts of the union, Northern Ireland and Wales.
That's often fraught terrain to navigate, but it doesn't mean we must flee debate.
Sadly, whatever limited discussion there is that exists around values is co-opted and mutilated by the minority of hardliners on both sides of the constitutional divide.
Pro-independence ultras see only the milk of human kindness flowing through Scottish values, whilst sneering at the values of England.
The same is true in reverse. The 'too poor, too wee, too stupid' trope of unionist ultras is clearly hostile to the idea of the better angels of Scottish values, whilst the refusal to see any monsters lurking behind the Union flag is an obvious act of cleaving unquestioningly to 'British values'.
It's absurd to maintain the pretence that Scotland is somehow a valueless land; that among all the nations Scotland is uniquely beige and without its own character, beliefs and history.
We need simply listen to our own people, read our own history, experience our own culture to realise that such a position isn't true, and cannot be true, because it cannot be true about any nation.
Scotland's recent political journey makes the case better than any consideration of art, culture or history, though.
Since the 1970s, Scotland has been forcefully rejecting the trajectory of England politically.
Margaret Thatcher started the great schism. There were a few years when - much like now - Scotland and England aligned in a rejection of Conservatism through Tony Blair.
Pro-independence campaigners march through the streets of Edinburgh to Carlton Hill (Image: Stewart Attwood) But that was destroyed by the Iraq War. By 2007, the value-shift was pretty plain to all when the SNP took power.
Scotland was strongly remain, while England was strongly leave on Europe. Scotland loathed Boris Johnson, England adored him while the honeymoon lasted.
Evidently, some Scots were solid leavers, some loved Johnson too; and plenty of English voters were passionate Europeans who held Johnson in utter contempt.
But the broad collective positions of the two countries are evident and impossible to deny.
Today, Reform is the schism-maker. Broadly, over multiple opinion polls the SNP sits in the mid 30s, Labour in the low 20s and the Tories and Reform in the low to mid teens.
If there was a Holyrood election tomorrow, the projections have the SNP on 57 seats, Tories on 15, Labour on 14 and Reform on 8.
In England, we've just seen Reform solidify its position as the formal opposition to Keir Starmer's government.
There's every likelihood that Reform becomes the next government, or lead partner in a coalition. These are differences in values by any estimation.
Let's be clear what's happening here. England isn't rejecting the rise of Trumpian politics, like many other nations. Scotland, however, is rejecting that form of populism.
Labour is deliberately aping Trumpism in order to out-Reform Reform. Labour MP Jo White wants to 'take a leaf out of President Trump's book'. Farage is bosom buddies with America's President, or at least he thinks so.
Internationally, Trump is exposing the soul of nations. Australia and Canada have roundly rejected Trumpism at the ballot box, with populist parties ideologically linked to MAGA beaten.
On the flip side, Romania seems to be breaking for Trump-style politics in its current presidential elections.
Reform carries a Trumpian agenda of dismantling green policies and equality and diversity programmes.
Its poster girl Andrea Jenkyns wants to put refugees in tents. England's elections showed that these values weren't a voter turn-off.
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Metaphorically, Trump is a political microscope. He allows the observer to note the make-up of specific political parties and their polity on an almost chromosomal level.
Keir Starmer is now mocked for adopting a political position somewhere north of the President's colon.
In Scotland, by contrast, John Swinney, calls for Trump's royal visit to be scrapped. Whether you agree or disagree with either man, these are value positions.
Farage is often feted in English regions, but reduced to a hunted pariah when venturing north. This reflects value positions held by the people.
There are plenty of racists in Scotland, but there was no rioting here last summer. That reflects a value position.
There have been protests here against immigrants, but the most memorable protest in Scotland related to immigration was by a crowd of ordinary people stopping a potential Home Office deportation in Glasgow. This was a reflection of public values.
Now, there are plenty of bad points on the spectrum of Scottish values, just as there are many good for England. This isn't an argument about one set of values besting the other.
However, we cannot pretend the nations are one amorphous blob. That would be as absurd as pretending there aren't also some shared values.
The proof around values will be in the voting. As the world collapses into nations either for or against Trump, we'll learn much from how Reform performs in England compared to Scotland come the next election.
If England votes Reform - and its Union Jack MAGA iteration - whilst Scotland backs indy-tinged social democracy, then surely we can put the futile debate about whether national values exist or not to bed.
It seems likely that for those who insist there's no such thing as Scottish values, Donald Trump will prove them wrong.
Neil Mackay is the Herald's Writer-at-Large. He's a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics