Graham Martin argues that with the independence issue unresolved, the third sector must seize its chance and be an agent of real change.
We’re in a weird place in Scottish politics right now.
Election results like last Thursday’s would have seemed outlandish just 10 years ago.
Think about it – an SNP near-majority in an electoral system designed to prevent majorities, the death agony of Scottish Labour, their eclipse at the polls by the previously toxic Tories.
However, come Friday morning the result was treated with a bleary and wearily shrugged “whatevs”. How things have changed in a decade.
Interestingly, this illuminates the period of contradiction we find ourselves in, one of constant change where not much seems to be happening.
We are experiencing the stasis at the centre of the wheel set frantically in motion by the national question and the 2014 referendum. You can’t fight physics though, so the wheel will wobble.
Among all the factors driving change in Scotland, the third sector must take its place and claim its prominence
The one thing that became clear in this election is that the country is still polarised by yes and no. A stacking of the votes cast shows an almost even split between the pro and anti indy parties.
Given the fractured nature of the unionist vote, and the SNP’s independence hegemony, this almost guarantees Nationalist dominance – for now at least.
Clearly, things have to resolve. Equilibrium is largely a myth, in nature as in politics, only existing in the short-term. The only constant is change – and there is one huge factor driving change in Scottish politics at the moment. Something’s got to give on the national question. I’ll leave it to you to speculate which way it goes.
To paraphrase Billy Bragg, it really does appear that we're waiting for the great leap forwards.
In the meantime, as we wait, it's all business as usual for Scotland’s third sector. We have a hardly chastened but at least slightly checked SNP government, one which must seek support to get policy passed – most promisingly from the Scottish Greens.
They have so far, in these earliest of days, shown good will by agreeing to back the SNP on so-called Named Person legislation. Good – but their main test will come in how they oppose.
Importantly, the SNP now operates on new terrain, on land reclaimed from Westminster as part of the post-referendum Smith settlement.
Both of these factors must play – or be made to play – in the third sector’s favour.
Because what do we do while we wait? We take what we’ve got and we fight for more and better because the third sector cannot be a bystander.
Among all the factors driving change in Scotland, the third sector must take its place and claim its prominence.
Graham Martin is news editor of Third Force News.
