Why Reform UK's Malcolm Offord is the leader that Scotland desperately needs
Malcolm Offord’s candour about his wealth is seen as a political gaffe by some, but Brian Monteith finds it refreshing and inspiring
We have now arrived at that moment when there is a very short but powerful opportunity to change our collective futures. On Thursday, we can vote to decide who should be responsible for making the laws that limit and order us; who levies the taxes that fund the ‘free’ services we are meant to have access to or be protected by; and who directs the hopefully efficient management and delivery of such organisations or institutions.
For most of what we experience as government services in Scotland, we have this one solitary chance every five years to influence the outcomes. The provision of nurseries, schools or colleges and the training and hiring of teachers that first nurture then coach our children and grandchildren is one of many examples of this free service. The building, maintenance and organisation of our clinics, hospitals and all-encompassing healthcare – with its training and management of our largest human workforce, together with the timely provision of complex technical or medical equipment – is another.
The same goes for our policing, courts of justice, transport infrastructure, environmental services, built and living heritage, cultural output – and not least the maintenance and replenishment of our housing stock. For those and many other responsibilities, we put our trust in the hands of 129 legislators who sit in the Scottish Parliament.
Fortunate to be free
Make no mistake, deciding laws that restrict and bind us, place impositions on and confiscate from us – while demanding monies with the threat of criminal prosecution behind it – is a very serious business.
We are fortunate in Britain to be free – but for the restrictions and costs that such legislators place upon us. In many other countries, one is only free to do what legislators give people license to do. I know and have experienced the difference because I have lived under both systems and had to seek out and fill in the permission forms, in triplicate.
So when the opportunity comes to determine laws that impose what our obligations to others should be, what services might be available to us and what costs should be charged for the questionable privilege of enjoying them – what you might summarise as “how we might live our lives” – we should grasp that chance and cast our vote.
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If you are happy with your lot and the cost you have contributed to directly or indirectly – then you may wish to continue with the current management. That would be John Swinney and his supporters – not just from the SNP but also other ‘opposition’ politicians that have often backed him.
If, on the other hand, you believe so much of Scotland is broken, does not work to the level you expect or used to enjoy, then you dare not reward those responsible.
Claims of a lack of money do not ring true when the available funding from Westminster is greater than it ever was and the ability to supplement it by raising Scottish taxes has been applied with a vengeance. Our education and healthcare is deteriorating, our drug deaths and homelessness are a scandal, our healthy life expectancy shameful, our policing and justiciary politicised and our roads an utter embarrassment.
Offord’s rallying cry
I have no skin in the game. I am not a member of any political party and have friends in most if not all of them.
Judging from my eight years in the Scottish Parliament and from what I can see is on offer from the contenders – not just with a chance of winning seats but influencing the formation of an administration – there is no prospect of change without electing as large a cohort as possible of Reform UK MSPs under the leadership of Malcolm Offord.
There are some who find his straight-to-the-point candour (“I have six houses, five boats and six cars”) to be bewildering if not stupid and ill-judged. Personally I admire his statements like “over a 40-year career I’ve employed hundreds of thousands of people and have paid £45 million in tax” as refreshing and inspiring.
His ownership of baubles and his hankering for competitive yachting were at a stroke turned from a stick to beat him up with into an example of his reward for endeavour, good judgment and taking responsibility. A tabloid headline waiting to happen – aided no doubt by comments from those with green eyes and divisive intent – became a rallying cry that offered hope of a more successful Scotland.
What Holyrood doesn’t need
Offord has said repeatedly that what drives him is his aim to make Scotland the most successful and prosperous part of the United Kingdom. He has appealed to supporters of all parties and none to put aside any notions of constitutional change and instead build a better Scotland by unleashing our inherent talent, creativity and tenacity. From the relatively short time we have had the chance to know him, we can see he is someone who gets things done.
If there’s one thing Holyrood does not need, it is more of the same failures. We have heard it all before. The offers of an energy company to control prices that never happened. The pledge of ‘free’ iPads for all schoolchildren that five years later remains unfulfilled. Now the offer is a free school bag!
What we need is for our children to have the ability to read and count at the age-appropriate level. Education was the foundation that made Scotland the success it was before and where we need most change now.
We cannot go on rewarding those that are failing Scotland. To deliver change we must break with old habits and do things differently. Malcolm Offord is an achiever, a Scot who has shown he makes a significant difference. Supporting him on Thursday is our best hope of delivering change.
Brian Monteith is a former member of the Scottish and European parliaments and editor of ThinkScotland.org
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