As UK flirts with leaving European Convention on Human Rights, SNP must stand by the rule of law
The quest for Scottish independence must adhere to democratic norms and Europe’s rules-based system – international recognition matters
In politics, being clear on what you are for and what you are against can be an underrated quality. At Westminster, in the face of an increasingly radical right, the reluctance of a Labour government – elected on a mandate of change, with a big majority and powers that devolved institutions can only dream of – to take on some of the right’s language on immigration and Euro-scepticism is frustrating and ultimately damaging.
The Conservative decision to follow Reform, in seeking to abandon the rights we enjoy under the European Convention of Human Rights, should be a warning to everyone who values those rights and the progress that has been made in post-war Europe. The ongoing Brexit debacle illustrates why we should be in no doubt about the danger that failing to take on that rhetoric can pose.
As a member of the UK’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I have seen first-hand the value of that institution. Older than the European Union, the Council of Europe is often mistaken for it. Its building is adjacent to the European Parliament in Strasbourg and it shares a flag and the name of one of its institutions with the EU, but they are distinct entities. A simple mistake too often made by those who should know better at Westminster.
Churchill’s role in bringing Europe together
Like the EU, the Council has its origins in the movement to bring lasting peace to Europe, with Winston Churchill coining the phrase a “Council of Europe”, speaking in Switzerland in 1946, as an idea to bring democratic Europe together. The UK was one of the founding members in May 1949 with the parliamentary assembly first meeting on August 10 that year.
The Council acts as a focal point for democratic Europe, and a defender of the European Convention of Human Rights, a cornerstone of the rights we enjoy as citizens. It has grown from about a dozen member states to 47 today. It is a lynchpin of the defence of democracy and the rule of law in Europe and beyond.
It is rightly taken seriously by those in Europe who take democracy and human rights seriously. Senior politicians, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, engage in its work.
The idea that the UK might leave has been met with bewilderment and alarm across Europe. At a time when Europeans feel democracy and the rule of law to be under threat, the increased chatter from the Westminster bubble that the UK should leave is considered nonsensical and irresponsible.
UK following criminal regimes?
The only states to have abandoned the European Convention in recent times are Russia and Belarus, hardly good company. Greece also left in the 1960s, during a period of military rule, rejoining once democracy had been re-established.
That the UK might seek to follow the criminal regimes in Minsk and Moscow out of the door, at a time when Europe needs to pull together has caused astonishment, not least from Ukrainians literally fighting on the front line of democracy. Their MPs attend Strasbourg and are one of the hardest-working delegations.
Having spent time in Brussels, Strasbourg and Westminster (much more time in the latter), the divergence in UK politics from the rest of Europe is clear. To sell out one’s hard-fought rights to the snake-oil salespeople who claim leaving will solve the UK’s woes is a dash to the bottom that started with the arguments to leave the EU. Since that project has failed, anti-European politicians are now going for the next straw men that they can blame.
This is a dangerous path and one that must be challenged. Leaning into Reform and Conservative arguments simply gives them a credibility that is ill deserved, and the caution of Labour in taking on these extreme views simply makes it much more likely that leaving will seem inevitable.
This moment of danger also provides clarity about the difference between political aspirations across these islands. On the one hand, an ever-more isolated Westminster, cast adrift from its allies and partners across Europe, and, on the other, an administration in Edinburgh – as well as in Dublin and elsewhere – that gets the importance of multilateralism and a unified Europe.
Defending European values
The SNP, starting its conference in Aberdeen today, must seize the moment to make the case for the European mainstream as an integral part of its goals. This means accepting we are not isolated, but rather, as history teaches us, that Scotland is an integral part of the European family of nations.
We must defend and uphold the rights enshrined and defended by the European institutions – in Strasbourg and Brussels. That places the party as being on the right side of public opinion as well as aligned with the rest of democratic Europe.
With the Westminster political bubble increasingly converging on a position that would be considered on the far-right elsewhere in Europe, there is plenty of political space for the SNP. Maintaining a fierce defence of European values and an international rules-based system should shape the First Minister’s actions and the way in which the SNP seeks independence. This must be one that makes democracy, the rule of law and the values that have held the peace in Europe for almost 80 years priorities, ensuring that the quest for independence adheres to the democratic norms and the international rules-based system.
Unlike at Westminster, there should be a recognition that working with our neighbours and agreeing common values and rules is an important part of our political journey. Democracy, the rule of law and international recognition matter.
Standing firmly in favour of European cooperation and its institutions places the case for independence in the political mainstream, exactly where it should be.
Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
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