Ed's turn

Yesterday we had the pleasure of Ed Miliband's company here in Scotland, when he visited the East End of Glasgow on a campaigning trip.  While here he promised that if Labour is elected he will see to it that a bill for home rule for Scotland will be put before parliament within 100 days after their election.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  As ever, though, the devil is in the detail.  You and I think of home rule meaning the Scottish parliament makes decisions on everything except matters of defence and foreign affairs.  Mr Miliband's interpretation is somewhat different.

For Mr Miliband, home rule means the watered-down recommendations of the Smith Commission that were in the recently published command paper,   And if that isn't enough, they intend next month to force a vote on devolving the promised job-creating powers.  And if that doesn't work, Labour will immediately devolve power over the Work Programme on taking power in May.

As damp squibs go, it's wetter than a haddock's bathing suit.

Mr Miliband yesterday also gave Labour in Scotland his full backing to make its own decisions.  However, he also gave the game away.

Speaking at a campaigning event with Murphy in Glasgow’s east end, the UK Labour leader praised his Scottish counterpart’s “energy, dynamism and vision”, adding that it was “absolutely right that when it comes to devolved issues, for Jim to make those decisions”.

 So, as it turns out, the fabled autonomy that Jim Murphy has been boasting of since he was made leader turns out to be only on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament.  For everything else, it's the Labour party line.  Not quite the sweeping powers he has been leading us to believe then.