Fifty-five years ago this month, Winnie Ewing won a famous by-election for the SNP in Hamilton.
In her words to the crowd outside the count, she encapsulated the outward-looking sentiment that in my experience has always been a motive force of Scottish nationalism: “Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on”.
Inasmuch as political nationalism played a role in restoring degrees of control to Scotland – including the creation of the Scottish Office in the late 19th century, and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 – a consistent feature of these different institutions has been a desire to engage with the wider world.
The ambition has encompassed all of Scotland’s political parties.
The Scotland Europa office in Brussels was founded in 1992, under the pre-devolution Conservative government, to promote our nation’s interests across the EU.
Scottish Office ministers in those days regularly travelled to places such as the US, Canada and Japan, as well as European countries.
They did so in order to build links and help boost Scotland’s trade and investment.
Soon after devolution, the Labour/Lib Dem coalition took this activity several steps further.
For example, a ministerial external affairs portfolio was created in 2000. And a Scottish diplomatic presence in Washington opened the following year.
For readers interested in these developments, I recommend a book by my old friend from Perth, Stephen Gethins.
The former SNP MP for North East Fife is now at the University of St Andrews.
In Nation to Nation: Scotland’s Place in the World, Professor Gethins describes how Scotland has developed a significant foreign policy footprint.
And he explores how this could be used either as a resource by the UK, or to provide the foundations for the foreign ministry of an independent Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon COP27 visit is part of bigger picture
This is the context in which we should view the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s visit to COP27 – the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt.
It is the continuation of a path along which Scotland has been journeying for decades and centuries.
Even in recent times, this is the fifth COP event that Nicola Sturgeon has attended, including Glasgow last year.
Scotland has devolved responsibilities in areas such as promoting renewable energy, and reaching net zero in greenhouse gas emissions.
We operate internationally as the European Co-Chair of the Under2 Coalition: the largest global network set up to drive climate action across the world; comprising diverse spheres of government across states, nations and regions.
Our contribution may be relatively small, but any nation with good intentions can make a big difference by the power of example.
World is watching Nicola Sturgeon COP27 commitments
Scotland was the first developed nation to pledge financial support for loss and damage, because of climate change, suffered by developing countries in the Global South.
In Egypt, Ms Sturgeon announced an additional £5 million from the Scottish Government’s climate justice fund, taking Scotland’s commitment in this area to £7 million.
At @COP27P, First Minister @NicolaSturgeon met with representatives from Global South countries.
They discussed first-hand experience of #lossanddamage and how vital urgent funding and direct action is to helping mitigating the impacts. pic.twitter.com/DGQhAOMkSL
— First Minister (@ScotGovFM) November 7, 2022
Such funding enables communities to determine their own actions in addressing impacts such as extreme weather events, slow-onset damage caused by rising sea levels, loss of biodiversity and cultural heritage, and inequalities made worse by our warming planet.
Potentially of much greater value, the issue of loss and damage is formally on the COP agenda for the first time.
To quote Professor Saleem Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development: “The Scottish Government’s leadership in this area, including this latest funding pledge, is welcome and I hope it will prove an inspiration to other countries to take action to provide funding for loss and damage with urgency at COP27.”
By clambering onto the world, Scotland can play our part in moving humanity’s shared home in the right direction.
Conversation