A groundbreaking initiative aimed at improving our political culture is being launched by the University of Glasgow’s John Smith Centre, in partnership with leading Scottish businesswoman Dr Marie Macklin CBE.
Branded “Political Conversations”, the initiative’s first event this Monday (June 23rd) will bring together senior politicians from across the political divide at Kilmarnock Academy in East Ayrshire.
It will see former Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party leader Jackson Carlaw, MSP, joined by former MSP Alex Neil, who served as an SNP cabinet minister in the Scottish Government.
Together, they will take part in an in-conversation style event in front of an audience of senior pupils, with the aim of demonstrating that it is possible to hold deeply opposing views on key political issues whilst still respecting one another and being able to debate points with civility.
Engaging younger people in a positive way with the political process has never been more important, with mounting evidence they are turning away from politics and are being put off the idea of participating in the political arena themselves, such is the level of toxicity on display.
Launching the initiative, Eddie Barnes, Director of the John Smith Institute, said:
Politics is still the best way to make change in society but we know too many young people are turning their backs on democratic engagement because they don’t believe it matters or because of the toxicity of our public debate.
Political differences of opinion have always existed and indeed are fundamental to the democratic process. But whereas in the past people were able to express those differences respectfully, we now live in an era in which rancour, toxicity and even abuse are all too commonplace. The consequences are worrying: when we asked young people whether they backed democracy over dictatorship, more than a third said they’d support dictatorship.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can continue to disagree on issues, but what matters is the way in which we do so.
In short, we need to learn how to disagree more agreeably – with courtesy, civility and in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Political polarisation is not unique to Scotland, or indeed to the UK as a whole – it is a phenomenon which can be observed across much of the democratic world.
But it is a polarization which, as our own recent opinion polling has shown, has younger people deeply worried about the future of democracy.
Political Conversations, by bringing together experienced politicians from different traditions and who over the years have often found themselves on opposite sides of debate – but who nevertheless respect each other and ae able to show that in the way they interact – is a potentially important contribution in the search for a better politics, and I’m delighted that Jackson and Alex have agreed to take part in this first event.
Dr Marie Macklin CBE, who is co-hosting the event, said:
I have always been deeply interested in the political process, and whilst I am not affiliated to any one party, I believe it is vital that we do more to engage younger people in a positive way with politics.
The toxicity we witness all too often these days is having a profoundly corrosive effect not only on our day-to-day political debate, but on the foundations on which our politics sits.
That is because it is a climate which is actively discouraging more and more young people from engaging with the political process. That is a worrying trend, because the potential leaders of tomorrow are currently in schools across the country, and need to be shown that politics can be both a force for good and something that is conducted with civility and respect.
I am delighted to be partnered with the John Smith Centre in bringing the first event in this initiative to Kilmarnock Academy, my old school.
And I look forward to seeing Political Conversations being brought to other schools soon.
A recent opinion poll of younger adults commissioned by the John Smith Centre found that while most believe in democracy, they fear for its future, with 63 per cent believing that democracy in the UK is ‘in trouble’. There was also a strong call for ‘better politics’, involving more honest, more open debate.
This week’s event is envisaged as the first in a series of similar events in schools across Scotland, to be facilitated by the John Smith Centre, in which other leading political figures will take part in debate and discussion on the way forward for the political process.
Looking ahead to Monday’s event, Jackson Carlaw, MSP, said:
I’m delighted to be taking part in the very first event in this new initiative, and to have the opportunity to engage in political debate in front of an audience of senior pupils in Kilmarnock.
Alex and myself have crossed swords rhetorically many times over the years, and will no doubt continue to hold opposing views on many issues, but I hope that by taking part in this event we can demonstrate that it is possible to do so in a way that is positive, respectful and constructive.
Alex Neil said:
Engaging younger people with politics in a positive way is absolutely essential, not least given the level of polarisation we are currently witnessing.
I was very happy to accept the invitation from the John Smith Centre and Marie to participate in this event, and I look forward to discussion with Jackson, with whom I have had many lively but respectful debates with over the years.
Jackson Carlaw MSP
Born in Giffnock, Jackson, 66, was raised in Newton Mearns and worked for 25 years as a car salesman, becoming joint head of FirstFord car dealership in the west of Scotland. He was also a director of Wylies automative services.
A lifelong Conservative, he joined the party in 1978 and was among those who campaigned against the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1997.
He has been a longstanding official within the party, as deputy chairman of the party between 1992 and 1998. He finally won elected office in 2007 as a list member for the west of Scotland.
He was appointed deputy leader by Ruth Davidson after she took over the party in 2011 and, with Davidson, led the party’s campaign for Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom in the 2014 independence referendum. In 2016, he won the Eastwood seat at the Scottish Parliament elections that year, beating Labour. Following Davidson’s resignation as leader in summer 2019, Carlaw took over as acting leader before being elected leader of the party in 2020, before resigning later that summer to make way for Douglas Ross.
He has a long track record of cross-party work at the Scottish Parliament, both as convenor of the Public Petitions Committee and through his work supporting women who have suffered injury from mesh implants.
He supported Remain in the EU referendum and voted for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the Scottish Parliament. He is now one of the senior and experienced MSPs at the Scottish Parliament with connections across parties.
Alex Neil
Born in Irvine, Alex, 72, was brought up in Patna, Ayrshire and quickly got involved in politics, joining the Labour party at the age of just 16. After graduating from Dundee University with a degree in economics, he worked for the Labour party as a research officer but then, together with Jim Sillars, left it to form a breakaway group known as the Scottish Labour party, a socialist movement formed in protest at Labour’s failure to secure a devolved Scottish Assembly.
In 1985, he joined the SNP and stood several times unsuccessfully for Westminster, before being elected to the first Scottish parliament in 1999 as the SNP’s regional list member for central Scotland. He stood for the leadership of the party against John Swinney in 2000 and then, when the SNP finally won power in 2007, joined Alex Salmond’s government first as Minister for Housing. He then was promoted to become Cabinet Secretary for Health in 2012. After Nicola Sturgeon took over in 2014, he was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights before resigning from government in 2016. He continued to be an active and high-profile backbencher – working with Carlaw on the Mesh campaign, among many other things.
He campaigned for independence in 2014 and voted for Brexit in 2016, and then retired from political office at the Holyrood election in 2021.
Neil remains an active voice in Scottish politics, setting out ideas on housing policy and health policy and he remains one of the most independent of pro-independence supporters. Neil and his close ally Jim Sillars continue to lead debate on the direction of the nationalist movement.
Marie Macklin
Dr Marie Macklin CBE is a businesswoman, investor and motivational speaker. Her many career highlights include introducing the WM Morrisons Supermarket PLC brand to Scotland by spearheading a £100M regeneration project in her hometown of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, thereby enabling Morrisons to open its first store north of the border. Marie is also the founder and executive chair at HALO Urban Regeneration Co and Macklin Enterprise Partnerships (MEP). The HALO brand is an international brand at the forefront of creating sustainable low carbon developments on brownfield sites in former industrial heartlands, delivering employment opportunities in economically challenged areas. MEP invests in newco and scale-up companies. Through her philanthropic special projects arm, Marie is an advocate and supporter of various causes including women’s health, enterprise, education and sustainability with a focus on regeneration. In 2014, she was Awarded a CBE in the Queens New Year’s Honours List for Services to Economic Regeneration and Entrepreneurship in Scotland Marie Board member roles include being a Non-Executive Director Scottish North American Business Council Promoting Transatlantic Trade and Investment for Business https://www.snabc.org/