Scottish independence argument is now unstoppable

By Joe Middleton

As I opened the Scotsman the other day it was obvious that nothing had changed with the unionists arguments against independence. 'A Black Hole of 11.2 billion pounds with independence!' shouted the headline complete with a starry field mock up, the message is that independence will lead to total economic disaster.

Conveniently the politically motivated GERS report referred to by the Scotsman completely ignored oil revenues and other inconvenient statistics which might refute Labour's scaremongering.

The next article promised to wonder if Scotland can 'remain afloat' with North Sea Oil as if our massive oil reserves are in danger of pulling us below the surface!

As Jack McConnell has himself admitted recently there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Scotland would be in economic difficulties after independence. Our economic situation post independence is reliant on a wide range of factors and would rely chiefly on the economic policies pursued by an independent Scotland.

Of course the Tories and Labour are well aware of that and in the same edition of the paper Katie Grant conservative columnist makes the obvious jump in logic for the Tories, ie to embrace independence and suddenly their anti-Scottish label (entirely justified) might disappear.

The traditional unionist arguments are failing fast. Either they are right and Scotland is in such a terrible shape that we require generous England to keep us going (which would appear to be the basic message) in which case they are obviously failing to help Scotland achieve our economic potential.

Then again if we are really as prosperous as they occasionally pretend we are then why couldn’t we afford to go it alone? After all an independent Scotland would not be paying for nuclear weapons and would have the considerable benefit of North Sea Oil revenues. (Labour's internal papers have recently revealed that we have at least thirty years supplies left at the same time as they are pretending that it is about to run out!)

The problem for Labour and the Tories is that independence can mean anything to anyone and the social democratic vision of the SNP is only one vision of independence amongst many.

On the harder left there could be a democratic Scottish workers republic achieved with high investment in services and higher taxation on business, this is what the Tories accuse the SNP of secretly wanting, but people like Jim Mather and Alex Neil don’t say this at all.

Those who do, like the SRSM or the SSP however are unswerving in their support for independence because Scotland does enjoy the potential of becoming a much fairer society.

All the Scottish parties support removing nuclear weapons from our soil so the feeling on Trident is pretty universal and reflects the public mood.

Blair’s utterances on this issue show him up for what he is, a tool of the United States who is desperate to keep alive the US/UK alliance by buying expensive and unusable weapons of mass destruction.

Of course Jack decided shortly after that, after much soul searching (a few hours and a quick chat with Tony) that he was in favour of keeping the nuclear deterrent, so they could be bargained away later! So he's opposing nuclear weapons by supporting having them, good one Jack!

Leaving aside the 'wee sleekit timorous beastie' the cause of independence is simply becoming much too strong to be ignored. The left of centre argument for a fairer Scotland reflects the values of most of the people and the SNP are right to support that as it continually exposes Labour’s permanent lack of vision and political principle.

There are other valid arguments for independence as well. Scotland is currently over regulated and has three tiers of Government where only two are required. The Scottish Office and the British Government it represents are entirely unnecessary, getting rid of those layers would bring an independence dividend with a smaller Government and a Scottish Government could also much more easily court business with lower taxation.

The SNP have moved in on this ‘independence action’ as well but along with an even more aggressive tax cutting policy it can easily be tailored to Scottish orientated Conservatives like Katie Grant.

There is also the historical and cultural argument that Scotland requires freedom to flourish on a cultural level and that respect for our ancestors and their fights for independence from England should lead us to the logical conclusion that the union is no longer in our interests (if it ever was).

This is the most emotionally powerful argument, it reverbrates down the centuries and the more people look into the history of the union the more we realise it was a shotgun marriage of convenience for England which almost wiped out our nation altogether in favour of a new sub-English state called North Britain.

Current opinion polls are also leading to the most modern argument for independence. Democracy and Scottish human rights. A union with a country ten times our size is simply not democratic and the denial of a direct democratic vote on the union is an infringement of our collective Scottish human rights under the United Nations Charter.

It was to highlight this democratic deficit that the non party political referendum campaign Independence First http://www.independence1st.com was formed. Independence First as an organisation has no political policies whatsoever and it is purely about garnering support for a referendum on independence. Because it bypasses any possible political disagreements it has succeeded in gaining support from members of every single pro- independence group and it's membership is open to absolutely every independence supporting individual.

Recently IF presented an epetition to the Scottish Parliament for a democratic referendum on Scottish independence. Despite the fact that the petitions system is supposed to provide a balance to the parliament and a voice for the people the 1300 strong petition was swiftly rejected with Labour and Liberal Democrat MSP’s voting it down before the parliament as a whole even had a chance to consider it.

This undemocratic act went almost completely unnoticed in the media despite a substantial piece being filed by the Scottish Press Association. When a legitimate news story of this type is buried by the press the level of unionist bias becomes much more obvious. It is a disgrace that such a decision can happen without any comment or reaction from any of the Scottish papers.

The Committee claimed that this issue would be conclusively settled by the next Scottish elections. In fact people vote for political parties for a variety of different reasons. Independence is supported by individuals on the left and right of politics and some of those people support Labour, Tories and Lib Dems as well as the independence supporting parties based in Scotland.

The only way therefore to get a clear view about support for independence is to have a democratic vote on the issue called by the Scottish Parliament. This is precisely what Independence First called for on the 15th of November. Unfortunately it would appear that this executive not only ignored the views of over 1300 Scots but also the majority of the Scottish population who opinion polls suggest support independence.

Incredibly there is also majority support for Scottish independence in England and most English people want to break up the British union altogether as do the public in Wales. The unionists are therefore fighting a cause that represents no-one and is respected by no-one. They have might on their side in terms of a highly biased press but you can only feed the public so many lies before they get sick.

The signs are that the people of Scotland are getting very sick of all the unionists lies and that is why the Scottish Independence Convention and Independence First along with the Scottish parties can win an election for independence next year, if they continue to work together. We only need around a million votes for independence next year to win an election which is well within our collective capabilities.

Joe Middleton is the creator of the Scottish Independence Guide http://www.scottishindependence.com and the Press Officer for Independence First http://www.independence1st.com the referendum campaign.