Independence Referendum – why I’m voting Yes

One week to go until the most important Vote ever to be carried out in Scotland, more important than any general election and even more important than the Devolution Referendum in 1997 that gave Scotland it’s own Parliament.

The Independence Referendum on 18 September has been on the agenda over the last couple of years. The vote is a simple – vote Yes to make Scotland an Independent country or vote No to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom.

As you can imagine, ever since the date was confirmed, campaigning from both sides has intensified and people are having to make that tough choice on which way to vote based on these arguments.

I have been no different and finding impartial and balanced arguments to weigh up the pros and cons of going it alone or remaining with the Union has been very difficult to find over this sensitive subject as the media, who should really be impartial, are using their own political agenda when reporting on the Referendum.

Ultimately, I have decided to vote yes and it’s not been a decision that has been taking lightly, as I shall now explain.

When the referendum was proposed not long after the SNP romped to victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, my immediate reaction was that I couldn’t see it prospering based on comparisons of smaller sized countries Iceland and Ireland struggling in the wake of the Global recession in 2008. Of course, there were bigger nations affected including the UK and USA but those two were the ones who stood out and my instincts were that we too would struggle. I’ll touch on Iceland and Ireland again later in the blog.

Emotionally, I was torn what way to vote as well. Because I go to Scotland football matches on a regular basis, passionately cheer on the likes of Andy Murray and Chris Hoy in other sports, have Scottish bands and songs on my iPod and how passionate I get when talking about Scotland, I am perceived as a Nationalist but this is far from the truth. My dad’s side of the family are English, I have a lot of time for English people, have enjoyed many trips down South to visit family and go on holidays and I’ve never voted for the SNP in my life. Emotions should not enter the debate, it is about what’s right for the future of Scotland, and just as well as I’d be screwed given the love of my country and my family!

Six months ago, when the Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns started to intensify, I took to my Facebook page to gauge the opinions of others as I was still firmly on the fence at that point. As you can imagine, it got heated at times as passions from both sides came across in the replies. One no voter made the sweeping generalisation that all benefit claimers are at it and was instantly put back into place. Then there was a yes voter who spoke so passionately they argued every no voters response to the point where they were asked why they weren’t respecting the no argument when it’s all about an individual choice. My debate got people in my work talking, mainly asking “what have you done” – that’s the joys of politics for you!

One of my question marks, as touched on earlier, was that I envisaged a Scotland ending up in the same position as Iceland and Ireland. It was pointed out to me that Iceland have made a recovery and a Guardian article backs that up. Their unemployment rate has went down from 9.2% to 5.1%, debt has reduced significantly and their economy grew by 2% – not bad for a nation with barely more than a 300,000 population. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/06/iceland-financial-recovery-banking-collapse). Ireland too have shown steady signs of a recovery with a Gross Domestic Product increase of 2.9% and unemployment falling from 10.9% to 9.6% so there are reasons to believe that Scotland can thrive if run properly. (http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/irish-economy-on-way-back-says-ibec-economist-1.1752320)

One very interesting comment that stuck in my mind was “if you had cancer and you had the opportunity to remove the tumour, you’d remove it in order to get better”. Obviously, this relates to the fact that the UK Government have been a cancer to Scotland for years and this is a great opportunity to free us of them in order for a prosperous future for our country.

Which turns me to an assessment of the UK Government over my lifetime. When the 1979 referendum (two years before I was born) went in favour of a No vote, there were promises that Scotland would thrive as part of the Union. What we got instead was 18 years of misery under the Conservative Government, led for 12 of them by Margaret Thatcher who used Scotland as a Guinea Pig for the poll tax, closed down our industrial heartland and led many parts of Scotland into poverty! It says everything about the woman that her death saw people up here rejoice, though personally I don’t think celebrating someone’s death is right and is distasteful but it sums up the hatred of her for the damage she caused. Now people will read this thinking “you were a child then, what would you know” – correct, therefore the views of family and friends who witnessed that era plus lots of views of people forced out of work are enough to gauge these thoughts.

It was to the delight of Scotland that Labour were elected after a landslide victory in 1997 and they too promised a better life for Scotland. We got our own Parliament for the first time in 300 years after a devolution referendum that commenced two years later, this was supposed to be the start of it. However, during New Labours 13 years in power, two things will be remembered most that damned Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown’s reputations. Firstly, the decision to go to an illegal war with Iraq at the cost of a public who voted overwhelmingly against it was a blunder of the highest magnitude, especially when it was proven there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Then there was the economic crisis that led to us bailing out two banks, overseen by Brown who by now was Blair’s successor. Yes the recession was a global one but he, among others, contributed big time to the UK one.

Since 2010, the Tories are back in power this time with the Lib Dems as a coalition government. Taxes have been relaxed for the rich, benefits are being cut, wage rises are almost non-existent out with Parliament but the cost of living is rising and the poverty issue is still being ignored.

This is why we are where we are today! At least 35 years of being let down, having two Governments we didn’t vote for and a Labour government more interested in being best pals with America. The SNP capitalised big time on Nick Cleggs blunder in siding with the Tories by getting a lot of their votes at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, nicked a few safe Labour seats and became the first majority Government since our Parliament was formed, therefore setting the wheels in motion for the upcoming Referendum.

Thinking about my lifetime of UK Governments, I started to sway more to the Yes side. Although there are no guarantees that an independent Scotland will be any better, I have little or no faith that things will improve if we remain part of the Union.

It’s not just me I have to think about, it’s the future generation. I am due to become a father in late January and have three nieces and one nephew all under the age of three and a half, there’s my friends children as well to consider so this decision will affect them more than myself.

The anti-independence of course are called Better Together and the title is
self explanatory, that they believe that Scotland are Better Together as part of the UK. But the fact that there is even a referendum in the first place makes it patently obvious that we aren’t “better together” with Scotland being part of the UK, which begs the question if we’re not better together now how are we going to be better together in the future?

That was the decision clincher for me in voting yes! I don’t see the UK Government taking Scotland into a brighter future. Of course there are risks and nobody can say with 100% conviction that independence will work out – but nobody can say on the no side that the future will be brighter under a UK Government and I have more belief, with our resources, that an Independent Scotland is the way ahead, not just us adults but for future generations, including my first born.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been watching the movement of both campaigns, remaining open minded and assessing who is delivering their message the best.

The Yes campaign have produced a plan, based on lots of research, on how much money they anticipate raising and that Scotland will be one of the top 20 richest countries in the world. I’m not naive enough to believe everything that’s being said and there are one or two question marks over some of the figures but the potential is there with oil revenue, whisky, tourism, wind farms etc to raise significant income that will be spent in Scotland and not contribute to the UK pot.

The Better Together campaign have based their argument based on how much poorer we will be in an Independent Scotland and are constantly arguing the figures given by the Yes campaign.

But here’s the big thing, there has been NOTHING from them to say how they are going to make things better for Scotland in the aftermath of the Referendum!

All they have done is deploy scare mongering tactics with truth bending stories as a way of trying to convince on-the-fence voters towards voting no. Things like alleging shopping bills will be 30% higher in an independent Scotland, which leading supermarkets quickly shot down, that the Orkney and Shetland Islands will keep themselves in the UK when the truth is they can only break from Scotland if they vote to become independent themselves, and warning about the security of people’s pensions when the UK minister Steve Webb said the current levels are secure regardless of the vote. Add to that Alistair Darling going on about no plan b in the currency debate yet lets slip that an Independent Scotland can use the pound, talk about shooting yourself in the foot! The currency debate does need to be clarified but, given that the pound originates from Scotland, there is no legal way to stop an independent Scotland using it.

Up until last weekend, there was nothing from the No side to say what they were going to do to make Scotland a better and more thriving nation. Once the YouGov polls put the Yes vote in front (which I take with a pinch of salt as only one poll matters), all of a sudden the No campaign were looking to unveil plans to give more powers to the Scottish Parliament and Prime Minister Questions was cancelled so that David Cameron, Edd Milliband and Nick Clegg could come up to Scotland to urge us to vote no! It smacks of sheer desperation, knowing that their so-called landslide victory is in danger of an embarrassing defeat.

Now, had the Better Together campaign unveiled what their intentions of a better Scotland would be, the chances are that most people would’ve voted no. These half-arsed proposals that Gordon Brown talks about doesn’t change my view and they aren’t a guarantee, as William Hague confirmed that more powers to Scotland can only go ahead if UK Parliament vote in favour for it. Given that Boris Johnston amongst others have said that the last thing Scotland should be given is more power, it’s safe to say that the only guarantee of Scotland getting more powers in our Parliament is in an Independent Scotland. The only other remote possibility is that Labour get back into power with a majority victory and all of their MPs vote to push through these DevoMax powers. However, it’s unlikely that Edd Milliband, arguably the weakest leader of the Labour Party in he last 25 years, is going to lead Labour to election victory next year regardless of how unpopular Cameron is.

Over these last few weeks, I have read and spoken to a fair number of no voters that have now switched to yes and have yet to hear anyone go from yes to no. This proves that more people are seeing through the scare-mongering put before them by the No campaign, the severe lack of proposals that sees them make Scotland a better country and being more open minded about an Independent Scotland.

In this past year, I’ve went from a likely no based on worry through sitting on the fence so much my backside has scelfs to a resounding yes. This is a decision that I’ve not taken lightly, I’ve considered many facts such as the amount of money Scotland are contributing towards that we either don’t want (ie Trident) or has no effect on us (ie the HS3 Rail link that doesn’t come over the border), looked at the proposals on how either the yes or no campaigns will improve our country and, most importantly, the next generation such as my first born and my nieces and nephews. Of course, there are question marks as to whether Independence will work out for Scotland and it’s not going to be an overnight transformation. However, there are more question marks over remaining as part of the UK and there have been too many false promises, even from Governments I’ve voted for, and there is nothing to suggest it’s going to be “better together” going forward. Time for a change!

What I will say is that everyone’s decision one way or another should be respected, so long as debates don’t get out of hand, and we shouldn’t fall out over it. After all, it’s only politics!