Since the 1960s, Scotland has maintained a political leaning quite separate from England, with parties on the left receiving twice the number of votes as those on the right. On top of this trend, the increasingly neoliberal policies pouring from Westminster and the exponentially growing financial inequality in Britain signify that there is no better time for Scotland to become independent.
An independent Scotland would allow the country to continue to follow the social democratic principles that flourished in Britain in the 1950s with the welfare state—principles that Westminster is deviating from as fast as policy changes allow. The No Thanks campaign (nicknamed the Bitter Together campaign—a pun of its original name, ‘Better Together’) raises concerns about the future of national currency, EU membership, oil profitability, and healthcare. These worries ignore that as a separate country, Scotland can enter the European Union as the United Kingdom tries to leave it, can take full advantage of the plethora of natural resources that endow our country, can continue to benefit from the strength of the Pound Sterling, and (perhaps most importantly) can implement a constitution that will preserve our National Health Service.
Oil and Pounds
Oil has become a buzzword in the past few months of campaigning, as each side asserts either that oil will run out in several years, or that it will provide Scotland with a secure means of profit for many decades. Though the No Thanks campaign insists the former, this view is unlikely and increasingly unrealistic, because the burgeoning oil sector is so unclear, unexplored, and difficult to predict. What is known is that companies have discovered two new oil fields north and east of the Shetland Isles in recent years. Leo Koot, director of the Abu Dhabi-based oil company TAQA, released a statement inspired by these discoveries, saying that the “North Sea still has great potential and that it is possible to unlock opportunity and produce growth through the use of cutting-edge technology and focused investment.” The takeaway point is that we cannot write-off oil as a source of profit and potential security. New fields continue to be discovered and each one diminishes further the validity of the No Thanks campaign’s fear mongering.
The currency question, too, has undoubtedly been fraught during this campaign as opposing sides war over whether Scotland could continue to use the pound if the population should choose to become independent. Westminster at first insisted that it will not allow Scotland to retain the pound, yet in a live televised debate on August 25 between Alex Salmond, First Minister for Scotland, and Alistair Darling, the leader of the No Thanks Campaign and the Shadow Chancellor in Westminster, Darling stated clearly that Westminster could not prevent Scotland from continuing to use the pound. Furthermore, in practice it is very unlikely that Westminster would deny a currency union because although this would allow them to withhold the assets of the Bank of England, this would force them to retain all of the Bank’s liability and debt.
Indeed, Nobel Prize-winning economist Sir James Mirrlees told The Telegraph that Scotland could and should walk away from British debt if Westminster refuses to share the pound, and that this could be used as an effective bargaining chip in post-independence negotiations. Another Nobel Prize-winning economist, Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz, has pointed out that pro-union campaigners are using the currency issue to “change the politics of the electoral process” and that, “once they get independence … there’ll be a very different position”. There is understandable concern that an independent Scotland in a currency union with Britain would suffer a fate similar to the imbalances of the Eurozone, but revelations in recent weeks—most notably Darling’s admission—has made it clear that Scotland has little, if nothing, to fear from keeping the pound, and is entitled to do so.
From the EU to the NHS
Scotland’s future with the European Union is more secure than the No Thanks campaign has trumpeted, for three reasons. Firstly, a spokesperson for the European Union has said that it will treat Scotland’s case as “special and separate” to other nations applying to join, and that the President-Elect of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, “would not want Scotland to be kept out … He’d be sympathetic as someone who is from a smaller country as he’ll understand the obstacles that can be put in the way of less powerful member states.” Secondly, Scotland already meets all of the entrance criteria for the European Union, because it has been a contributing member since 1973 as part of the United Kingdom. Thirdly, the United Kingdom may soon be leaving the European Union itself, as the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) attempt to force a vote on withdrawal. For Scots then, a “Yes” vote may be the only way to ensure continued membership in the European Union.
After Alistair Darling’s clumsy and repetitive performance during the referendum debate, in which he admitted the legality of Scotland’s keeping the pound, and Jean-Claude Juncker’s expression of support for Scotland’s entry into the European Union, voters’ attention is now turning to the future of the National Health Service (NHS). An August 31 Sunday Herald exclusive ran with the tagline, “only a Yes will save the health service in Scotland from Westminster cuts.” The challenge is as serious as this line suggests.
The Health and Social Care Act of 2012 effectively demolished the NHS in England by removing the onus of providing universal healthcare away from the Secretary of State for Health, thereby paving the way for the widespread introduction of the private sector in English healthcare. Scotland has not yet had to face the full brunt of this predicament, but would be forced to do so if independence were to fail. Allyson Pollock, professor of public health research and policy at Queen Mary University of London and expert in the implications of privatization, sets out the importance of a Yes vote for maintaining the current, comprehensive NHS in Scotland, saying: “…the clearest way to defend and promote the principle of a public NHS is to vote for Scotland to have full powers and responsibilities of an independent country.” In fact, in protest of NHS privatization, hundreds of protestors are walking from Newcastle to London, emulating the Jarrow Marches of 1936, which challenged the increasing unemployment and poverty in northern England.
Once again, Westminster actions are negatively impacting northern Britain: a “Yes” vote would not only protect free healthcare and prescriptions in Scotland by getting these rights written in the new Scottish constitution, but also inspire the electorate in northern England not to accept these changes.
The Marriage Analogy Completed
On September 18, Scottish voters have an exciting and unique opportunity to forge a new future. The political divergence of Scotland and England is at its widest, as demonstrated by the shocking difference between the number of Conservative votes won in Scotland (16 percent, or one seat) versus England (39 percent, or 298 seats) in the 2010 national elections. In fact, for the last 17 years, the Conservative Party has won only one seat in Scotland for each election—there are more pandas in the Edinburgh Zoo than Tory MPs in Scotland—yet it is subjected to Tory policies that do not benefit it because of the Union.
Writer Val McDermid harnesses the marriage analogy to emphasize this political disintegration and its implications:
When you realize you’re in a relationship in which the two of you want different things, where your hopes and dreams are taking you in different directions, you don’t hesitate because you’re not sure what you’re going to get in the divorce settlement…We shouldn’t be held back because of the fear that seems to be the major plank of the Better Together campaign.
The Union should not hold Scotland back any more. It has previously been a harmonious partnership, but those days are behind us. For our political agency, security, and the opportunity not only to define ourselves, but also to inspire the currently down-trodden in the north of England, there is only one option: Yes Scotland.
Image credit: YesScotland.net