CAMPAIGNERS and politicians have responded to the publication of the Scottish Government’s latest paper on independence.
John Swinney unveiled the new document at an event in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It claims that independence could make Scots £10,000 a year better off and provides a summary of the Scottish Government’s position that freedom from Westminster rule is “urgent, necessary and possible”.
It rehearses arguments made in the previous papers, which set out positions on the European Union, currency, pensions and other policy areas.
Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie said: “With Labour, Tories and Reform all battling to see who can be the nastiest party and who can attack vulnerable people the most, independence has never been more vital.
“It’s clearer now than it was in 2014 what an independent Scotland could look like in reality.
“This could be a nation of welcoming people, prosperous green industries, and a democratic country where the people hold the power. Instead we are shackled to the failing system in Westminster that has been rigged in favour of the super-rich.
“With the Labour government hammering working-class communities with welfare and spending cuts, and with the threat of Farage’s far right politics looming over Downing Street, it's time for Scotland to stand our ground as a proud progressive nation.”
The Scottish Greens, under the new co-leadership of Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, have criticised the SNP’s independence strategy which takes an independence for their party as a mandate for indyref2.
Greer has previously described this as a “a strategy to re-elect the SNP” rather than a route to independence.
Harvie added: “Next year Scotland will have a chance to elect a pro-independence majority in Holyrood, that will fight for independence but also deliver for the people of Scotland in the face of the mess in Westminster.
“A vote for the Scottish Greens will deliver that majority, but will also be a vote for the fairer and greener country an independent Scotland can become.”
Alba have repeatedly called for a unified approach from independence parties at next year’s Holyrood election, previously advocating for a "Scotland United" ticket which would have seen only one pro-Yes party stand in each constituency at the last General Election.
Party leader Kenny MacAskill said: “Of course independence is the way to transform our economy and eliminate poverty. We know the benefits of independence as well as feeling the pain of the price of the union.
“But it’s not enough to talk about independence and its benefits. Scots need action and a clear route out of this social and economic blight.
“Telling us yet again what we know all too well is taking us nowhere.”
He said that the list vote at next year’s Scottish Parliament election was “crucial”, adding: “This can be the democratic event which provides the mandate for independence if all of the pro-independence parties sign up to it.
“It requires each pro-independence party to include a section in their manifesto that a majority of votes cast on the list for pro-independence parties will be the mandate for independence.
“That is what the grass roots of the independence movement wants to see. The need for independence is urgent. The time for action is now. It’s time for a plebiscite election.”
Robin McAlpine, head of strategic development at the pro-independence think tank Common Weal, told The National that “cash bribes” wouldn’t win voters to independence.
He said: “In the early days of the referendum campaign John Swinney was in charge of messaging. He was adamant that Scotland shouldn’t start imaging a future which was too different from the present because it would spook the middle classes.
“Instead he created a spreadsheet which claimed we’d all be £5000 better off. This strategy was a disaster, support flatlined, and the independence movement rebelled and created a different campaign from the grassroots up which was based on the idea that Scotland could be different, not just the same with some tweaks and a cash bribe.
“It was that messaging which took polls which had been stuck for 18 months and added 15 points to give us a fighting chance on 18 September.
“We’re 15 years on and this latest government paper has literally recreated Swinney’s 2012 strategy except this time we’re all going to be £10,000 better off.”
He said this approach would not work, adding: “I could write you an essay on why you can’t bribe people into big constitutional changes with vague promises of cash windfalls at an unspecified point in the future, but I’m afraid that having read over this paper that would be to take it more seriously than it takes itself.
“It is almost all cut and paste from existing documents and I think it has an awful lot more to do with trying to persuade his upcoming conference that he’s not asleep at the wheel than it does with achieving independence.”
