A BROKEN UK political system is feeding Scotland “poison pills”, John Swinney has said.
Speaking at the Scotland 2050 conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday, the First Minister laid out his vision of how he wants the country to look in 25 years’ time.
This included rejoining the European Union, introducing widespread district heating networks, a greater focus on locally produced food, and attracting energy-intensive manufacturing industries with cheap renewables.
However, Swinney said that a “broken” UK political system was holding Scotland back.
“I've long believed that Scotland is an afterthought to successive United Kingdom governments,” the SNP leader said.
“It holds us back in ways big and small, leaving us waiting and praying, hoping the decisions taken at Westminster are not too damaging.
“We are prey to a broken system and a failing economic model, a system that delivers for the very few at the very top, while living standards stagnate and real wages are squeezed for the vast majority.
“It means as a nation that we must try to thrive on what amounts at worst to poison pills and at best policy scraps from the UK table. All this when we have the capacity to stand and to flourish on our own two feet.
"I know there are many in this room who are not yet persuaded by the case for independence, and others who will never be. I respect that.
"But independence is the defining choice for this generation, have no doubt about that. Because the UK status quo has proved itself incapable of delivering on the hopes and ambitions of the people of Scotland."
Looking ahead to 2050, Swinney said a key question was: “How do we get from where we are to where we want to be?”
“A big part of the answer is ensuring that we are in charge of our own destiny, that we have our hands on all the levers we need to make the biggest difference,” he went on.
“A fiscal squeeze is better dealt with if we are fully in charge of our nation's finances, the complexities of navigating climate change much easier if we are in charge of energy policy and our vast energy resources.
“Making sure we have a big enough working population to meet the demands of an aging population, more options, more solutions are possible if we are in charge of our immigration policy or members once again of the European Union.
“As we look around our land in 2050, my hope is that we see a modern dynamic Scotland, a compassionate, enterprising, forward looking nation state back where it belongs at the very heart of Europe.”
On the issue of independence, Swinney said: “If this is a voluntary Union, as Westminster politicians insist, then it is completely untenable that there is no mechanism for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom if it so wishes.
“Whether it is Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, or Nigel Farage, no Westminster politician should have the ability to deny Scotland her right to national self-determination.”
The First Minister then quoted words written by Scots poet Liz Lochhead, which were recently inscribed onto the Scottish Parliament building.
“Our one small country, our one wondrous spinning dear green place. What shall we build of it together in this, our one small time and space?”
Swinney continued: “Today, you've heard something of my answer, something of my ambition for Scotland.
“It is a vision of a country that is fair, wealthier, more at peace with itself than the Scotland of today, a Scotland that is modern, dynamic and forward looking, living in anticipation of what more can be done, what else can be achieved, moving forward as one, moving forward with hope and with self-belief.
“Such a Scotland is within reach, I have no doubt. But if we want it, we have to work for it, we have to vote for it, we have to actively, purposefully, and I hope joyfully, make it happen.”
