Why is independence vital for Scotland?

Independence – Scotland governing itself at home and representing itself abroad – is about having confidence in each other and in Scotland’s potential to succeed.

In 1997, 74% of Scots voted for a Scottish Parliament to put a degree of self-government back in the hands of the Scottish people.

Since the Scottish Parliament was re-convened in 1999, we have achieved so much through self-government.

Expanding early learning and childcare, free personal care for everyone who needs it, scrapping tuition fees, free prescriptions, and scrapping peak rail fares to name just a few.

Scotland is the only part of the UK where child-poverty is going down, rather than up, thanks to Scotland-only policies like the Scottish Child Payment.

Protecting the services we cherish most – keeping Scotland’s water and rail services in public hands, lowering costs for the people of Scotland.

Lower bills for Scots – with Council Tax around 30% lower and Water Bills around 20% lower on average in Scotland than in England.

And of course, the fairest income tax system in the UK, which means those earning less pay less, and those who earn more pay a bit more.

In short, devolution means Scots get the best deal anywhere in the UK – a significantly higher level of public services in return for fairer levels of taxation.

The success of devolution proves we could do so much better with the full powers of independence.

But devolution only goes so far – this progress is happening against the backdrop of a dire UK economy and long standing, deep inequality.

The standard of living in the UK has stagnated because of decisions made in London – like austerity, or the disastrous decision to leave the European Union.

The SNP believes that by putting Scotland in the driving seat of our own destiny – on our budget, on our relationship with the EU and the rest of the world, on immigration, and on the economy, independence would lead to better outcomes for Scotland and for Scots.

Proportionately, Scotland is one of the world’s wealthiest countries – yet far too many people in Scotland are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

One of the main culprits of this has been rising energy bills – and under Westminster, Scotland’s immense energy wealth has not been used to the benefit of Scotland’s people.

Other countries, like Norway, harnessed the potential of their immense – no boasting the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, valued in the trillions, and used to fund the pensions of Norwegians.

Scotland missed that opportunity thanks to Westminster – but it does not have to be the same with Scotland’s immense renewable wealth.

Harnessing Scotland’s energy for Scotland’s people could lower energy bills by as much as a third – saving money for Scottish households and driving business toward Scotland, in a move which could be as transformative for Scotland as lower corporation tax was for Ireland.

And that’s before the issue of the democratic deficit.

As it stands, Scotland is represented by just 57 MPs in a room of 650.

At a UK general election, Scotland does not, on its own, have the ability to remove a UK Government, even if every single voter in Scotland voted against it.

Scotland hasn’t voted Conservative since 1955 – but has been governed by the Conservative party for more than half the time since then.

It’s no surprise that decisions taken by UK Governments that are more often than not rejected by Scottish voters, Scotland is an afterthought.

Since Brexit, the UK Parliament has repeatedly proceeded with laws which the Scottish Parliament refused consent to.

Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Act allows UK Ministers to frustrate and impede the delivery of policies in devolved areas.

But since Labour came to power, it’s only gotten worse – with funding for fishing and farming being allocated on a population basis – rather than by the size of those industries in Scotland – which push far above their weight, with Scotland responsible for over half the total UK fishing sector.

The truth is, the small degree of self-government that Scotland already has is being undermined by Westminster.

And only independence can protect those powers forever.

Independence would see Scotland rejoin the world as an independent state once again, and improve.

Independence is urgent, necessary and possible.

The UK is totally broken – and only the fresh start of independence can fix living standards for Scots.