I VOTED no for the same reasons that I voted no to Brexit: there was no adequate economic case made to cut ourselves off from our biggest trading neighbour.

I am a committed European and I am suspicious of populist “nationalism”.

So, what has changed my mind? The anti-immigrant, racist and lying Brexit campaign of 2016; the lack of planning for a post Brexit world and my uneasiness with the malign undertones of “Take back control” and “make the UK great again”.

Simply put, an isolationist England cutting itself off politically, culturally and economically from its biggest and closest trading neighbour, at a time of health and environmental crisis, is damaging to us. A perfect illustration of this is its potentially catastrophic handling of Covid-19.

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Scotland needs immigrants. Our agriculture, fishing, hospitality and creative industries and the NHS and care sector depend on them.

So does our GDP growth. Trading on WTO terms with customs, tariffs and border controls will not only enormously damage agricultural and fisheries exports but also present and future manufacturing and service businesses interacting with Europe.

Our exclusion from Europe’s advanced environmental and employment policies, security and judicial linkages would be damaging Scotland’s environmental and societal wellbeing.

Voting for Brexit, like voting for independence, was easy.

Getting Brexit Done is another matter. In Scotland’s case, the voters, must know what we are voting for BEFORE the next referendum so that we are not surprised at what we get afterwards.

Firstly, we need a robust and honest estimate of the costs of running our new state to at least maintain the status quo in Health, Education and Infrastructure, informed by the issues arising from the Growth Commission Report.

Secondly, we need to see a realistic implementation plan so that we know how Scotland will resource these estimates.

Thirdly, Government must demonstrate intellect, leadership, courage and openness in that planning if it is to retain credibility. No bluster, bombast, populist rhetoric, most importantly, no surprises afterwards, when we vote YES.

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The Thundercloud above all of this is the need to plan for climate change, which must be part of the prospectus for independence for our young people.

The FAO has stated that soil degradation, due to erosion, water losses and industrial scale agriculture, will severely restrict our capacity to sustain the ever-increasing requirement to produce food in the lifetimes of our children.

The World Economic Forum has stated in 2020 that environmental issues are the top five risks facing the world, compounding issues of soil degradation.

What is Scotland’s grounded thinking now, if any, on environmental sustainability, soil resilience and food production so that we can plan for the future of our young?

Put even more simply, much of Scotland’s food supplies are warehoused in, and transported through, England.

Much of their food reserves are coming from overseas and are measured in days rather than weeks. What will Scotland’s food security policy be to ensure that we are well fed and healthy as soon as we are independent?

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Any evidence that we are even thinking about these issues will encourage me to vote YES for a hopefully viable future for our young people.

In an increasingly sophisticated, technologically advanced and vulnerable world, remembering that, as with Brexit, an ungrounded vision of independence is not ambition, it is simply hallucination.

Do you somebody who’s gone from No to Yes? Contact carla.jenkins@newsquest.co.uk