The Point marks the 21 days to go to referendum day with a magnificent seven appeals to undecided voters from both rank-and-file activists and leading figures in the YES movement.



John Finnie, Independent MSP and prominent supporter of the Radical Independence Campaign

People say ‘why take the risk? I agree. The most important debate our country has faced is full of unknowns. So what do we know?

We know that if you vote no all the unionist parties are committed to continuing the austerity programme and we know that 60% of the cuts are still to come.

We know the Labour Party are committed to 96% of those cuts, however, plan new further ‘benefits attacks’ on the under 25s. After all it was Alastair Darling who, in a rare moment of Blairite honesty, promised ‘deeper and tougher cuts than Thatcher’.

We know that the most vulnerable in our communities; the disabled, women and young children will feel the greatest effects of the austerity programme.

We know that the unionist parties will all replace the obscenity that is the Trident missile programme. We know that will cost over £100 billion and that £1.4billion has already been spent on the early design.

We know that, in the 4th most unequal country in the developed world, the unionist parties all voted to cap welfare payments.

We know that the three unionist parties are pandering to UKIP. Indeed Labour, desperate to lure ‘middle England’, complained the recent Con/Dem Queen’s Speech contained no immigration bill. That would perhaps seem surprising unless you recalled that it was Gordon Brown who uttered the shameful phrase “British jobs for British workers”.

We know that there is a very high chance that the much promised ‘in/out’ referendum on membership of the European Union (EU) could result in the UK leaving.

We know that with the limited powers it has, the Scottish Parliament has built on our nation’s broad social democratic consensus and delivered real social benefits. Benefits like free personal care for our older people, removing the worry for them, their families and communities about how they will be looked after. Benefits like free prescriptions, removing the ‘tax on sickness’ and the obscenity of citizens presenting themselves to a pharmacists saying they can only afford two of the five items on the script, asking which two are most important. Benefits like free university education with access on the ability to learn rather than the ability to pay.

We know some people are concerned about the alleged challenges an independent Scotland would face such as currency and membership of the EU.

I’ll declare I favour a separate Scottish currency, however, there is no doubt that, whether in the long-term or as a pragmatic temporary measure, sharing the pound is a viable option. Don’t take my word for it, Alistair Darling and Blair MacDougall, leaders of Better Together and Professor Jim Gallagher one of their advisors are all on record supporting that approach. Currency is about trade and, as should be clear to all, trade takes place regardless of currency and perceived boundaries.

We hear a lot about ‘plan B’. It’s a good question. What is Better Together’s ‘plan B’ when Tesco, Amazon and Starbucks tell them they want a single currency for Great Britain? This is all posturing by a failed state whose last two Chancellors, Alistair Darling and George Osborne have between them racked up an astonishing debt of £1.45 trillion. Those are not the kind of guys I’d recommend taking economic advice from!

I have a European Union passport now and will still have one under independence. The EU is an expansionist organisation and if Ukraine, with all the challenges is eligible for Membership, then does any credible voice suggest that Scotland wouldn’t be admitted?

Then there’s the ‘problem’ of having vast oil reserves requires to be addressed too. ‘Investment will dry up’, except it hasn’t. Why would it? Corporate greed will ensure that the money will go where the profits can be harvested and the North Sea, with or without the mysterious Clare Ridge, is a rich source of profit.

So I’ve no doubt , with the necessary work, we can persuade our fellow residents that supporters of YES have a vision, indeed various visions, of a better future whilst those who encourage you to vote No have nothing to offer but threats and more of the same. I don’t want more of the same under the UK and I most certainly don’t want more of the same under an independent Scotland.

The growing inequality which is the hallmark of the UK must be replaced by a concerted programme to remove health, wealth, gender mobility and fuel inequalities.

The UK’s National Health Service, once the jewel in the rich crown of public services, has now been singled out to be plundered by the millionaire politicians’’ mates.

The position of the Labour Party in Scotland is entirely out of kilter with their colleagues in England and wales who rightly see the Health and Social Care Act as the death knell for a free NHS. Only independence can save the NHS.

So, which of the UK’s four millionaire public schoolboys Party Leaders do you want to form your government 2015? Or, do you want to elect a government in 2016 to control all your affairs?

Hope over fear. Vision over greed. ‘A different Scotland can be ours’ only if you vote ‘YES’!

John Finnie Iain Ó Finnaí

Member of the Scottish Parliament Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba

Highlands and Islands A' Ghàidhealtachd agus na h-Eileanan