By Robert Ingram

THE Britain voted on at the 2014 Scottish referendum no longer exists. The arguments used to scare many Scots into supporting the Union have been mainly exposed as untruths. Since then Brexit, Covid -19 and the environmental crises have clearly demonstrated that smaller and decentralised countries can respond more resiliently and responsively to issues of concern.

Scotland has more natural resources, per head of population, than all of the 27 independent European countries which are smaller than Scotland. Yet we have much the lowest state pensions, underfunded public services and remuneration and tax systems where the lowest paid don’t earn enough to pay taxes and the wealthy use tax system loopholes to evade paying tax.

I venture to suggest that Scotland is now proceeding along a divergent path to the Westminster Government. However, the problem with democracy is that we all disagree about how it should be run. Governments spend far too much time bickering and precious little time on making life better for the rest of us.

Once, every few years, we elect a handful of ill-defined candidates, sponsored by an even smaller handful of faceless party machines, to run the country. They are the ones who decide upon what constitutes democracy: we just hope to be left in peace until the next election. Is this as good as it gets?

An even bigger problem is that not everyone leaves government to get on with the day job. It’s no secret that every administration is surrounded by a host of self-interested lobbyists and professional networkers – all hell-bent upon grinding their own axes. High finance and big business pull the strings in the corridors of power, and the public interest dances to the tune. Westminster calls this parliamentary sovereignty.

Since the Declaration of Arbroath there has been another notion of sovereignty in Scotland – popular sovereignty. The concept is that the people of the Scottish nation govern themselves and whoever they appoint as head of state or government is accountable to the people at all times – not just once every few years. That, of course, places a lot more responsibility upon the people themselves and it also demands an effective means of communication. Only relatively recently has this become possible.

Shortly an interactive consultation will go online which invites every citizen of Scotland to join the process of compiling a written Constitution for Scotland. It has been several years in the making by a non-aligned Scottish charity, Constitution for Scotland (CfS), which is dedicated to the concept of popular democracy should Scotland decide upon independence at a future referendum.

As Independence Day approaches the conclusions from this public debate will be passed on to inform the members of what would, hopefully, be a more formal Constitutional Convention, prior to submission to Scotland’s Parliament for ratification into law.

This written constitution can potentially bring democracy back to the people: but it must be complete and ready for adoption into legislation before an independent Scotland elects its first government.

Not every citizen will be interested but the CfS trustees believe that many will wish to participate in this democratic initiative. It will be another month before the interactive part of the website is fully tested and activated, but a good description of it can be found at: www.constitutionforscotland.scot

If you are interested in helping the work of CfS, please contact: info@constitutionforscotland.scot

Robert Ingram is chair of Constitution for Scotland