Nicola Sturgeon has said no country would choose to be in a “travesty of a partnership” with Westminster as she makes the case for independence a year ahead of a proposed referendum.
Scotland’s First Minister published the economic plans for an independent Scotland on Monday.
The prospectus paper included a commitment to move to a Scottish pound – but only when a number of requirements are met, including when the country is fiscally sustainable.
The legality of whether the Scottish Parliament can legislate for a second referendum is currently being considered by the Supreme Court.
However, Ms Sturgeon has said in the event the Supreme Court rules against the Scottish Government over the proposed vote next October, then she will treat the next general election as a “de facto” referendum.
Commenting a year ahead of the Scottish Government’s proposed date, which she said was mandated by the Scottish people when they elected a majority of pro-independence MSPs to Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said the refusal to grant a referendum showed the “so-called case for continued Westminster control is collapsing like a house of cards”.
She said: “If Scotland were independent right now, there is no chance that we would look at today’s UK and believe it was in our interests to be ruled by Westminster.
“We would never choose to be in a travesty of a partnership which routinely ignores our democratic wishes, a country with an underperforming economy and growing inequality – in short, a political system which is dragging us down the wrong path.”
The First Minister emphasised that independence does not guarantee success. But she added: “It is a guarantee that we will get rid of Tory governments we don’t vote for, for good – and no one will ever take better decisions about our future than the people living here.”
She added: “A year today, I want people in Scotland to be able to go to the polls and choose that better future. And I am certain that when they are given that choice – they will vote to become independent.”
The independence paper also said there would be border checks on two major trunk toads and rail freight terminals between Scotland and England in the event of the country gaining EU membership.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel