UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Scotland

  • Marion Fellows – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Marion Fellows – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Marion Fellows, the SNP for Motherwell and Wishaw, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    I have sat here for most of the afternoon and listened carefully to all the speeches. I am going to do something slightly different, but I want to make it clear at the start that I am committed to Scottish independence. Anyone who has voted for me three times since 2015 knows that. I have always been returned to this place to represent the people of Motherwell and Wishaw, and I understand that not everyone in Motherwell and Wishaw wants independence, but I also understand that the Scottish Government have a mandate from the last Scottish election, and overall the SNP as a party has a mandate from Scotland to further the cause of independence. We all look forward very much to conducting a referendum next year.

    The economic damage this Government have caused since the mini-Budget on 23 September is, as the motion says, truly regrettable. The pound has nosedived, mortgage rates have risen and there is rising inflation. I can remember hard, hard times—I remember Harold Wilson telling me that the pound in my pocket would not be worth any less on devaluation; I brought up a family during the ’80s—but I have never known a time like this.

    I think that is partly due to my role as disability spokesperson for my party, because as part of my role I meet disability organisations regularly. I will use the example of one particular organisation that helps families with disabled children and children with long-term illnesses, the Family Fund. When I met the organisation earlier this week—or was it the end of last week? Time moves so strangely here—I was shocked, horrified and deeply moved by what I was listening to.

    I am grateful to the Family Fund for the statistics I am using, which are taken from its report, “The Cost of Caring”, based on its research and published only on 7 October this year. Some 64% of parents with caring responsibilities spend between 35 and 100 hours a week caring for their children—only 50% of them are in work—so they are getting benefits.

    Increasing household costs make those families’ lives more difficult: on top of pandemic lockdowns and shielding, families have to spend more on energy and the choices they must make are even starker than those of the general population. More than half of parents or carers report skipping or cutting the size of meals; four in five families raising a disabled child or young person are in debt, with debt levels rising for two in five families, and more than 40%,

    “report they can’t afford to keep their accommodation warm—an increase of 13% since last December”.

    On average, families raising a disabled child live on £17,000 a year and spend 60 hours a week caring for their disabled child, with one third of families caring for more than 100 hours a week.

    Family Fund’s report highlights the now unsustainable strain on families raising disabled and seriously ill children and young people, as they try to cover sky-high costs on top of severely reduced incomes due to intense caring responsibilities, the three-times higher costs of looking after a disabled child and critical levels of debt. I could quote Family Fund’s chief executive, Cheryl Ward, and people might wonder what that has to do with independence, but we cannot afford to be tied to a system that treats the most vulnerable people in our society in this way. Members will note that one of the statistics I used was from last year—it was not even to do with the so-called mini-Budget.

    The harrowing tales and statistics we have heard from the Family Fund are not isolated; other disability organisations I have met in recent months, such as the Disability Benefits Consortium and Muscular Dystrophy UK, have drawn attention to the deteriorating situation that many of the most vulnerable face in the UK. Across the board, these organisations are calling for benefits to be uprated in line with inflation—that will not even take them back to where they were—and additional, targeted support for those with disabilities, whose essential energy needs are much more extensive.

    Recently on the BBC, Yvette Clements said that parents are having to consider putting their disabled children into care due to rising energy bills. Can anyone in this Chamber tell me that that is acceptable? Families of disabled children are facing crippling debt. Some might say, “What does that matter?” but I believe—as I know fellow SNP Members do—that a society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable. In the vision of chaos that the current iteration of the UK Government perpetuate, the most vulnerable are treated with contempt. Those with disabilities and caring responsibilities face uncertainty, deprivation and attacks on their human dignity.

    I want to talk about a family with two young autistic boys who live in West Sussex. One of the boys has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, while the other suffered brain damage at birth and is doubly incontinent. The family have to do frequent food shops tailored to the children’s specific sensory needs and allergies, which has resulted in their bills almost tripling. The mother of these poor boys originally trained as a special educational needs teacher, but she cannot work, as she is a full-time carer for one of her sons, and she testifies that the cost of living crisis has impacted on the family in a huge way. Families of disabled children face crippling debt just to provide the care needed for their children, who will otherwise suffer and see their conditions worsen.

    In Scotland we seek to do things differently. We offer carers additional support through the carer’s allowance supplement, which increases their carer’s allowance by 13%—carer’s allowance has gone up by £3 in 10 years. We also have young carer grant. The Scottish Government are in the process of delivering the overarching changes needed to replace carer’s allowance with Scottish carer’s assistance, which will provide greater support, loosening the needlessly rigid criteria that carers must meet and increasing support in the areas of social care, employability and education.

    I also note that child winter payments started in Scotland today, and they are of course administered by Social Security Scotland, which aims to deliver social security with dignity, fairness and respect at its core. At present, less than 15% of such social security benefits are devolved to Scotland, and our ability to create a society built on dignity, fairness and respect is severely impacted by a Westminster system built on cronyism, chaos and inequality.

    Like my party and lots of people in Scotland, I feel that an independent Scotland is the only way we can take control of our future and create a more equal society for all, upholding the rights of our most vulnerable citizens. In each of the many iterations of the current Government—and there have been quite a number—those with the least have suffered the most as a result of policy choices. Following years of austerity, which have brought public services to their knees, caused 300,000 excess deaths and run the NHS into the ground, we are now hearing calls for further austerity. On top of the real-terms cuts to wages and benefits, and with inflation at a 40-year high, this sustained attack on society’s most vulnerable does not appear to have an end goal in sight.

    My right hon. Friend the Member for Skye, Badenoch and Strathspey—[Hon. Members: “Ross, Skye and Lochaber.”] I am so sorry; I have got carried away with the emotion of what I am saying. My right hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) asked the Prime Minister today to guarantee uprating benefits in line with inflation, but we did not get an answer. The families that I am talking about are depending on that to protect their children.

    I now feel that an independent Scotland is a necessity. It is not just something we think we would like; it is absolutely necessary to protect Scottish citizens from even more devastating policies from the Tory Government. I add my voice to the calls on this Government immediately to reinstate the bankers’ bonus cap, increase benefits in line with inflation, and protect the pensions triple lock. Scotland cannot afford to be part of the failing UK state. We must be independent for economic stability and for the best future for all our citizens born in Scotland or not, and—I add this for the benefit of my granddaughters and my grandson—for those yet to be born.

  • Chris Stephens – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Chris Stephens – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Chris Stephens, the SNP MP for Glasgow South West, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard); I will, of course, touch on similar themes in my contribution.

    Saturday 29 October would have been the 100th birthday of my grandmother, who was an SNP voter and independence supporter. I am proud to be a third-generation SNP voter and to represent a constituency that had the second highest number of individual yes voters in Scotland, topped only by Dundee West. Let me assure the House that the competition will be on next time.

    Martin Docherty-Hughes

    We’ll beat you!

    Chris Stephens

    If West Dunbartonshire wants to rise to the challenge, we would more than welcome that.

    It is important that this point is recognised: listening to some of the contributions today, we might think that not one constituency in Scotland had voted for Scottish independence, but of course many constituencies did vote for that proposition. What has been fascinating in this debate is that not one speaker arguing against independence or a referendum has told us what conditions they believe would apply for there to be a referendum. I find that deeply fascinating: they say that in their view there is not enough support, but will not tell us what would be required for there to be a referendum. Deeply fascinating indeed. I must say that a number of contributions have been strange. I thought that the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Robin Millar) had left the Chamber, but I can see that he is sitting behind the deputy governor general—I use that particular title as a term of endearment—the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont). The hon. Member for Aberconwy talked about the ships that are hosting Ukrainian refugees. I have been on one ship, and it had really good conditions. I can tell him that I have had zero complaints about the conditions on that ship, but every single week I get complaints about the conditions and the overcrowding of Home Office accommodation for asylum seekers. Why is that the case? It is because the Home Office has argued that it does not need to comply with Scottish housing standards, that it does not need to comply with local authority standards. It is quite curious that the hon. Member mentioned that example, when the reality is that it is the conditions that the Home Office applies that cause real deep resentment for those seeking sanctuary in this country.

    I was also fascinated by the Secretary of State’s contribution about our Union dividend. What has been the largest growing area of the economy over the past 12 years? It is the number of food banks in this country. That is not a Union dividend. We need to reflect on the fact that far too many citizens across these islands are having to depend on food aid, including working people. We have just advertised for a larder project in Cardonald, and we know that many of the users will be working people, which is why we will be opening them in the evenings so that people can utilise their services. The number of food banks in this country is no Union dividend at all.

    Let me explain why those of us who have been trying to prosecute the case for Scottish independence are still doing so. Days after the referendum, David Cameron stood up and talked about English votes for English laws and basically said that Scotland had had its fun. That was very much resented by a number of people. It was the nasty campaign, the negative campaign, and, yes, the fearful campaign against Scottish independence that ensured we would still be debating this issue. There was never a positive case put forward during that campaign by those who wished Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom.

    I want to spend the minutes I have left to touch on the issue of workers’ rights, which my good and hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard) addressed in his speech. It is a key part of the Scottish Government’s paper, which, curiously, no one has criticised. We really need to get away from this obsession that the current Government have of always being on the side of the bosses, and always being on the side of making sure that their view of insecure work should be the model going forward. I want to see an independent Scotland saying that there will be no zero-hour contracts in our country. I want to see trade unions have the ability to go on strike without fear of being taken to court on cheap charges. I want to see trade unions being given the right to use online and secure workplace balloting. If it was good enough for the Conservative party to use workplace voting and online voting to select a Prime Minister who crashed the economy then surely it is good enough for trade unions.

    We need to change the world at work and to bring dignity and fairness to the workplace. Unfortunately, this place will never articulate a way of doing so, which is why I will continue to argue for Scottish independence and for votes for the Scottish National party.

  • Tommy Sheppard – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Tommy Sheppard – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Tommy Sheppard, the SNP MP for Edinburgh East, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    I start with the red wall Tories. Our absent friends in the north are surely on a sticky wicket. For years, and for decades in some cases, they burrowed away in once solid Labour fiefdoms, angry at what was happening to their communities. They created a false narrative that these problems were the result of wanton neglect by their political opponents, rather than the inevitable consequence of being on the periphery of a capitalist economy that is overcentralised and under-regulated. But they broke through in 2019, and they came here. Tribunes of the people, champions of their communities, they came to this Palace to press their case, and they ended up supporting a Government of spivs and millionaires who are turbocharging the very problems they complain about. Well, their tenure will soon be coming to an end,

    If I lived in those working-class communities, I would be equally despondent at the alternative on offer. Today’s Labour party, as a Government in waiting, surely has the least ambition it has ever had in its 122-year history. A party that says hardly anything about how it wants to change things, that is terrified of suggesting that the wealthiest in our community should pay more tax, that is terrified of supporting the trade unions that founded it in their struggle for a living wage, that is committed to expanding dangerous and expensive nuclear energy and that is, most of all, committed to the United Kingdom remaining isolated from the European mainstream. What a choice.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, you may wonder at the relevance of that for Scottish independence. Well, it is quite simple, because people in my constituency and elsewhere in Scotland look at this duopoly oscillating about a mean point of inequality while never seeking to fundamentally change it, and they ask themselves, “Is this the best that can be done?” People are increasingly saying, “No, we can do better than this. And we can do better than this if we take the power to ourselves and become an independent country.”

    If those on the other side of this debate understand nothing else, understand this: the debate about contemporary Scottish independence is a debate not about identity but about political power. It is about having the agency to change the world around us and to play our part in a world that aims to be a better place. That is why we argue the case for Scottish independence, and we believe in changing the world with a new vision of how things could be, of a society in which the barometer of success is the wellbeing of the people rather than the profits of City corporations, where we have growth in our economy to afford human leisure rather than human exploitation and, most of all, where our natural resources are marshalled into a sustainable future for our country and the world. That is what we aspire to, yet if you listened to our detractors, you would think it was far from that.

    I congratulate the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray), on the public launch today of Project Fear 2.0. If we are to take him at his word, a Scottish Government on day one of independence would have five times the economic deficit problem that this Government currently have to deal with and our currency would, at the point of introduction, crash by 30%. Oh my God, who would want even to consider such a scenario? But of course these things are not facts and they are not evidence—they are conjecture and supposition. He makes his case, and in the flurry of the campaign rhetoric he makes it well, but that does not make it true.

    Let me use the GERS figures as one example, on which the hon. Gentleman placed a lot of emphasis. He may be interested to know that the Institute for Fiscal Studies, no less—not a fan of independence—says that by next year the structural deficit in the Scottish economy will be the same, more or less, as the structural deficit in the UK economy as a whole. It is not a factor of five more—

    Ian Murray rose—

    Tommy Sheppard

    I am sorry, but I am short on time and I am going to annoy Mr Deputy Speaker if I take interventions, so I will decline to give way.

    As I was saying, we are not talking about a factor of five. Of course, the most important thing about the GERS figures is that they are not a statement of account of Scotland as an independent nation; they are a statement of what a regional economy looks like within the United Kingdom. Any sensible person would look at that structural deficit and those figures and take that as evidence against the Union, not in favour of it. It is because we can do so much better that we aspire to independence.

    As others have remarked, it is unbelievable, is it not, that a country such as Scotland, which is blessed with enormous resources of renewable energy, a talented and skilled workforce and a thriving tourism, hospitality and cultural sector, which is leading the world in new technologies from biosciences to gaming, and which has our world-class academia—a country with all that going for it—can be described as a basket case when it comes to self-government and people suggest it cannot possibly afford it? Of course it can.

    This debate is called “Scottish independence and Scottish economy” for a reason. It is because we know and understand that we will not get a majority of people in Scotland to vote to become a self-governing country if we cannot argue that that will make things materially better for them and their communities in the medium to long run. We know that that is the case; we have to connect those things together. I had a whole list of things I was going to go through that show how independence can make things better. I do not have time to mention them all, so I will select a few. These are the arguments and themes that are now being published in these Scottish Government documents that the motion refers to. I advise colleagues to take the time to read some of them. They are part of an ongoing debate that points out the consequences of independence for ordinary people and their livelihoods.

    Let us take, for example, fair rights at work, which is apposite because today is the day when the TUC is petitioning and lobbying this Parliament. An independent Scottish Government will make sure that there is a living wage for people in their place of work; that this disgusting separation whereby young people can be exploited at extremely low wages is removed and people are paid that living wage from the point at which they enter the workforce; and that the trade union legislation is repealed and people have the right to organise. We know that we want to do that because we know that all the evidence shows that if the balance in the workplace changes and becomes fairer, that leads to a more prosperous and more equal economy. That is why we want to do it, but we cannot do it without the powers that come from independence.

    Let us consider taxation policy. The Scottish Government do have the power at the margins to vary income tax, but no Government without any control whatsoever over the movement of labour or capital can possibly change the taxation system in any meaningful way. We want to see those with the broadest shoulders make their fair contribution. We want to see a much more progressive situation. We want to see business taxes that support small and medium-sized enterprises and help them to thrive, but at the same time it should be understood that the opportunity to make money comes with the obligation to put something back into the social infrastructure and communities that enabled someone to do so in the first place. This we cannot do without the powers of independence.

    Energy has been talked about a lot. Why on earth is it that, in a country that is self-sufficient in renewable energy, people will not be able to afford to pay their electricity bills this winter? It is a scandal beyond recognition. We need to scrap Ofgem and break the link between electricity prices and Putin’s gas supply prices. We need to make sure that in a country capable of generating 100% renewable energy from the wind and water, the benefits go to the people who live there and not to the global corporations. This we cannot do without the powers of independence.

    I could go on, but I will draw to a close. Those are the reasons why we ask people in Scotland to consider the alternatives. We do not need to have the duopoly of despair being offered in the United Kingdom. We can take matters into our own hands and create a new and better country.

    My final point is this. Who gets to choose on this matter? That is the fundamental question and political principle that this House has to confront. In his opening remarks, the Secretary of State, like a broken record, made much of a campaign that happened nearly 10 years ago and a result that happened in 2014, when things were remarkably different from now. The 2014 referendum on Scottish independence might have settled the matter; people might have said, “That’s fine. We accept it and move on.” It was not us here who did not accept it, but the people of Scotland who put us here to prosecute this case. It is their right, and only their right, to reconsider that matter at a time of their choosing. That is why last year, 10 years after the day they did it the first time round, they elected a Scottish Parliament with more Members committed to independence than there were in 2011. That mandate has been disrespected and refused by this Government. That is why we are now arguing in the Supreme Court. It does not play well in Scotland because every time we deny the voice of the people, we only fuel their ambition to make it louder.

  • Anum Qaisar – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Anum Qaisar – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Anum Qaisar, the SNP MP for Airdrie and Shotts, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    I have to say that I was shocked by the previous speaker’s contribution. In 2014, I campaigned for an independent Scotland as a member of the Labour party. I joined the SNP after the referendum; my final straw was when Labour joined the Tories in September 2014 to vote for air strikes in Iraq. Independence is not about the SNP or Nicola Sturgeon; it is about self- determination for the people of Scotland.

    From covid contract scandals to people making their rich mates Lords, there is so much that is broken about Westminster and how this place protects the rich. This year, Shell has paid zero windfall tax in the UK despite making record global profits of nearly £26 billion. BP made £7.1 billion between July and September, which is more than double its profits in the same period last year. At the same time, I have constituents who are struggling to heat the food they are getting from food banks. Not only can they no longer afford to buy food; they have to eat food cold because using microwaves, ovens or stoves is simply too expensive. This is not simply a national disgrace; it is immoral, it is evil and it is corporate greed, backed by Downing Street, where people take more and more for themselves and line their own pockets and could not care less about the ordinary person.

    This year in the multiple Tory leadership elections we have had—who knows, we might have some more—the Tory candidates completely relinquished the fact that they were in government, that they were making the decisions and that they sat at the Cabinet table and have sat there for years. That lot have had 12 years in Downing Street and they have spent the last decade systematically dismantling the social security system and othering some of the most vulnerable in our communities. We have heard a Tory MP in this very Chamber say:

    “We have generation after generation who cannot cook properly—they cannot cook a meal from scratch—and they cannot budget.”—[Official Report, 11 May 2022; Vol. 714, c. 185.]

    That is revolting. Poverty is deepening, and it is sickening that the people of Scotland do not vote for the Tories yet will be subjected to austerity 2.0. The UK economy and the financial mismanagement from Westminster are simply not working for Scotland. The Tories are delivering low productivity, stagnant wages, high inequality and high poverty rates.

    We could use the full powers of independence to build an inclusive, fair, wellbeing economy that works for everyone in Scotland. With independence we can develop an immigration policy that aligns with the values of the people of Scotland. Westminster is broken and this is not limited to the Tories. My immigrant grandfather always voted for the Labour party, yet recently we heard its leader saying that there was essentially little difference on immigration between the two parties. That is shameful. It is not something to be proud of. It is a disgrace. I am so proud—[Interruption.] I am not going to listen to the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray); he has had his time to speak, but that is exactly what his leader said.

    I am so proud of the rejection from these Benches of the hostile, xenophobic anti-refugee and anti-immigrant policies from the Conservative side of the House. There are already stark differences on asylum policy between both Governments. The Tory Government want to send people who are fleeing war and persecution to Rwanda, while the Scottish Government’s new Scots refugee integration strategy is pushing a trauma-informed approach to ensure that the voices of those seeking asylum are placed at the heart of policy. No human being is illegal. To quote Warsan Shire:

    “you have to understand,

    that no one puts their children in a boat

    unless the water is safer than the land”.

    It is the creeping normalisation of othering from the Tories that is so chilling. I cannot believe that the Home Secretary had the audacity to stand at the Dispatch Box and use the word “invasion”. Forget the context; it is just the fact that she used the word “invasion” that is shameful. We also heard a Tory MP in this Chamber say:

    “I do not wake up every day worrying about the welfare of people who have entered our country illegally”.—[Official Report, 31 October 2022; Vol. 721, c. 660.]

    I feel compassion and concern for those who are fleeing war just as much as I feel compassion and concern for those living in poverty. These are not binary choices, yet this is straight out of the right-wing playbook. Whether people are working class, an immigrant, gay, lesbian or a trade unionist, this is what the Tories do: they pit communities against one another. They tell people that they are poor because they are not working hard enough, that they cannot find work because refugees are not actually fleeing war, that immigrants want to steal their jobs and benefits, or that it is the fault of pesky trade unionists.

    The Tories’ national minimum wage is not a real living wage. The differing rates for young people are wholly unjust and discriminatory, and they do not account for young people’s needs, responsibilities and living costs. This is in contrast to the SNP, which proposes a single rate that better reflects the cost of living, with no lower rates for younger workers. Scotland’s gender, disability and ethnicity pay gaps would be addressed, in part, by introducing greater transparency on pay reporting. In an independent Scotland, I look forward to the unfair Trade Union Act 2016 being repealed.

    We need an independent Scotland, as Scotland simply cannot afford to be part of the UK any more. Scotland is a country in its own right. It is not a colony or a region. Independence will give Scotland the ability to get rid of nuclear weapons from the Clyde, independence will give Scotland the ability to tackle the climate emergency, and an independent Scotland will always get the Government she votes for.

  • Nia Griffith – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Nia Griffith – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Nia Griffith, the Labour MP for Llanelli, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    It is very important that we do not confuse the institution of the UK Government with this shambles of a Tory Government. Their performance over the past 12 years, compounded by the disastrous Budget on 23 September and followed by four weeks of inaction in which they were too slow to stop the damage, has left people up and down the country in real difficulties. It has left our allies shocked and our reputation on the international stage trashed. People now face higher mortgage payments, higher interest rates, a 12-year squeeze on public sector pay and benefits, and rampant inflation—all because of this Tory Government’s obsession with tax cuts for the rich.

    To that extent, I very much agree with the first part of the motion, but we must separate the failure of this Tory Government from the concept of being in the United Kingdom. I am very proud to be Welsh and to speak Welsh, and I know that Scottish people are rightly proud to be Scottish, but I am also proud to be British. We in Wales and Scotland have so much to gain from being part of the UK. It is not about nostalgia or an outdated view of the United Kingdom; it is about a recognition of the UK’s current position in the world.

    Admittedly, this Tory Government have done their best to trash our reputation. Nevertheless, we are an important economy—the sixth largest national economy in the world—and we are in the G7. That gives us influence—an influence that Wales and Scotland would never have on their own, and an influence that can be used for good, as we saw when the banks crashed the economy and caused the financial of crisis of 2008. The Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was instrumental in persuading other world leaders to take the necessary mitigating action, showing real leadership. That same Gordon Brown had secured an agreement from the G7 in 2005 to get the debts of the 18 poorest countries in the world cancelled by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. I could go on, talking about his tackling the AIDS and HIV crisis, and providing education for girls worldwide. That is the sort of influence that we can wield as the United Kingdom.

    The same applies to climate change, which is of huge concern to many people in Wales and Scotland. We all recognise that tackling it has to be a joint effort, not just throughout the UK but by nations across the world. As the UK we have much greater influence—notwithstanding the appalling pantomime we have seen from the current Prime Minister, first snubbing COP27, the success of which is vital to the very future of life on earth, and then finally being shamed into grudgingly attending—but in the past, we as the UK have used our influence for good. When Labour was in government we passed the Climate Change Act 2008, a world first, and we showed leadership on the world stage in conferences from Kyoto to Copenhagen.

    Labour has delivered on devolution to Wales and Scotland, which has enabled us to do things differently. In Wales, for example, Labour placed a moratorium on fracking. It has allowed and encouraged the roll-out of onshore wind. It provides a wide range of additional support grants to help the poorest, and is now consulting on radical changes in business rates. Scottish Labour has called on the Scottish National party to use its power to do more by topping up the Scottish welfare fund, writing off school meals arrears, and providing extra funds for money advice services.

    However, critical to getting the best from devolution is a good relationship between the UK Government and the devolved national Governments. Our Labour vision for that relationship is a vision of respect and co-operation—of a Union of nations which want to work together for the greater good of all. Unfortunately, that has not always been the case with this Tory Government, as we saw most recently when the former Tory Prime Minister failed to pick up the phone to the Welsh or the Scottish First Minister during her term of office. That is precisely the sort of behaviour that we do not want, because of course it breeds resentment and makes us feel angry, and the Tory Government are just feeding the calls for independence.

    Similarly, with the passing of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 we saw a Tory Government ride roughshod over the devolved nations, driving forward acceptance of the lowest common denominator in terms of environmental standards. We could have had a much more constructive and consensual dialogue. We must not forget that things could be different. At the time of the recent trade treaties with Australia and New Zealand, the officials in the Department for International Trade were helpful in working with the Welsh Government, but that should not be left to chance. We need a proper concordat, enshrining proper processes and consultation, to accord the devolved nations the respect and influence that they deserve on issues that affect Wales and Scotland respectively.

    So yes, we definitely need to improve the working of devolution and the relationship between devolved Governments and the UK Government, but the answer is not independence—not because Scotland could not be independent, but because there are substantial issues which need to be considered but which the SNP tends to gloss over. For instance, as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) explained so clearly, there is the issue of a new currency being devalued. That would cause major difficulties, with people being paid in the new currency but having to make mortgage payments at the value of the UK pound. There is also the problem of how Scotland would cope with its share of the UK national debt, not to mention, of course, the uncertainty over pensions.

    We have all seen the complications that Brexit has thrown up. Given that the majority of Scottish exports go to the rest of the UK, the idea of a hard border, as proposed by the First Minister of Scotland, will be sending shudders through Scotland’s economy. Ultimately, however, it is the opinion of the people in Scotland that matters. As has been mentioned already, 18 of the last 19 opinion polls have shown that a majority are not in favour of independence. They want the Scottish Government to concentrate on helping them with their day-to-day problems, and to stop obsessing about independence.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Ronnie Cowan – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Ronnie Cowan, the SNP MP for Inverclyde, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    Norway has been mentioned a lot this afternoon, has it not? I had the good fortune to visit Norway last week. I met representatives from Parliament, Government, academia, the civil service, trade unions and non-governmental organisations, and I was struck by the way that they worked together with respect and trust to create a better Norway for everyone. Had I suggested to them that they were too small to be an independent nation, and that they would be better sharing their governance or their financial levers with their Scandinavian neighbours, they would have laughed me out of the room. I noticed that none of the Unionist MPs on the trip with me asked that question either. It is strange how that respect is afforded to Norway—a small, northern European, independent, sovereign nation of 5 million people—but not to Scotland.

    Norway has alliances with other countries within which they co-operate. All of that is negotiated between equals who respect one another. Norway became independent in 1905 and has never looked back. It has experienced some tough times, but Norwegians took on the problems and solved them. That is how normal countries work.

    That reminded me of Hugh MacDiarmid’s poem, “Scotland small?”:

    “Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland small?

    Only as a patch of hillside may be a cliché corner

    To a fool who cries ‘Nothing but heather!’ where in September another

    Sitting there and resting and gazing around

    Sees not only the heather but blaeberries

    With bright green leaves and leaves already turned scarlet,

    Hiding ripe blue berries; and amongst the sage-green leaves

    Of the bog-myrtle the golden flowers of the tormentil shining;

    And on the small bare places, where the little Blackface sheep

    Found grazing, milkworts blue as summer skies;

    And down in neglected peat-hags, not worked

    Within living memory, sphagnum moss in pastel shades

    Of yellow, green, and pink; sundew and butterwort

    Waiting with wide-open sticky leaves for their tiny winged prey;

    And nodding harebells vying in their colour

    With the blue butterflies that poise themselves delicately upon them;

    And stunted rowans with harsh dry leaves of glorious colour.

    ‘Nothing but heather!’—How marvellously descriptive! And incomplete!”

    That is how it works. If the Unionists think Scotland is too small, they make it so because of their crushing lack of ambition and confidence in themselves and their fellow Scots, but they will not enforce their dystopian vision of an impoverished Scotland on me. I choose MacDiarmid’s view of a flourishing Scotland over the barren views of the Unionists any and every day of the week. Maybe they should ask themselves why Scotland has not voted for the Conservatives and Unionists in any significant numbers since 1955.

    Among the statistics that outline Scotland’s wealth and, importantly, its potential, it is interesting to note that we have 61% of the seawater of the United Kingdom and the majority of the natural gas, crude oil, coal reserves, timber production and so on. That is not what we would expect of a country that is told that it is dependent on Westminster and that we are too poor to be independent.

    As we transition away from fossil fuels, however, there are two figures that interest me more. First, Scotland has more than 25% of all the wind and wave energy potential in Europe. That is where our energy will come from as part of a clean, green, renewable energy package, providing for today’s needs while safeguarding the future for generations to come. The second figure is that Scotland has 90% of all the UK’s surface freshwater. Economists predict that water will be the new oil. We have more water in Loch Ness than all of England and Wales combined. Scotland has 31,000 freshwater lochs, equating to 100 times more water than it uses.

    We can be self-sufficient in beef, sheep, dairy, pigs, cereal and potatoes. We are not too poor. We must not allow ourselves to be drawn down into the poverty mindset of the Scottish Unionist parliamentarians. Their poverty of aspiration does not reflect the economy of an independent Scotland; it reflects their desire to maintain the status quo and scare the people of Scotland into compliance with a UK Government who have shown themselves to be economically illiterate, out of touch with the needs of the majority of people and interested only in the inner machinations of their own party.

    There is only one way in which Scotland can experience the benefits of our own resources, which is for all political decisions made for the people of Scotland to be made by the people of Scotland. There is only one path that leads to greater ownership and responsibility. There is only one outcome that provides the autonomy and the power required to grow and develop a strong, vibrant, inclusive and sovereign nation: independence from the corrupt and moribund United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

    With an independence referendum, we have an opportunity to re-establish an independent nation and, importantly, design that nation. With all the financial levers, together we can design welfare, banking, taxation, land ownership, foreign policy, defence, education, energy, health and transport in a fashion and to a standard that we feel is fitting and appropriate, built by Scotland for all of Scotland.

    The wind of change is blowing. It will bring with it a nation full of hope, ambition, opportunity, respect, co-operation and equality. It is up to everyone who believes that Scotland must be a free and independent sovereign nation if it is to reach its potential to work together to achieve that aim. If we allow ourselves to become fractionalised as a force, we are beaten. We must keep our eyes on the prize, and we shall achieve our goal.

  • Christine Jardine – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Christine Jardine – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    I will do my best, Mr Deputy Speaker, and thank you very much for calling me to speak.

    This is one Scot who can and will speak but who will not repeat the nonsense we have heard from the SNP Benches this evening. When I saw the motion I, like my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray), was pleased. I thought that, at last, we were going to talk about the economic damage that has been done to our country—by which I mean the United Kingdom—by the Conservative Government. At last, we were going to talk about the damage done by their financial event, or whatever we want to call it, last month, about the need for the triple lock, and about the damage that has been done to our economy and the mismanagement throughout the pandemic. That is what my constituents in Edinburgh West talk to me about when I go to their doorsteps. They want a change. They want a different Government. They want a different approach. What they do not want, and what they regularly tell me they are fed up hearing about, is independence. That is why, like my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South, I am disappointed that yet again this obsession is being brought up in the House.

    Regardless of what might be claimed, the Scottish National party does not speak for the people of Scotland. The Scottish National party does not even speak for the majority of the people of Scotland. At the last count for Westminster, the hon. Members on the SNP Benches spoke for 45% of the people of Scotland, which means that those of us elsewhere in this House speak for the majority of the people in Scotland. The majority of the people in Scotland want the Government, both Governments in fact, to focus on—[Interruption.] I listened to the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil), so if he does not mind. The people of Scotland want both of their Governments to focus on the problems they are facing, including the energy prices we all face this winter and the cost of living, which is forcing families to choose between feeding their children and heating their homes. And they tell me that they want the First Minister of Scotland to drop the independence obsession and focus on the problems they face now.

    Another issue that has been raised with me recently on the doorstep in Edinburgh is Europe and Brexit, and the SNP claim that the people of Scotland were dragged out of Europe against their will. One of my constituents said to me angrily a few weeks ago, “Can you please tell the Scottish National party to stop appropriating my vote? I did not vote for Scotland to be in the European Union; I voted for the United Kingdom to be in the European Union and I voted to stay in the United Kingdom.” I believe in the free will of the people of Scotland and I believe in the settled will of the people of Scotland. I worked for a Scottish Parliament, unlike the Scottish National party until the very last minute. I believe that the people of Scotland have free will and I believe that they exercised it in 2014 when they voted to stay in the United Kingdom.

    The second half of the motion talks about the economic plans for Scotland and the Scottish Government’s independence papers series. I am well aware that if I now start to criticise those papers and talk about their flaws, I will be accused of speaking on behalf of Project Fear. [Interruption.] That is why I am going to quote some independent assessments. David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the Scottish Government’s new paper on post-independence economic plans

    “skirts around what achieving sustainability would likely require in the first decade of an independent Scotland: bigger tax rises or spending cuts that the UK government will have to pursue.”

    Richard Murphy, professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, said:

    “I think this paper lays out a policy that would be disastrous for Scotland.”

    Robin McAlpine has been mentioned, and rather than use unparliamentary language I will not use his full quote, except to say that he does not really have any solutions for the border. Writing in The Scotsman, economist John McLaren concluded that

    “the report is incoherent as it refuses to acknowledge exceptional circumstances and necessary trade-offs.”

    The problem that a great many of us in Scotland have is that we believe that the United Kingdom is not perfect. It needs reform. We need to move forward to a more federal system. What we do not need to do is break it up, particularly at a time of economic crisis and hardship for our people, which would only be made worse by some wanting to pursue an ideological obsession that is not in the best interests of the majority of the people of Scotland.

    I will make one last point. A Labour Member—the hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane)—was ridiculed for using the example of Orkney. I point out to hon. Members that, during the last independence referendum, there was a saying, “It’s Shetland’s oil”. Orkney and Shetland have never voted for the SNP at Holyrood, and for more than 70 years they have voted for Liberal Democrats at Westminster. The people of Scotland are a diverse, wonderful body who have many different voices, which they do not want to be silenced by SNP Members in the way that they constantly try to do. So please have respect for the many voices, listen to the people of Scotland when they say, “It’s the economy, stupid”, and focus on that.

  • Steven Bonnar – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Steven Bonnar – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Steven Bonnar, the SNP MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    I take the opportunity to remind the House that no asylum seeker raided or looted pension funds, no asylum seeker used fire and rehire tactics to sack an entire workforce, no asylum seeker tanked the economy, and no asylum seeker is illegal.

    I rise to speak in favour of the motion on the Order Paper. The UK that Scotland voted to remain part of in 2014 has gone—Brexit has seen to that. The security and freedoms of our place in the EU, as promised with that no vote, are gone—Brexit has seen to them. The financial stability of the “broad shoulders” of the UK has gone—Brexit continues to see to that. The previous Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), and her Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng), assisted with that in a spectacular fashion for all the world to see.

    The Tory cost of living crisis is spiralling completely out of control. It is putting lives and livelihoods at risk, with the poorest households in our communities being hit hardest. The reality is that we can no longer afford not to be independent in Scotland. As things stand, the poorest people in the UK are the poorest people in the whole of western Europe, while the richest in the UK are the wealthiest in the whole of western Europe. That is right: the poorest people in western Europe are in London, not Lisbon or Larne. The hardest working and poorest paid people with the poorest pensions are in Bellshill, not Berlin or Bern.

    That gap between the richest and poorest tells people all they need to know about this right-wing Tory Government and their priorities after 12 painful years in power, including the coalition of chaos with the Liberal Democrats. The economy is broken, the NHS is decimated, immigration is out of control and our standing in the world is a laughing stock. It is a shameful record.

    If the Government have any desire at all to change that and ease the pressures on Scottish households, it is imperative that they uprate all social security benefits in line with current rates of inflation. All hon. Members, as representatives of the people, must do all we can to support the most vulnerable through this cost of living crisis. The Tories must ensure that the universal credit uplift is reinstated for all and increased to £25 a week, and that it is extended to all those who have been left, as if they are some Tory afterthought not worthy of the Government’s attention, on legacy benefits.

    We must also protect our pensioners. The Government’s triple lock betrayal with regard to the state pension is an undiluted attack on pensioners’ incomes. The Prime Minister refused again today to give them some peace of mind by committing to the triple lock. Those same pensioners, who are the poorest in western Europe with the lowest pensions, are among those most hard hit by this cost of living crisis. Over a decade of Tory policies have pushed people deeper into poverty and further into destitution, and families are out there right now fighting hunger. This is the Union.

    Drew Hendry

    My hon. Friend is making a very powerful speech. He is talking about those people fighting poverty. Does he agree with me that it is a disgrace that, because of the actions of this place and Brexit, we have seen food inflation pushed to such high levels that basic items are now 60% up on a few years ago? It is really hard for people to survive in those circumstances, is it not?

    Steven Bonnar

    I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. We are being attacked from every possible angle, whether it is food or—in the case of mortgage rates—housing. The Government are sitting on their hands—rearranging the chairs on a sinking ship every now and again—and it is doing no good for the people out there.

    The last few months have made it abundantly clear that Scotland cannot rely on this UK Government as we attempt to get Scotland through this cost of living crisis. It is vital that we have a choice, and the choice is thus: we can choose the insular chaos of this place, and to continue to live amid the ruins of this broken Union and among the self-destructive whims of these two parties; or we can choose a different way, and be free from the perennial damage of Brexit, the worst of which is still to bite. We can also have the choice of the Scottish people’s priorities, the choice of how we plan and deliver on our green future, the choice of how we treat the most vulnerable in our communities—as I have said, no person is illegal—and, of course, the choice of the Scottish people to determine their own futures free of Westminster rule.

    Patricia Gibson

    My hon. Friend is making a powerful and impassioned speech. Does he share my deep disappointment that the Labour party in Scotland would rather work with the Tories to keep Scottish households locked into this destructive Union than help Scotland work towards a better future when it governs its own affairs?

    Steven Bonnar

    I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and I agree with every single word she said. I am here from North Lanarkshire, and while Labour talks about having no coalitions, Labour in North Lanarkshire Council is being propped up not only by the Conservatives there, but by a sole British Unionist politician. That is the Labour party, and it plays two sides of the same coin because it has to appeal to Tory voters to squeeze a couple of them in and get them through the doors. Would the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) like to intervene? No, so I will continue.

    I was talking about choices, and we can choose to be a member of the European Union. We can choose our independence, and with that Scotland could be part of a huge single market that is seven times the size of this shrinking UK market. If we look north to Norway, we see that its national income per head is around 48% higher than that of the UK, while Ireland’s is 45% higher, Denmark’s 30% higher, the Netherlands’s 25% higher and Austria’s 24% higher. Those are all nations comparable with our wee bit of highland glen.

    Mike Kane

    On looking north to Norway, will the hon. Gentleman give way?

    Steven Bonnar

    If the hon. Gentleman wants to get up on his feet, he can intervene, but if he is going to chunter, he can stay sitting down and keep quiet, and we will get on with it.

    Mike Kane

    On looking north to Norway and the Union, I have some statistics. I can tell the hon. Gentleman who looks north to Norway: it is probably Orkney. Orkney voted against devolution in 1997 and it voted against independence. It has never voted for the SNP, and it has a Government it has never voted for, who are in Holyrood. So will Orkney have independence?

    Steven Bonnar

    The hon. Gentleman has made some pretty ridiculous points, which I will not entertain. I am going to move quickly on, because you are really pushed for time, Mr Deputy Speaker, and so am I.

    Through its membership of the European Union, independent Ireland dramatically reduced its trade dependence on the UK. It has diversified into Europe, and in the process its national income per head has, once again, overtaken that of the UK. Scotland simply cannot afford to be part of the UK any longer. The positive case for the Union has evaporated. Now is the time to leave the broken Westminster system behind, and to have full powers of independence so we can begin to set Scotland on the right path.

    Finally—let me make this perfectly clear—the Better Together no campaign, in which the Labour and Conservative parties cosied up to each other, was based on lies and built on fear. Brexit and its ramifications for our freedoms has rendered the 2014 referendum out of date and, quite simply, to the people I represent the result is no longer valid. No Government in this place—not Tory, not Labour—offer Scotland’s people a route back to Europe. They both back Brexit, while we back Scotland, and the only route back to Europe for Scotland is through Scottish independence.

  • Kenny MacAskill – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Kenny MacAskill – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Kenny MacAskill, the Alba MP for East Lothian, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which covers the two crisis issues of our time: the collapse of the British economy and the kick-on effects on our society, and the vital need for Scottish independence. That is encapsulated in the perversity that Scotland is energy rich, yet Scots will be fuel poor this winter. The economy is faltering as a result of the Truss experiment, but the rot started before that. It started with a hard Brexit forced upon Scotland, and the situation has worsened and the pace has accelerated.

    As a consequence, we have another perversity in that, as we have been taking part in this debate in this Chamber, the Deputy First Minister of Scotland has been speaking in Holyrood imposing swingeing public service cuts that will have an impact on Scotland’s poorest. What a perversity that that has happened. Of course, the responsibility rests with the budgetary situation in the UK and the Scottish Government’s limited ability to react, but it is why we should be moving fast for independence, and that is why we have to ask, “What has been done?”

    Mandates have come and mandates have gone, just as mañana follows mañana. We are now told there is to be a referendum next year, just as I was told there was going to be a referendum next year ever since I first went into the SNP group in December 2019. Maybe there will be a referendum next year, but I do not see a great deal of preparation by the SNP or the Scottish Government to ensure that it will actually take place or that we are going to win it. That takes away from the need for Scotland to be sovereign. All the preparation we have had has been a few papers.

    I will not go further on that, but the reference to the Supreme Court, far from being a wizard wheeze by the Scottish Lord Advocate, is frankly a counsel of despair. We will see what the outcome of that will be but, at the end of the day, it is the right of the Scottish people to choose their own destiny, and that cannot be usurped either by a UK Supreme Court or by a British Parliament.

    The situation has changed as a result of Brexit. We did lose the referendum in 2014, but we came remarkably close. The UK had to call in favours from all and sundry, including President Obama, and just about did it, but we can do it the next time. The risk has also changed, because in 2014 the risk was that we would lose our EU membership. The risk was that people would lose their pension or the NHS that is so dear to us. The risk was having an unstable currency. The risk was not being part of a British force for good. But the situation is that we have had Brexit and been ripped out of the EU, sterling is plummeting, the NHS and our pensions are being privatised and undermined, and Britain, far from being a force for good, is an international laughing stock. What is so great about being British when people can see the turbines turning from their home but will not be able to heat their house this winter?

    What is being done? Where is the action? That question is why I have to move on to what needs to be done. First, the Bill for a Scottish independence referendum should be launched in the Scottish Parliament. If the Lord Advocate is not prepared to do it, get a Minister or another member of the SNP to do it. Launch it forthwith, so that when it comes before the Supreme Court for a decision, it will not be a simple referral from the Scottish Government, but have standing behind it the sovereign will of the Scottish people, decided by their Parliament. The Scottish National party still has the time to get out of the fire and ensure that Holyrood passes that Bill.

    Secondly, let us call a Scottish constitutional convention. At the end of the day, the people of Scotland are sovereign. As we have heard from speaker after speaker, especially on the SNP Benches, they should be sovereign through the Government that they elect, not one that they have not elected since 1955. Why do we need our Scottish countrymen? Let us look around. How many people do we have on the Tory Benches? Five. How many are sitting on the Labour Benches? Four. Will that make any difference? What matters is that the people of Scotland’s elected representatives should decide.

    In February 2020, the First Minister of Scotland said that she would call a constitutional convention. Let us call that convention and make it clear that it is the Scottish people, through their democratically elected Scottish representatives whether in this Chamber or other Chambers or as senior members of local government—

    Mike Kane

    Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

    Kenny MacAskill

    No, I am running out time. I am the only speaker from my party. The hon. Member’s party has undermined the cause of independence and sided with the Tories, which is why it paid the electoral price.

    As I was saying, we need a constitutional convention. We need the First Minister to lead from the front and get active in demonstrations in support of Scottish democratic sovereignty and the legitimate right of our people. We need to pursue this through not just the UK Supreme Court but international courts and aspects. This is a position on which we have to make a stand.

    The Scots will struggle this winter. That an energy-rich Scotland will probably see people dying as a result of a fuel crisis is simply perverse. We have had enough mandates; it is time to have our choice, as is our right. That has to be delivered through a referendum. If the Government will not give us a referendum, another route needs to be chosen. The Scottish people will not get any satisfaction from the Government or the Opposition in this Chamber, which is why we have to make sure that there is a convention and that the democratic right of the Scottish people prevails.

  • Owen Thompson – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    Owen Thompson – 2022 Speech on Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

    The speech made by Owen Thompson, the SNP MP for Midlothian, in the House of Commons on 2 November 2022.

    A few weeks ago, Christine Grahame MSP and I co-hosted a cost of living support event in Gorebridge in my constituency. We invited along energy providers, community groups, food banks and suicide prevention charities. As constituents arrived and were able to access the help they needed, I started to think that it was a great success and that it was brilliant to see so many people there. But then I had to stop myself, because I started to think, “How did we get here? How did we become a society where food banks are normal and where we simply accept that poverty is growing and that suicide prevention charities face record numbers of calls?” The fact that we needed to hold that event at all is an alarming sign that the UK state has failed. When a country cannot guarantee its citizens a decent standard of living, with a roof over their head, heat in their home and food on the table, that country has failed to uphold its end of the social contract.

    The most shocking thing about this crisis is that so much of it is inflicted by the Government. For instance, the energy crisis is far worse in the UK than it is elsewhere, because the Government have kept the energy companies private, ensuring that the money from bills goes towards profit, not investment that could help to ensure security of supply. The severity of the cost of living crisis has been exacerbated by the Government’s incompetence, with a kamikaze Budget sending mortgage rates skyrocketing and the pound crashing, which means that there is less money in people’s pockets and that the money that remains is worth less.

    The truth is that the UK has been the poor man of Europe for years because the economy is set up to funnel wealth to the super-wealthy—to people such as the current Prime Minister—rather than to distribute it fairly to support those who need it most. Now, we are reaping what has been sown.

    There is no doubt that this is a global crisis, but while other societies have been ready to catch the poorest in their safety nets, the net in the UK is a glaring hole. Somehow, British exceptionalism has kept its grip on policymaking, and although we are no longer a particularly well-off society but one where a tiny number of people have immense wealth, the idea that we are exceptional has meant that the Government have refused time and time again to look abroad and follow best practices.

    To take the windfall tax, other countries have got serious about taxing the record profits that oil and gas companies have been making, but we have ignored the issue for months. Now we are left reeling from a failed Thatcherite experiment and looking down the barrel of austerity 2.0, with an economy so deliberately trashed that there is little option but to put money directly into people’s pockets, although the Government cannot even get that right. I recently met an 89-year-old constituent who cannot afford to heat her home because she, like thousands across Midlothian, relies on heating oil. The price of heating oil has skyrocketed to the point where she has spent £2,000 on it this year and expects to fork out at least another £1,000 over the coming winter. Yet the Government’s proposed support package for people using heating oil is £100—not even enough to get through a tenth of the winter.

    Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)

    Constituents in my area of Lanark have written to me about the fact that oil prices have continued to go up and that Government support is frankly woeful. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must do more to support those who are off the grid, especially in rural communities, because they simply have no other choice?

    Owen Thompson

    I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The support that is in place is welcome—I do not deny that, and I do not think anyone else here would—but we need much more, because far too many people, and especially those who are off the grid, have been left behind.

    At the moment, we are on a sinking ship. The UK’s future is not bright, and there is little reason to doubt that our children’s economic prospects will only become worse than ours. Therefore, the question is whether we look around the sinking ship, shrug our shoulders and say, “It’s been fine up till now. There’s no point trying to change it. We’ll be just fine,” or we try something different. We do not have to go down with this sinking ship. Certainly for those of us in Scotland, there is a lifeboat; it might be smaller than the boat we are currently on, but we get to be its captain, and the folk we share it with have the same direction in mind as us. Once we are out on the open water, we will realise that there are plenty of other wee boats out there that are the same size as us and that they are working together so that they can weather the storms far better than the lonely old SS Britannia ever could.

    That is what independence promises; it is not an instant fix, but it is the only reasonable path to a better future. Now, in a context where being part of the UK has left us with record inflation and soaring poverty, the idea that Scotland cannot afford independence is simply laughable. Norway was one of Europe’s poorest countries when it became independent in the early 20th century, and Ireland’s era of independence began with war and destruction. For them, however, independence was not the problem; it was the solution. Independence allowed them to grab hold of all the economic powers at their disposal and to respond to crises however they wished. Now, we look to both countries as models of stunning economic success.

    The truth is that we are in pretty dire straits as part of the UK. Even if we choose independence, we will inherit the mess that being part of the UK has left us with. That is not an argument against independence; it is a fundamental part of why we need it now. We can no longer afford to remain a part of this broken Union, and the people of Scotland need to be able to have that say, and have it soon.