It’s not like me to keep my opinions to myself, for those that know me I’m extremely forthcoming when it comes to subjects I feel strongly about. When it comes to democracy it’s not for me to say what people should or shouldn’t be doing when they get to the polling station to finally vote Yes or No for an independent Scotland. However, I’ve recently read so many misleading and misconstrued facts that I felt it was about time I piped up.
To give you a little bit of background I have a Scottish father and an English mother. I was raised in Scotland until I moved to London at 18 years to gain a degree and to further my career in the performing arts but yet tomorrow I don’t get to vote because I no longer live in Scotland, please don’t get me started on this fact- I know a lot of Scottish people living outside of the ‘bonnie land’ who are extremely annoyed by this fact.
If I could vote it would be for the Better Together campaign. From the day Alex Salmond even suggested Scotland should be Independent I felt it was a PR stunt by a man who wants to be ‘King of Scotland’ and a medieval suggestion for solving recent issues and frustrations within the country. ‘Annoyed at the way Westminster is spending our taxes?’. I know, let’s divide a nation who have spent decades, centuries and millennia trying to squash historical differences, clashes and attitudes”.
What would Independence mean for Scotland? The ‘Yes camp’ say it will finally give Scotland a chance to build a sustainable future for the present, and for the generations to come. That Scotland will no longer be tied into decisions made by a Tory led government who have done nothing but bring austerity cuts to a nation who merely want to thrive.
This week has seen last ditch attempts by Westminster MP’s who since day one have treated tomorrow’s referendum as an after thought, so beguiled by their own egos that they had never considered a nation would be so brave as to say “we’ve had enough”. When last weeks polls saw the Yes campaign gaining huge support, suddenly Westminster send any ‘Tom Dick and Harry’ across the border to try salvage any tether of a relationship they may have left with the country. I don’t blame people for now wanting to vote yes, if David Cameron and his ‘minions’ respected the right for Scotland to vote in the first place, and made efforts to speak to people on a one to one basis, canvassing neighbourhoods, organising rallies and actually showing like they give a shit that they wanted us to stay together as one nation rather than throwing threats around as a way to stop us voting yes, then maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now. A week before the vote they suddenly start running around Scotland like ‘blue arse flies’, it is all a little too late and makes a mockery of anyone who has stood for Better Together.
So why would I still vote No? Staying together is the only way we can all thrive as a nation. It gives us the freedom to work where we want, gain what we want, show strength in our currency, community and legacy. You only have to look at the history books to see that segregation and division brings trouble, feelings of animosity, frustration, tensions and even violence.
Scotland becoming independent can only result in uncertainty amongst the masses.
Yes, it would be great to see Scotland flourish in its own rights, but doesn’t it already? Didn’t Scotland fund the Commonwealth Games through our own Glasgow council without any help from Westminster? Haven’t they held on to free education all the way through to University and they’ve still managed free parking at Hospitals! All these things we have decided as a nation against the wishes of an English government, why should we have to draw a big fat line between us just to prove we are doing alright?
