I’m proud of Remain vote

I am hugely proud of South Lanarkshire. In the EU referendum, we voted by 63 per cent to 33 per cent to stay in.

That was a slightly better Remain result than the Scottish average and clear evidence that we want to stay as part of Europe.

Unfortunately, the vote taken across the UK went the other way.

We now face the possibility of being torn out of the EU against our will, with the potential destruction of our economy that will bring the loss of thousands of jobs and the end of our civil and trade union rights protected under EU law. And there’s more. We also face the destruction of all the social and workplace protections we have built up over decades.

Without European laws to worry about, the Tories are already planning a far right agenda which leaves Scotland attacked by Westminster as never before.

But there’s good news too. For Scotland, this calamity can be avoided.

We can keep our EU membership and the European citizenship it offers.

Our democratic will was to do that and we must now put that into action.

Nicola Sturgeon has moved quickly to take a clear lead on this.

She has already been in Brussels to discuss Scotland’s continuing membership with EU leaders and has received a positive and sympathetic response. And she is seeking guarantees that nationals of other member states currently living in Scotland will have the right to continue to live and work here.

Might we be able to work out a deal where Scotland – and perhaps Northern Ireland which also voted to Remain – continues to stay in the EU while England leaves? It’s not impossible. The Isle of Man and Channel Islands aren’t members – though of course they’re not fully part of the UK either.

However, the most straightforward option would be to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence.

There’s a majority in the parliament at Holyrood for that position, and the SNP manifesto for May’s election made it clear that we could ask for a vote if there was ‘a significant and material change in circumstances’.

That is precisely what has happened.

Of course, the ultimate irony is that in the 2014 referendum, Better Together warned that a vote for independence would see us ejected from the EU, and that only a vote for the union would keep us in Europe.

It was yet another ridiculous lie to keep Scotland in its place and it’s now been called out for the con trick it was. Scotland has been a European nation for centuries and we’re comfortable working with other nations, large and small, in a common interest.

Unlike England, we welcome other EU nationals to come and work here.

This is a warm, open and tolerant country. Staying in Europe will help to keep it that way.

It will also mean we maintain our workplace, union, social and civil rights, hold on to the right to live, work and get free healthcare anywhere in the EU, retain our prosperity and cooperate with partners in massively important areas such as the environment and climate change.

People in Scotland are rightfully angry about this EU vote.

They feel deceived and disinherited.

Even senior Labour figures such as former Labour First Minister Henry Mcleish say they could now vote for independence.

Amid the current fog of politics and uncertainty about the EU’S future, one thing is sure: to maintain social justice and Scotland’s position in Europe and the world, we now need to be independent. Let’s make sure that, this time, it happens.

This is a warm, open and tolerant country. Staying in Europe will help to keep it that way