We are wealthy and resource rich
This referendum campaign has confirmed beyond all doubt that Scotland is a wealthy and resource rich nation.
The Financial Times agrees. However that has presented a major headache for the No campaign as Scots question why the Westminster system prevents us from using our wealth to benefit those most in need in Scotland.
Just how would an Independent Scotland help those most in need? There is considerable detail. The working poor will see an Independent Scotland ensure the minimum wage will increase by at least the cost of living each year. That doesn’t happen in the UK and the lowest paid Scottish workers are £600 worse off over the last five years as a result.
An Independent Scotland will end the attack on our disabled citizens by the Tories by halting the move from DLA to Personalised Independent Payments y (PIP) in order to protect 102,000 disabled Scots who would be at least £1,120 worse off if there is a No vote.
We will use our welfare system to better support carers. Carers, often family members, provide a vital service for society, yet Carers Allowance is too low. Carers are supported less than those on Jobseekers Allowance.
An Independent Scotland will therefore rectify this, and, as a result, ensure over 100,000 carers in this situation get an additional £575 each year.
Indeed all benefits will be guaranteed after independence, but as with Carers Allowance, we will seek to make them better support those in need rather than the current UK Government whose tax credit reforms are pushing 100,000 Scots children into poverty.
There are many more commitments. These include finally abolishing the bedroom tax in the first year, ending draconian sanctions by job centres that drive many to food banks, guaranteeing pension increases of at least 2.5 per cent each year and a huge expansion of childcare provision for one and two- year-olds.
Independence is about delivering the kind of society we wish to create and these commitments demonstrate that a wealthy society can also be a socially just one.
The Scottish Government has provided clear, specific actions that will be taken to support the disabled, families, pensioners, the unemployed, our working poor and so on.
Few would question the direction we are travelling. Those wanting alternative proposals can put them forward at 2016’s Scottish Parliament election following Independence and the Scottish people can choose the set of socially progressive policies that best reflects their aspirations.
Shamefully the No campaign have offered no alternative.The UK is going in a completely opposite direction to Scotland. All the UK parties have signed up to a £4billion cut to Scotland’s budget and English NHS Privatisation will undermine Scotland’s NHS.
As we enter the final weeks of the referendum campaign Yes has put some significant meat on the bones of how Independence can benefit the people of Scotland.
That is why it is clear that a Yes vote on September 18th will provide the people of Scotland with the certainty they need. Certainty that the people of Scotland can have a Scottish Parliament that reflects their views.
A Parliament with the full powers to use our nation’s wealth for the benefit of all in society, rather than the few, as currently being inflicted upon us by Westminster.