Why I despair of Yes camp

I AM becoming depressed with the Yes campaign.

It seems to have let itself be bogged down in futile arguments over economic matters – matters that cannot be resolved until negotiations take place.

There also appears to be a failure to address the distortions perpetrated mainly by Labour who seem to be putting forward a party point of view. The SNP is also guilty of this. Yes should be making it much more clear that the White Paper is the SNP’s vision, not the only one.

Thus, Labour’s recent tirade about a 3p cut in corporation tax – Yes should be reminding people that Gordon Brown was quite happy to do so when he was Chancellor. They should also remind them that he was one of the causes of the crisis of 2008. And they should remind people that the bedroom tax was an invention of Labour. The Coalition merely extended its reach.

Too much use is made of the SNP leaders, thus letting the Nos focus on the demonisation of Alex Salmond. We have not seen enough of Dennis Canavan or Jim Sillars for instance.

A glaring gap in the Yes campaign is the constitution. Almost nothing has been said about this. It’s almost as if they are ashamed of it. But it is one of the main reasons this whole affair began. It leads to the suspicion that the politicians in Yes would like to see it disappear and thus leave them in charge as in Westminster. This is definitely not what should happen. With independence thee is the opportunity to change the way the country governs itself and prevent a political elite holding absolute power, as is the case in Westminster.

Having a written constitution, prepared through the hands of the people – that is the large number of people who are prepared to involve themselves and not simply the usual civic bodies and the so-called great and good – would lead to the development of a much more coherent society.

For example, far more responsibility could be put on local government to reduce the tendency to centralise that is a common result of having a too-powerful central government.

It could also return to the people the power to constrain government, both national and local.

It would make it very clear that government is the servant of the people.

The possibilities are endless. John Scott Roy, 42 Galloway Avenue, Ayr.