Dear England*
We’re on Your Side
‘As the former nations of the UK embrace meaningful democracy, our preposterous, antiquated system will become ever harder to justify. It seems to me that political regeneration is impossible without the breakup of the union. We will begin to be good only when we stop trying to be great’. – George Monbiot
.
Moving to Stranraer in 2004 & 2006 respectively Ros Surtees & Steve Sloan are two of the hundreds of thousands of English-born people who voted Yes in the referendum.
‘My route to supporting Scottish independence is a circuitous one via the North East of England and Yorkshire! It isn’t driven by negativity but by a very positive belief that Scotland and the regions of England will do better without the Union’. – Steve Sloan
‘It seemed to be that there was a strange correlation between my own values and those of Scottish Nationalists. So I went to the meetings, the focus groups, and I made it my business to become educated about Scottish politics and especially independence.
In 2017 I was elected as an SNP councillor for Stranraer and The Rhins – a testimony to the fact that my community have welcomed me as someone who can make a difference. My heritage and background has never been brought into question and I have never felt so welcome and accepted anywhere in the world as I have been in Scotland’. – Councillor Ros Surtees
ENGLISH & SCOTTISH PEOPLE ARE & WILL REMAIN BEST FRIENDS – a mathematical fact*²
We share a border that’s barely there. We have countless cultural and personal ties – many more than with anybody else. Well over a million live on the other side of the Tweed from where they were born. Between 2000 and 2017, 851K people moved to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK (ONS) The vast majority, presumably, are from England. While 713k have gone from Scotland in the opposite directions. England is Scotland’s biggest market and England sells even more stuff back north, in return. Indeed it sells more to Scotland than any other country apart from the USA. These things don’t require sharing a government.
But Is The UK, As A State, Working For Its People? We say no.
The Total State of the Union…
The UK’s Crisis of Democracy
It’s not a Union of equals if one part is stopped from leaving. While Tories claim ‘every vote is equal’ Scotland, as a country, rarely gets what it voted for.
Over Centralised & Underpaid
The UK is the most overly centralised state in Europe. Metropolitan domination of decision making has had dire consequences for the rest of us.
The UK’s Rampant Inequality
The UK is an outlier among Western European countries in its levels of inequality. And it’s projected to get even worse. This is very bad for our society.
Inclusive Civic ‘Nationalism’
Scottish Nationalism is different to other nationalisms – as confirmed by polling data analysis by the UK’s top Psephologist, Professor Curtice.
The Great British Deprivation
Deprivation touches so many in the UK – increasingly struggling against poverty and socially left behind. In all parts of the country. Young and old. Working or not.
‘Dark Star’ sucking life out of North
Arguing against the unpopular Union, Andrew Fletcher predicted London’s dominance in the old Parliament. 300 years later and Ruth Davidson has admitted it.
It’s OK to like a foreigner, right?
Do Unionist politicians have foreign family or friends? Do they think less of them because they aren’t UK citizens? They seem to have an issue with ‘others‘.
Unionist Bloggers smearing Yes voters
‘Anti-English’
Right-wing pundits, writing in right-wing UK newspapers, regularly portray support for independence as Anglophobic. The English Left recognises this as a typically cynical ploy. They understand and generously support the cause for what it actually is about.
We must counter claims that independence is anti-English. – Richard Walker
*¹Dear Wales & Northern Ireland too, of course (but, as you aren’t continually told that Scots want independence because they don’t like you, this is primarily to England).
*² Excl Tory politicians
THIS
The survey was carried out for the think-tank British Future as part of a wider 2013 ‘state of the nation’ report. Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, said: “Our polling shows that although some people feel the debates about devolution and an independence vote are divisive, there is a strong underlying connection between the people of this island. There’s something heartening about that.
It’s a clear endorsement of Alex Salmond and the civic Scottish Nationalist claim that an independent Scotland would still think about a ‘social union’ of history, geography and culture which would survive after independence, along with good relations with the neighbours to the south.”
– Scotland on Sunday, 13 January 2013
“Is a movement for Scottish nationalism crazy? It depends what form it takes. If it takes the form of expressing cultural values and integrating people in a more full life, that’s fine.” – Professor Noam Chomsky