The Scottish Government

First Minister Alex Salmond

Friday, November 30, 2007

We in the Scottish Government believe that sovereignty in Scotland lies with its people.

That is why our manifesto for the Scottish Parliamentary elections this year promised to provide an opportunity for the people to consider the concept of Scottish independence in a referendum during this Parliament.

As First Minister, it is my responsibility to explore and lead discussion on the options for constitutional change. I lead the first Scottish National Party Government to be elected in a devolved Scotland, so I will put the case for independence, its benefits and opportunities.

However, I also recognise there is a range of other views in our country and represented in the Parliament. The national conversation on our future is to allow the people of Scotland to debate, reflect and then decide on the type of Government which best equips Scotland for the future.

It is 10 years since the referendum to establish the Scottish Parliament. We have seen the potential of a Scottish Parliament to respond to the wishes and needs of the people of this country. But we have also seen the limitations of its current responsibilities.

I believe it is now time for us, the people of Scotland, to consider and choose our own future in the modern world.

Alex Salmond, First Minister

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Comments

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• 541. Gary Boyd - Clydebank

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:05

  Bring on Independence. We are a proud nation and would be better off with our own government.
  
  I am 22 years old and believe that the majority of young Scots favour independence. Scotland is a great country but we also have many problems and these problems will not get any better until we have a Scottish Government looking after the needs of the Scottish people.

• 542. Matthew Withey - York

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:16

  I'm a Scot living in England. My son is English, his mum is English and many of my friends are English. This country has been very good to me, and for the most part I am grateful to it in return. My desire for an independent Scotland has nothing to do with my feelings towards England. All my resentment is towards the imperialistic, old-fashioned, fundamentally undemocratic concoction that is the United Kingdom. Let's have an independent Scotland run for and by the Scottish people. And let's make it a republic while we're at it.

• 543. Steven Stewart - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:16

  It's about time, we can go it alone, time to stand up and be counted. We no longer need to piggy back on a country that has a harmful image across the globe, that is wasting money on nuclear weapons and power and waging wars that the people don't want us to be fighting.
  We have exactly the right kind of people in this country to make this work and to make us a better nation. We are a proud and optimistic nation so lets go for it and become a nation in control of it's destiny.

• 544. Sam - Castle Douglas

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:17

  No 345 asks if Nicola Sturgeon would be a match for some British MP who for 10 years just happened to be the No2 to that other great Scot who choose to forget his birthplace. I feel sorry about the racism No 345 has suffered but his views on the efficiency of GBs policies are very blinkered. This is the man who sold off Gold Reserves at $250 an ounce and now they are $660 an ounce. He is responsible for so many idiotic decesions that it is difficult to list them in this short space. Please 345 do some serious reserch and dont descriminate as much as you do.

• 545. ross anderson - selkirk

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:17

  all countries are better off running their own affairs. Independence days are celebrated all over the world.Ours will be celebrated also.the sooner the better!!!!

• 546. Scott - Aberdeen

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:22

  this conversation has been far too long in coming. At long last we have a government in Scotland with vision and who actually wants Scotland to succeed. Scotland can go it alone - no question.

• 547. D Johnston - Glasgow

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:23

  This National Conversation is absolutely vital to the future of Scotland, politically, culturally and economically. There is now a consensus across all the political parties represented at Holyrood that, at least, the Scottish Parliament needs more power even if three of the parties resolutely refuse to engage with concept of independence. Personally, I would vote for independence and would do so with a great deal of confidence given the first 100 days of this administration. Others may be more conservative in their thoughts. But what we all must do is debate and plan for the future of Scotland.

• 548. Willie - Glasgow

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:24

  All of a sudden we have the Lab/Lib/Con parties having to re-examine how they engage with the scottish people. I watched Newsnight on BBC2 last night (both Scottish and English versions) and I was disappointed, but not surprised, at some of the squirming answers/prevarication given by opposition politicians.
  What is their problem? What is wrong with having a grown up discussion regarding this important issue. OK, so only 31% of Scottish people are in favour of independence. The opposition parties would like the coversation to exist without any reference to independence referenda. So ta ta to the opinion of 31% of the people. Hardly democratic.
  The SNP are very open about their preferrred future for Scotland but are also realistic enough to know that the conversation has to be wide ranging and all inclusive: that all shades of opinion will be allowed their tuppence worth. The SNP government have shown that governance can be very positive, that it can bring hope back to the people who have been fed a diet of moral sapping leadership since the inception of devolution.
  I therefore appeal to the opposition parties to put away their small minded prejudices and openly engage in this conversation for the good of everyone in Scotland.
  And if at the end of the process their is no independencxe referundum, then so be it.
  And IF there is a referendum and the people do not choose independence, then so be it.
  But for goodness sake do not prevent the conversation from taking place.

• 549. Colin McDonad - Walton-on-Thames

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:25

  460. Tommy Davidson - West Lothian
  
  "The facts are that more than 70% of us Scots DO NOT want to split from the United Kingdom"
  
  I must have missed this referendum. Please, can you tell me where you get your facts from?
  
  I'm guessing it's a rounded number based on either a) the election - which was essentially a decision based on many factors not just independence, though I'm sure you will claim otherwise.
  
  or b) the latest poll from the Daily Mail which sampled at a guess a couple of thousand people. If this is so then I would point out that it also mentioned that support for the SNP was at 48%. This would indicate that political party support is based on a number of factors not one single issue, thereby critically undermining the stance of anybody using point a) as a basis of their "facts".
  
  So lets assume it's b). In that case I would ask you this. How can you assume that all the remaining 70% of respondants are anti-independence? I would counter that there is likely to be a sizeable percentage who are open to debate and are undecided. I have no value for this %, it is merely my opinion. Unlike yoursfelf I have the decency not to dress it up as "fact".
  
  Without a referendum it's all just speculation.
  

• 550. Andrew Duncan - West Lothian

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:27

  As a former Lib Dem member I watched and listened in absolute horror as the Lib Dem leaders petulantly and stubbornly refused to talk to the SNP in the days following the May election.
  
  Now, I am disgusted to routinely hear the Lib Dem leaders condemning the SNP for calling for a debate and referendum on constitutional change along with the leaders of the Labour and Tory parties.
  
  How can they repeatedly claim that nothing sufficiently has changed in Scottish politics since the election in May to justify such a debate and referendum?
  
  Put simply, the Lib Dem leaders (along with the Labour and Tory leaders) are not representing us, the vast majority of the Scottish people - and they should be very worried about that!
  
  The Tory position on the Union is consistent and we know where they stand. Also, the increasingly ‘neo-British’ nature of Gordon Brown’s Labour Party puts (most) Labour MSPs firmly in the same hard-line Unionist camp as the Tories. Although some of them are no doubt just a little uncomfortable with this.
  
  However, aren’t the Lib Dems supposed to support Federalism, encourage debate, espouse radical and liberal new thinking and above all - be democrats?
  
  Here is a reality check for the Lib Dem leadership and some serious advice for them.
  
  1. The SNP have won the election and Alex Salmond is an effective and popular First Minister.
  - DO NOT simply oppose everything that he or the SNP government says, and DO NOT get into bed with Tories and Labour on constitutional issues!
  2. The Scottish people have voted for change.
  - Embrace this, and get the Lib Dem voice actively involved in the government’s new National Conversation initiative. Resurrecting an alternative 1980’s style ‘Constitutional Convention’ is not a suitable alternative, and will be rightly seen by the electorate as a petulant spoiling tactic.
  
  3. Accept that Scottish Independence is now a very serious possibility.
  - It’s time for the Lib Dem leadership to get its head out of the Unionist sand and accept that the Lib Dems could thrive in an independent Scottish Parliament. After all, the Tories did a very similar thing with the current Scottish Parliament.
  
  Lib Dem Leaders and members, join in with the new National Conversation, accept these realities or the Scottish voting public will take the Lib Dems about as seriously as Charles Kennedy takes ‘No Smoking’ signs on trains.
  
  Onward with the National Conversation and referendum. Let the Scottish people decide!
  

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