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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• 561. Andrew - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:50

  Having been born and grown up in Scotland, I feel a strong affinity to my home country. However at a time when I feel that all countries should be working closer together to work towards a common good, I see no reason to take a step backwards.
  Without discussing details about how we would fund it or similar questions I wonder about why we draw the line at the border between Scotland and England. Why not a separate Parliament for Edinburgh and Glasgow. Why not an assembly for Orkney or Shetland.
  Many people here will have their issues with the UK government but this is not the way to correct those problems.
  Vote yes to independence if you truely believe that it is the only way that Scottish and British people (because we shouldn't be selfish here) can be better off.

• 562. Charlie Reid - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:51

  I fully support the national debate into Scotland’s constitutional future and agree that there are 3 basic options as set out in the white paper. I also applaud the Government’s initiative to let the people have their say. Now let’s establish an independent working group, representing all areas of the public and private sector, to establish an objective assessment of the relative merits of each option. That way the people can make an informed decision about their future.
  
  We’re not known as ‘canny Scots’ for nothing – give us the facts and you can trust us to make the right decision.
  

• 563. R Williams - Bryn y Maen (Wales)

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:56

  Isn´t it about time Scotland got its self respect back?

• 564. steven cowie - strathpeffer

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 13:59

  Already the National Conversation has become polarised between Independence or the status quo.
  We ought to remember that an option for the devolution of further powers from the Westminster government exists. This option will, in my view, be buried by most parties dogmatically opposed to an independent Scotland. It should however, be pursued vigorously by the SNP, who, if they can continue to be an effective Executive, can only increase; when armed with additional powers, the confidence of the Scottish people that we can indeed 'go it alone'.
  It seems to me that at this moment in time the two most substantial impediments to a majority groundswell for independence are a lack of confidence in our own abilities and undue concerns of self interest ('what will interest rates be like in an independent Scotland?, will I have to pay more tax?')
  For Scots this debate will always be one of 'head' or 'heart'. We need to be of stout heart (you can see where I nearly went with that!!), first, and from that pride in one's Scottishness ought to flow an intellectual confidence in our own abilities and a diminution in our self interest/financial concerns. I look forward to Scotland reclaiming its place in the world as an independent nation.
  (not an SNP voter)

• 565. Jason - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:01

  I'm sure if a small landlocked country like Luxembourg can manage then we can too. Why can't we be independent? I am fed up with being dictated to by the Unionists who seem to believe we have no right to an opinion. I am disgusted with the Liberal Democrats who when it comes to this issue are neither liberal nor democratic.

• 566. Paul - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:02

  I'm pretty amazed at some of the racist comments on this board AGAINST the Scots. If this were comments about English being 'scroungers' and 'subsidy junkies' then the media would be up in arms. As a Scot I now feel like a 2nd class citizen and looked down upon by my 'wealthy' English providers - what a sad state of affairs this Labour UK government have caused - the Conservatives are no better - look how the Scots were treated during the Thatcher years.

• 567. Robert Everett - Toronto, Canada

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:03

  This conservation has a chance to be a model for the consideration of consitutional possibilities. Please keep in mind that, at the end of the day, no changes are worth contemplating unless they enhances truly participatory democracy. Taking the time to learn from lessons elsewhere (for example, the empty, elite-dictated substitution of symbols for substance on both sides of the Quebec question in Canada) may be fruitful. Self-determination should be, first and foremost, a matter of popular actualization.

• 568. Keith Small - Edinburgh

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:03

  Hi,
  
  I am strongly against Scottish Independence. I believe it would have tragic consequences for Scotland. Scotland belongs in the Union forever. Long live Great Britain!

• 569. Lindsay - Glasgow

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:04

  I find Daniel Strachan's comments incredible. How ironic that he describes Northerners are "so far removed from reality it's untrue"? This is, unfortunately, typical of the blind, parochial and arrogant attitude of too many of those from the central belt. How does he explain the problems of poverty and lack of affordable housing etc in rural areas (i.e. north, west - and south - of the central belt)? Because we've had 50 years of the Labour-dominated central belt sooking up all the resources and leaving the north (and the rest) of Scotland neglected and ignored. Thank God the SNP are now in government at last and starting to redress this dreadful, and indeed scandalous imbalance that everyone outside the central belt has had to put up with for far too long.

• 570. J Beadle - www.b3ta.com

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 14:08

  On the one hand, these proposals are huge in their significance. On the other, they are tiny in their lack of strategic vision.

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