Scottish Independence
The position towards independence in Alistair Darling's eyes is; “ the white paper is a work of fiction, thick with false promises and meaningless assertions”. The national referendum vote takes place on the 18th of September this year, and gives every Scottish citizen over the age of 16 the opportunity to chose whether Scotland should once again become an independent sovereign nation. Supporters of the independence vote argue that it would ensure the fairness in the way laws are passed; laws passed in the UK are voted by only people who live there which makes sense, so why when laws are being passed that only effect Scotland do England have a chance to vote? Most people argue that if England isn't going to be effected then what relevance is their opinion? For instance the winter allowance for Scottish pensioners was voted on by English citizens, even though it didn't effect them. Due to this Scotland and England share the same allowances, even though Scottish pensioners will see much harsher winters. More votes like this will be made due to the fact that there is more people living in England than Scotland, and therefore, Scottish citizens are being over ruled by simple mathematics. The Scottish government believe independence will change the welfare for us and our families lives as the decisions will be made by the people who care about Scotland “people who live and work here”. SNP argues that by making Scotland independent it gives every Scottish citizen the chance to be part of a society that is ran by only Scottish people. Therefore meaning we can shape our lives and Scottish economy without England having to agree. During a short advert made by SNP the voice of a girl named Kirsty puts across the good points for independence. The advert displays many points from, free higher education and uni placements based on your work capability and not your bank balance, to our wealth and national resources in the hands of the people who care about Scotland the most. The clip ends with two powerful statements; “ A no vote means we stay with the present system, Scotland stifle with the repeated failures of Westminster government “ and “ A yes vote means we chose a new direction for our country, with independence we can take the decisions right for us, we have got what it takes to build a fairer, greener, more prosperous country”. Westminster is not a democratic parliament as we had no say on who gained a job in the House of Lords. If Scotland was independent we would run our own democratic and fair government and us as citizens would have the chance to elect our own MPs. This way our country would be ran to our standards with people whom we believe is good enough for the job and if it came to the point where we did not like the MP we could vote for them to be removed from parliament. First Minister Alex Salmond believes that Scotland being its own nation works better for the North Sea industry on a whole and is taking a more scientific approach when it comes to independence by thinking about what will be better for Scotland's future. Oil is finite and the problem is the majority of scientists believe oil will only last for another 30 to 40 years, even though according to a survey taken by Oil and Gas UK the supply of oil will be available way beyond 2055. Overall, cutting out the sharing of Scotland's oil will make us a much stronger economy. There are many supporters for independence but as always there is those who are against it and they also have their valid reasons to why they believe this. Even though Scotland does not have complete control over their country, having England and us voting on each others laws isn't always a bad thing, we are part of a bigger nation and this means we have a bigger voice. Scotland is only a small country and becoming independent will only make them smaller and many fear their voice wont be heard as much as bigger countries.