I am about to board a flight to Singapore, and won’t be back until Saturday. It feels strange to think for one minute that I could be leaving the United Kingdom, four distinct nations that come together to create a unique and powerful country, and returning to … What? I don’t even know how to describe what the UK would be like without Scotland, and I hope I never have to.
The Scottish referendum has been a rollercoaster. On the one hand I can see a nation engaged, passionate and eager to find the answers to some big political questions. On the other, I see division, aggression, anger, and an inability of politicians to tell the electorate the truth and let them make up their own minds.
As much as we hear big talk and big promises from the Yes campaign, the fact is that they have no concrete answers to some of the biggest questions that would determine the future prosperity of Scotland:
Can they guarantee a stable currency? No
Can they guarantee entry to the European Union? No
Can they guarantee jobs? No
Can they guarantee stability for house prices? No
Can they guarantee benefits? No
I could go on and on. The future of Scotland is too important to leap in to the unknown, cross your fingers, and hope to goodness there is a soft landing at the end of it. Especially when the people who will suffer the most will be the poorest and the most vulnerable.
Great Britain is great, but it can be greater and it is the role of progressive politics to drive that forward. That is why I am standing for the Progress strategy board and it is why I desperately hope Scotland stays in the union.
I believe that a progressive Labour party, putting the people that matter most at the core, can make this country event greater. How can we do this?
Decentralisation of power needs to be a first step. Too many decisions are made too far away from the people they impact the most. We need to increase powers for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments and we need to increase powers to local government.
We need to go back to encouraging and facilitating aspiration, and rewarding those that succeed.
We need to protect the most vulnerable in our society, ensuring that the disabled and elderly can live with dignity and security.
We need to stay true to our values of delivering the best education system and NHS in the world.
And we need to rebalance our economy through supporting entrepreneurs, delivering an industrial strategy, and ensuring that British businesses and businesses operating in the UK deliver profit with purpose.
I am not saying that any of this is easy. But as a client of mine always says, if it is easy it probably is not the right answer or, even worse, it is not worth it.
The referendum in Scotland has intensified the need for more rapid political change in our wee island, and I certainly welcome that aspect of the campaign. Change can be achieved more quickly, and have more impact, if we are a United Kingdom.
There is a lot to do to convince the Great British public that politics, and politicians, can have a positive impact and do the right thing. So let’s tear up the rulebook and deliver policies and action that inspire everyone in the UK to get active and make their voice heard – it can only make us stronger and more united in the long run.
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Jo-ann Robertson is a candidate for the Progress strategy board
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