Respectful Debate with Yes Scotland

Debated #indyref with Blair Jenkins from YES at Inverness Town House tonight.  Here is the full text of my opening speech.

What is this debate about?

Its not about whether Scotland could be independent. 

Of course it could

Its not about kicking the coalition at the next election.

Its not even really about the pound and pensions and the EU, serious though those issues are

Its whether Scotland will be a better, fairer place to live and work as an independent country ……

…….  or with its own parliament as part of the UK

Its about what kind of country our kids and the generations after them will grow up in.

And we only get one chance to get it right……..

I’m a member of the Labour Party. 

I’m a socialist

I believe in a fair society, shared opportunity and shared rewards

I believe we can achieve a fair, just economy and society by working together not by splitting apart

I want to see a Living wage, more houses built,

Decent public service delivered by well-funded councils

No Trident 

How much more powerful will that ambition be if we can achieve it across the whole UK, for people in Liverpool and Manchester and Leicester and not just in Scotland.

When Labour introduced the National Minimum Wage it wasn’t just a Minimum Wage for Scotland.

We knew as a movement that the best way of securing the big changes in the lives of working people was to campaign and secure change right across the UK.

Pooling and sharing resources from all parts of the UK for the benefit of everyone in the UK.

I get the democratic argument

We don’t always get the government we want.

Margaret Thatcher was elected the first year I had a vote. 

What she did to our country, not just to Scotland but right across the UK shaped my politics.  I won’t forget that.

Just like I won’t forget the SNP MPs who trooped through the lobbies in Westminster to bring down a Labour government and user in 18 years of Tory rule.

The referendum is not about an alternative to another tory government.   

It’s about what kind of country our kids will grow up in.

Its not about  ‘sticking it’ to David Cameron, who will be long gone before the full consequences of independence are felt. 

It about what we might do to the prospects of future generations. 

Governments can and will be changed

There is no going back if we get it wrong as an independent country. 

This vote must be more than just idealism.  

It will have a direct impact on people’s lives and their jobs.

Of course an independent Scotland could succeed

It could bring new opportunities

But it also brings risks. 

Its not “scaremongering” to raise them. 

I don’t get wishful thinking policies which play fast and loose with economic certainty.

Promises on pensions and childcare which don’t stand up if the oil revenues fall.

Promises on corporation tax which can’t work in a currency union

Assertions on EU membership which are a leap into the unknown and which are scaring the life out of business……. 

It’s up to the Yes campaign to deal with these issues and not just label those raising them as members of Project Fear.

What’s happening under the Coalition is bad enough...

But there is NO guarantee an independent Scotland can do better.   

IF the UK government agrees to everything we want in the negotiations

IF we are able to keep the pound

IF the financial markets are kind to us....

IF we can join the EU as a new member on the same terms as now

IF the oil keeps running.....

We need to be sure the situation for jobs, pensions, public services will be better not worse.

The truth is that Scotland is subject to the same 21st century economic pressures as the rest of the world.

Independence will not create a socialist utopia overnight.

It took an independent Norway 90 years to build a decent economy

New oil revenues won’t wipe out the share of the UK deficit we’ll inherit.

Scotland will still have to compete in the same global markets, defend itself from financial predators and find a way to balance income and spending in a fragile economic recovery.

Scotland is a wealthy country if you measure it by GDP per head; but most of that wealth is earned by foreign companies. 

It’s not just sitting there for an independent Scottish Government to spend how it wants.

We already get more than our share of UK public spending per head.

But we also get Zero Hour Contracts

Ever-rising Energy Prices

Welfare Cuts

Low pay jobs that trap working people in poverty.

Why will these things suddenly be different in an independent Scotland?   

The same economic rules will still apply…..

60% of our trade is with RUK; competing will mean a race to the bottom unless we change these things right across the UK.

So let’s work together to get the UK we want.

A Living wage economy

An industrial strategy that works for the whole country and not just the South East

Decent Pensions funded by 60m people not 6m

Local authorities funded properly to deliver decent services

A Scottish Parliament with real powers over tax, spending and benefits

There is so much to change but we can achieve more far more for all our people if we work together instead of apart.

I have a better vision for Scotland

A Scotland with more powers over tax and benefits

A Scotland with No Bedroom Tax

A Scotland that insists on people in work earning a Living Wage

A Scotland that is determined young people should always be able to find work.

A Scotland that gets the benefits of being together when it comes to the pound and business but can decide for itself how it spends its national income.

A Scotland where we can all grow, prosper and succeed.

Together, I believe we can build a better Scotland and a better UK.

Together we can.