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.

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Better Together for CEMVO

Here is the text of the speech  would have delivered for Better Together at the CEMVO debate in Inverness last night, if the organisers had got their act together....


I'd like to start by talking about what this debate is 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.

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 proposed 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.

We knew that the pooling and sharing of resources from all parts of the UK for the benefit of everyone in the UK was the best way of achieving it.

You don’t need told about the benefits of solidarity with other workers. You live solidarity every day.   

The same principle applies. The BME community in Scotland recognises that by working with BME communities across the UK the voice was stronger and louder and meant collective action across the UK for the benefit of BME communities across the UK.

The big struggles, big fights but the big wins you have achieved have all been as a result of your coming together and campaigning for change

The Race Relations Act

The Equal pay legislation

The Equality Act

Disability discrimination

There are still major fights to be won in tackling rising Islamophobia, racism, and sectarianism, and the greatest chance of success is by coming together and campaigning for change across the UK.

Of course an independent Scotland will bring new opportunities

But it also brings risks.  Its not “scaremongering” to raise them

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 situations for jobs, pensions, public services will be better not worse.

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

Independence will not create a socialist utopia overnight.

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.

We also get Zero Hour Contracts

Ever-rising Energy Prices

Welfare Cuts

Part-time jobs

Minimum Wage

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

Equality

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

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

But this 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. 

We need to think about what we might be doing 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. 

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.

Read more...

Nairn IndyRef Debate

Text of my speech at the Gurn's debate in Nairn last night. On a panel with John Finnie MSP, Mary Scanlon MSP and Jean Urquhart MSP.   Not exactly as delivered as we all had to adapt to a different format on the night.  Very good debate and discussion.  Most of us agree about what we want to achieve for Scotland, we just differ about how....


There are just over 3 months to the most important decision we will ever make in this country.

So it’s good to have this debate tonight

Let me start by saying I agree with most of the things John & Jean want to achieve

I just don’t agree that independence is the best way to achieve it

Of course Scotland can “make it” as an independent country.

But what kind of country?

A land of milk and honey, a northern Celtic Tiger………

Or a small country, dependant on volatile oil revenues and the whims of a predatory financial system …..

… ask the Irish and the Icelanders how that feels …..

 I don’t want that to happen to my country

 So let me make the case for why I think we are Better Together.

 Of course it difficult to make a positive case for a negative word

 But put simply, I believe we can achieve more for Scotland as part of the UK.

 Together is better for the economy

Together is better for business and jobs

Together is better for Pensions

 Staying together means more powers for the Scottish Parliament

 Best of both worlds with least risk

 The Yes campaign keeps insisting that Better Together needs to make its case for staying as part of the UK.

As if that’s the option that needs justified…...

As if everything the YES campaign says should just be accepted at face value

The Yes campaign needs to stop making promises it knows it can’t keep.

It needs to be more honest about the risks.

The risks to our economy and the risk to jobs and livelihoods.

 It needs to put some costs on its promises.

 It’s all very well saying the UK Treasury numbers about the cost of setting up an independent government are wrong.

 But the SNP haven’t given us their numbers.


Why won’t they? And if they don’t have them what sort of preparation for independence is that?


John Swinney must know.... That’s why he wouldn’t answer on that radio interview last week. 


Alex Salmond of course doesn’t suffer from such caution.


He just made a number up…...


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


Being part of the UK is good for Scotland’s small businesses. Two thirds of our trade is with rest of the UK.

Our single market means businesses can buy and sell throughout the whole of the UK without any restrictions.


Our engineering, oil, aerospace and financial services sectors all rely on supply chains integrated across the UK.


I run a small business with customers right across the UK.


Business in hard enough in a competitive world without having to trade across a border, however informal it might be.


Where is the sense in putting up barriers between Scottish businesses and their customers and suppliers elsewhere in the UK?


Today our small businesses, which are the bedrock of the Scottish economy, benefit from the strength, security and stability of the UK Pound. Only independence would put this at risk

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

 I get the democratic argument.

I don’t want another Tory/Coalition government.

I get the case for devolving power to where it can make a difference.

I’d like to see local authorities given back some of the powers the SNP have taken away.

 I get the no nuclear weapons on our soil argument.

 We need nuclear weapons out of the whole country, not just moved down the coast to Barrow.

I’ll always campaign for those changes at Holyrood and across the UK.


What I don’t get is 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 in truth a leap into the unknown and are scaring the life out of business.

Wishful thinking on the pound, with no plan B

 An approach that will cost Scotland dearly when the financial markets put up interest rates.

 An approach that’s already causing business to pause on investment (B&Q) and put in place their own Plan Bs (Standard Life)

 That’s not scaremongering – that’s economic reality!

I have a better vision for Scotland

A Scotland with a 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.

Read more...

Better Together Inverness Launch

I was proud to represent Labour at today's very well attended launch of the Better Together campaign in Inverness, speaking alongside Mary Scanlon MSP and Danny Alexander MP.  Here is the text of my speech.

Good afternoon.


Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of Better Together

You will probably be expecting a well-rehearsed list of scare stories about independence.

Fears about access to NHS specialists, giving up the Pound, Bank of England control, can we afford our pensions?

What happens when the oil runs out?

As even John Swinney is now asking in private.

Well I'm not going to do any of that.

I want to talk about my vision for Scotland and why I think we really will be Better Together.

I’d like to start by taking Nicola Sturgeon’s advice.

In her speech in December last year, the Deputy First Minister said this:

“I ask you, as you make up your minds over these next two years, to base your decision not on how Scottish or British you feel, but on what kind of country you want Scotland to be and how best you think that can be achieved.”

Well I believe the kind of country I want Scotland to be is best delivered by progressive politics based on fairness, equal opportunity and social justice.

A Scotland with its own distinct political and economic identity but part of a socially progressive United Kingdom which shares those values.

Because we should not confuse the arguments of nationalism with those for advancing social justice.

The great advances that were struggled for and secured by working people across the UK – the Welfare State, Trades Union Rights, Equal Pay, a National Minimum Wage - were secured by the votes of working people in Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle, just as surely as people in Dundee, Inverness or Glasgow.

Better together means social justice is not just an ideal for Scotland but is a statement of solidarity with communities & working people across the UK.

Because socialism doesn’t stop at a border.

We need to work together to create the UK society we want or we will be the poorer for it.

Lets take the example of benefits.

The SNP prefer to blame anyone …. everyone…. rather than use the powers they already have in case it undermines the case for independence

Let’s take the Bedroom Tax as an example.

This isn't the time to talk about its fairness or otherwise

… there will be plenty of time for that between now and 2015

But the SNP have publicly stated their opposition.

They have postured with commitments to no evictions, even though they must know how difficult that is for councils and housing associations to deliver.

The wring their hands, denying their ability to do anything about it until we have independence.

Whilst they have the power NOW to help councils deal with the worst effects if they chose to do so.

But it doesnt suit their case.

So Scots can suffer until we vote the right way.

Some things work better together.

Working people need a pension system that is secure and sustainable. That will ensure a basic standard of living when you retire that won’t depend on the vagaries of the markets.

The UK system won’t make anyone rich, but it will deliver and will stand the test of time.

It works because of the scale of a UK-wide fund paid into by millions of UK workers and backed up by a government which is not dependant on highly variable oil revenues to keep pensions at a decent level.

I think that’s worth keeping.

I run a small business. My company sells its services in Scotland, and all over rhe UK.

Times are tough at home and turbulent internationally.

Businesses want certainty and stability – that’s what the current constitutional settlement allows.

The rest of the UK is Scotland’s largest export market.

We don't need the uncertainty, instability, and barriers to businesses that separation risks creating.

In these tough and turbulent times, the size, stability and opportunity of the UK economy is a huge advantage for Scotland's businesses.

We should be using that strength to invest in jobs, houses and infrastructure to grow ourselves back into economic health.

I am a proud Scot. I am ambitious for Scotland's people and Scotland's possibilities.

My case is not that Scotland could not survive as a separate country – it is that there's a better choice for our future.

A strong Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom gives us the best of both worlds: real decision making power here in Scotland, as well as a key role in a strong and secure UK.

Scotland can prosper as a social, economic and politically devolved country…..

.. making its own choices about what works for us…

…… but able to flex its economic power as part of a joined up UK which shares the same core values.

That’s why we are Better Together.

Thank you.

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Indy Debate with Unison

Full text of my speech to the AGM of Unison Highland Branch this morning, on behalf of Better Together.  With acknowedgements to Douglas Alexander MP for the inspiration!

Good morning.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of Better Together

You will probably be expecting a well-rehearsed list of scare stories about independence.

Fears about access to NHS specialists, joining the Euro, Bank of England control, can we afford our pensions?

What happens when the oil runs out?

As even John Swinney is now asking.

Well I'm not going to do any of that.

I'm going to talk about my vision for Scotland and why I think we really will be Better Together.

I'm going to make the case for why staying in the UK will better deal with the big issues that are important to the Labour and Trade Union movement.

I’d like to start by taking Nicola Sturgeon’s advice.

In her speech in December last year, the Deputy First Minister said this:

 “I ask you, as you make up your minds over these next two years, to base your decision not on how Scottish or British you feel, but on what kind of country you want Scotland to be and how best you think that can be achieved.”

Well I believe the kind of country I want Scotland to be is best delivered by progressive politics based on fairness, equal opportunity and social justice.

A Scotland with its own distinct political and economic identity but which is part of a socially progressive United Kingdom which shares those values.

Because we should not confuse the arguments of nationalism with those for advancing social justice.

We live in an unfair society right now as the Tory & LibDem Coalition shrinks the economy, cutting jobs, benefits and services for the poorest whilst protecting their rich friends.

But the great advances that were struggled for and secured by working people across the UK – the Welfare State, Trades Union Rights, Equal Pay, a National Minimum Wage - were secured by the votes of working people in Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle, just as surely as people in Dundee, Inverness or Glasgow.

It was the votes of Yorkshire miners and Lancashire mill workers which helped deliver a National Health Service, not Edinburgh consultants, Fife Farmers or Glasgow captains of industry.

Socialism doesn’t stop at a border.

We need to fight together to create the UK society we want.

Better together means social justice is not just an ideal for Scotland but is a statement of solidarity and connectedness with our comrades and fellow workers across the UK.

We must maintain a distinctively Scottish view on public services regardless of who is in power at Westminster.

The NHS has been much safer in the SNP’s hands than the Coalitions.

We need to get away from the neo con view that the private sector is always best, that local government is just an expensive bureaucracy.

That decent public services are a burden on the state rather than a measure of the health of our society.

At the risk of arguing the case for small independent nations, Norway, Denmark and other European countries manage to run social democratic economies with high quality public service, low unemployment and decent workers’ rights. 

Paid for by higher taxes.

So can we, but we need to argue that case.

And we need to win that argument TOGETHER or the banks, the tax avoiders and the big corporates will pick us off just as they have done with the other “arc of prosperity” countries.

And we don’t need to look far to see how badly wrong things can go in a small independent country.

From the early 1990s, the combination of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon and Trade Union engagement in the Social Partnership Agreement worked to drive up real wages in Ireland, especially in the public sector.

By 1999 the country attracted up to one quarter of all US direct investment for the EU with a total of over 1,000 multinationals employing over 100,000 people in electronics, software and pharmaceuticals.

Much of that investment, however, came at a cost of sweet-heart non-union deals to attract the big corporates. 

The IFSC was in effect a “free port” for big capital.

When the crunch came, ordinary working people paid the price.  Unions were undermined and isolated.

Would an independent Scotland have to go down the same route of low taxes and low regulation to attract big business? 

Is that what the business backers behind the SNP are really looking forward to?

Competing with our comrades in the rest of the UK for investment, in a race to the bottom driven by the big corporates?

That’s not the Scotland I want to live in.

I want to live in a Scotland where….

We can share the costs of developing Green energy across the rich UK tax-base not just those in Scotland.

We can ensure a level playing field for jobs and the minimum wage which does not allow workers in one part of the country to be exploited by another.

We can devote much bigger resources to engineering and medical research in centres of excellence right across the country instead of having to fund it ourselves.

It won’t just happen; we will all need to work hard to elect governments in Westminster and Holyrood which share those ideals.

Tory government is not inevitable. 

But a free market UK economy will drag down an independent Scotland.

A rightward drifting Tory party in England needs to be defeated by a Labour government not given its head by Scotland walking away.

We must fight for decent public services and the kind of NHS we all believe in right across the UK and not abandon working people in other parts of the UK to the worst of Tory free market dogma. 

Scotland can prosper as a social, economic and politically devolved country…..

.. making its own choices about what works for us…

…… but able to flex its economic power as part of a joined up UK which shares the same core values. 

That’s why we are Better Together.

Thank you.

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Independence; the Small Business Question

Local party and day job business has crossed paths with more than a few leading SNP representatives and supporters in recent weeks.

Always very civilised (socially and economically, Labour and the SNP agree about much more than we think)  One thing we do agree on is that its good we are now engaged in debate about what independence will mean rather than all the arguments about process.

Having been working "down south" on business most of this week and last I'd like to talk about how small businesses might be affected by Independence.

After all, we know that small businesses drive 70% of the economy.  That's especially true in Scotland and in the Highlands in particular.

I run a small business out of Inverness and Edinburgh.  Most of my clients are SMEs. Well more than half of them are in England and Wales. As well as the small number of people I employ directly, I’ve a network of  professional colleagues who make a decent living from my company.  Between us we spend locally on the services we buy in as well as the taxes we pay (I don't have access to Amazons or Starbucks accountants)   A lot of the small Scottish companies I work and compete for business with have similar profiles.  

So how would independence affect my company and the many businesses like mine who between us employ so many people in Scotland, directly or indirectly?

I rely on easy travel links (train and plane), sterling billing, a common tax system and all the other things that make doing business in Cardiff (where I've been today) just as easy as in Dingwall (where I'll be on Friday)  

When we are working with clients in Dublin, there is just a lot more to sort out - for me and the client - even though we are all in the EU. If Scotland and England are separate EU states, then how many times will it just be easier to employ a "local" firm?  Procurement law gives big firms an even playing field, but its a lot more challenging for small ones.

I'm assuming here (ignoring some would say) that there is no risk that an independent Scotland would not be an EU state automatically, from Day 1.  The idea of trying to work across an EU border is a nightmare scenario.  It would destroy my business. 

We hear a lot from the SNP about how independence would be good for the Scottish economy.  Maybe it would for the big firms who have the financial muscle to work through the downsides.  Though Aggreko boss Rupert Soanes doesn't think so

But how will the promised land make business easier for the small businesses on which the economy actually depends?

New Ideas for a Devolved Scotland

I’ve made a resolution to myself that I will not just post arguments against independence, but will put up some ideas for what more we can do in a devolved Scotland.  Not so much Devo Max as Devo Mike. So here we go…..

Schemes to encourage firms to take on young workers through financial incentives often produce short term results with contracts not being renewed after the initial period when the subsidy runs out.  Nor does that encourage proper investment in training and development.  So how about making it n the interest of an employer to not only take on a young person but keep them for a second year?  A Scottish Government with more fiscal powers could offer SMEs a 50% NIC discount on each under 25 employed on a Living Wage or higher for the first 12 months but rising to 100% for a second period of 12 months with a taper off for Year 3. That sort of scheme incentivises worker development and retention not just short term recruitment.  Discuss?

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