The best way to waste money

The white paper on a referendum for an Independent Scotland is due out in a fortnight. Of course it won't get much further on the path to legal status but it is still a tantalising development for those who want to see Scotland stand up for itself on a global stage. (Or, for the unionists amongst you, for those who want to see Scotland ripped out of the successful and economically strong United Kingdom)

There has been a lot of hoo-ha about this white paper being a wate of money and I really do wish they would stop all the fuss. For one thing it would prevent me using such embarrassing terms as "hoo-ha" but the SNP are perfectly justified in bringing this white paper to the table and the complaints from the other three parties has more to do with them wanting independence off the agenda entirely than worrying about costs involved.

Infact, the list of reasons why the white paper is either justifiable or a smart thing for the SNP to do is pretty much as follows:

(1) The SNP won the election fair and square. The central plank of their manifesto was the push for independence. It would be totally remiss of Alex Salmond not to construct a white paper to this end, regardless of its chances of success.

(2) It puts pressure on the Lib Dems specifically to say yes to this. They consistently talk about a debate on a constutitional convention and more powers for Holyrood which could easily be incorporated into the debate on an independence referendum. For them to say no just paints them as being in an even bigger huff than they currently appear to be in.

(3) It gets past the coalition sticking point with the Lib Dems and clears the way for a potential SNP-Lib Dem-Green administration in the future.

(4) Large swathes of the public will be annoyed at not being allowed to have their say on the matter. Granted, most of them will be SNP supporters already but I can envisage the Nationalists picking up a lot of sympathy and possibly further support through this issue alone.

(5) It reinforces the following questions whcih I've not yet heard or read decent answers to:

If there is no appetite for independence - why won't the unionists choose to have a referendum and ram the UK message down Salmond's throat, kicking the independence question into the long grass for a generation? The resulting quagmire could almost trigger another election where the SNP vote would surely drop.

And if there is an appetite for independence, surely the Scottish people deserve a referendum on it?


For me, personally, I'm not yet sure whether I would vote yes or no on a referendum, but I do think the time is right for us to have a say on it once and for all.