To ask those in favour of Scottish Independence to join together to renew our hopes for the future

[hadenough]

At 23:00 on the 31st January, Scotland will be dragged out of the EU against our will.

Scotland did not vote for this. Scotland does not want this.

Now we're told by Boris Johnson that our voices will be silenced. Apparently, Scotland must remain in the UK, and the right to express our will to be independent will not be 'allowed'.

On Wednesday we saw the Brexit Party wave union flags, and embarrass the whole of these islands. I don't want to be a part of it.

So now, we will no longer be a part of the EU, and we're told we should shut up and get on with it. I won't.

It will be a truly depressing moment for me to see Scotland dragged out of the EU.

But I hope with this, we can all come together in Scotland and have a renewed focus on campaigning for independence, and ultimately righting a wrong.

what are your thoughts in the border issue? Are you after a hard border?

The Scottish education system used to something that was admired and the SNP has run it so far into the ground it is appalling.

They are a single issue party and have ignored and neglected health and education for years.

Scottish Parliament building - yes, a farce of a process. A project begun by UK Labour and that had to adapt to entirely new security requirements partway through.

Edinburgh Trams - an utter shambles. By Edinburgh council, initiated by Labour, got into a complete shambles under a Lib Dem led coalition. Every single party in the Council shares the blame in my view. SNP nationally were opposed but a minority government. I do think there should have been more scrutiny and I don't think councils have the expertise to run such a large infrastructure project.

But neither can be laid exclusively or even mainly at the SNP's door.

The Scottish nhs and Scottish education system is much better than England’s!

It's the utter naivety of comments like this that frighten me.

I can't speak for the NHS but Scottish education is dire and getting worse. I don't just blame the SNP for that but it's got steadily worse under their rule.

I also hope Scotland would be able to afford to cope with the poor health state of our population, including the high number of drug and alcohol addicts - much higher than in the rest of the UK.

My Swedish friends not only pay a lot more tax that we do in the UK, but also have to pay for GP appointments and prescriptions up to a certain limit. I wonder how that system would go down in Scotland?

My pro-independence friends ignore all that. They also claim we'll create more industries to improve our economy. If that's so easy, why not do it now?

Most of all, I hate the mentality that independence would be like gubbing the English at football.

@HaudMaDug you're clearly so focused on blaming the SNP for all of Scotland's failings (or perceived failings) that you don't actually know who is/was responsible for what

@Laughterisbest They also claim we'll create more industries to improve our economy. If that's so easy, why not do it now?

Perhaps because they don't have the economic levers to do it? The Scottish government has limited powers so they can only do so much to change Scotland's fortunes.

England decides who is in power, and anyone who believes otherwise is as delusional as our current government!

When over 80% of the UK population lives in England (and more than half of those live in London and the south), it's hard to see how that will ever change.

If I was Scottish, or living in Scotland, I'd be clamouring for independence right now.

Scotland did not vote for this. Scotland does not want this.

Scotland voted to remain in the UK, along with the obvious consequence of therefore continuing to be subject to UK decisions, votes and laws.

I despise Brexit. It's the worst thing we've done in my lifetime. I get the opposition to it all too well - it has direct unwanted consequences for me. You can't just tear up the last referendum though because this happened, and particularly not a mere few years later.

I realise this won't be popular with independence supporters. I'd like the UK to remain together though for positive reasons. I do belive we're stronger together and I don't want my country to break apart.

I'm a remainer and an SNP voter. I generally like the way they are running the country, and the ethos of the party other than the singular minded drive for independence.

I voted to stay at the last Indy Ref as I didn't believe that the SNP had made their case with regards to the economic viability of remaining with the pound but the bank of England retaining fiscal control. That just sounded like a different type of union of which it would be better if we were able to have some say on governing given how much we'd be influenced by the financial environment in England.

Also, as others have said, it makes no sense to say leave the union with the rest of the UK but remain in the EU. If you believe that unions work then Independence makes no sense.

Finally if you think untangling the laws and trade deals between the EU and UK was hard, imagine trying to untangle the links between the rest of the UK and Scotland. It would take years of negotiation at huge financial cost and with loads of bad feeling, just like now but on speed. We would have the double negative financial impact that would affect us for years.

Now I'd Devo max was an option I would go for that given how different England and Scotland's voting history has been.

If we in Scotland think the SNP are so shit, so inept, so godawful - why do they currently have 62 MSPs more than the Tories and labour combined? And this under an ASM proportional system specifically designed (some have argued) to make sure there was no overall majority at Holyrood.

If we in Scotland think the SNP are so bloody awful and unrepresentative of our wishes why did we send nearly five times as many SNP MPs to Parliament as all the other parties combined?

Could it possibly be that Scottish voters actually want what they are trying to achieve? And all those "I'm Scottish and they don't speak for me!" posts you read are coming from a vocal minority.

Oops. Missing punctuation in my post above. Should read:

...they currently have 62 MSPs - more than the Tories and labour combined?

Perhaps because they don't have the economic levers to do it? The Scottish government has limited powers so they can only do so much to change Scotland's fortunes.

And then they keep getting berated for not underachieving in matters which are reserved to the Westminster government.

Here's a BLOODY LONG list of things the Scottish Government is not allowed to have anything to do with (other than get blamed for if the Daily Mail wants to):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserved_and_excepted_matters#List_of_reserved_matters

I’d like to join with you, OP and anyone else who wants to make the case for independence. I couldn’t believe we didn’t get it last time - live in Glasgow and was in a bubble of almost everyone I knew being leafy-leaning, yes voters, interested in higher taxation, spreading the wealth, and exciting future of a more equal, caring society. Now I realise that there are different cultures in other parts of Scotland, but I think, like you say, we need to come together and talk about the issues. I’m very excited, it’s going to happen this time I think. And any of you in England who don’t like the politics, come join

Haha, *lefty-leaning (but a bit leafy with it, I suppose)

@Merename I'm afraid you are still in the bubble.

Apart from the odd rogue poll - opinion polls have not budged an inch and it's still 55/45 in favour of no.

Even then half of yes voters are against holding another referendum.

Despite most seats being won by pro Indy parties, most votes go to unionist parties.

All the evidence shows that the majority of Scots still want to remain in the U.K. and most don't want another referendum.

@TheSandman the snp have those no of seats because the unionist vote splits 3 ways whilst the pro Indy vote coalesces around the snp.

And because Labour has destroyed itself.

They do not attract the majority of votes.

@reginafelangee, you may be right, but from memory, prior to campaigning at the last referendum, the yes share was only in the early thirties and rose to 45%, so I think a good campaign could really change things. I find it so hard to understand how people could not want to be free of Westminster politics, it has been at odds with that in Scotland forever. I realise that people have economic fears etc, but I hope that since we are about to go into a Brexit black hole then people will feel it can’t be much worse than that.

Personally, although I voted remain, I wouldn’t be in a rush for Scotland to rejoin the EU, because of the EU’s strong commitment to austerity, I feel we have a great opportunity to reflect the natural socialism there is within a lot of Scottish culture.

TheSandman, it's annoying that the SNP have the seats they have considering they received less than 50% of the votes cast.

The SNP have always supported PR. I agree that the system for Westminster elections is ridiculous. But there is about as much chance of the Tories changing it as there is of Ann Widdecombe being likable.

Indeed, if it was a PR system Brexit would never have happened.

@Merename - I couldn't agree more with your sentiments.

Anyone noticed Mike Russell's Referendum (scotland) bill has been given Royal Assent?
Happened on the 29th January.

Looks like the SNP is getting their ducks in a row, as some on here like to say.
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I get it that some people want independence. However, I would be more impressed if Nicola would explain

1. How Scotland is going to manage without the £10B that Westminster give her to help balance the accounts?
2. How Scotland is going to pay all of the pensions and benefits the day after independence starts?

Whisky, oil and tourism won't do it.

, it's annoying that the SNP have the seats they have considering they received less than 50% of the votes cast.

Hah! Really? Then I'm sure you will have to agree with me that it is also annoying that the Tories have so many MPs considering they too received less than 50% of the votes cast.

What percentage of votes did each party get in the General Election?

Conservative – 43.6%
Labour – 32.2%
Liberal Democrats – 11.5%
Scottish National Party – 3.9%

In Scotland, SNP gained 45% of the total vote share, followed by Conservative (25.1%) and Labour (18.6%).

The Tories had a LOWER percentage of the popular vote than the SNP (in all the seats they contested) - and still get to form a majority government. Talk about annoying...

And as for the Unionist vote being split. There are many - I see them all the time and it baffles me greatly - people who post that they support the SNP but don't want independence. Why do they vote SNP if they're so awful then? They support the SNP because they are doing 'the day job' pretty well given the shackles placed on them by Westminster and we know it.

@Biscuitsdisappear

1. How Scotland is going to manage without the £10B that Westminster give her to help balance the accounts?

Westminster doesn't "give" Scotland anything. It returns a portion of the taxes collected in Scotland (some to spend as the Scottish government sees fit, some ring-fenced).

2. How Scotland is going to pay all of the pensions and benefits the day after independence starts?

The same as any other country. By taxing appropriately and borrowing the shortfall.

Westminster doesn't "give" Scotland anything. It returns a portion of the taxes collected in Scotland (some to spend as the Scottish government sees fit, some ring-fenced).

Basically we give Westminster all our wages and our payslips - and it gives us some of it back as spending money and tells us to keep our room tidy.