Brian Wilson: Secession leads to a dangerous end, The Scotsman

THE offer of a package of powers for Holyrood should have happened earlier, but at least it has happened now, writes Brian Wilson

AS, MERCIFULLY, the finishing line approaches, there is one phrase which stands out in my over-loaded recollection of the Scottish referendum campaign. It came from Pope Francis and he was not speaking specifically about Scotland, so much as division of countries and peoples in general.

The critical distinction he drew was between “independence for emancipation and independence for secession”. In a more intellectually demanding age, every nuance of the debate would have been measured against that yardstick. What exactly are we being asked to liberate ourselves from, and at what human cost, risk and precedent?

I was reminded yet again of the Pope Francis test when Alex Salmond, chief architect of division, this week drew an astonishing analogy between people registering for the Scottish referendum and “the scenes in South Africa…when people queued up to vote in the first free elections”. Here, surely, we were listening to a man operating at the delusory limits of self-aggrandisement.

To claim comparison between the suffering of South Africa’s black population, on the basis of institutionalised racism, and the position of Scotland within the UK is ludicrous and offensive. Disappointing though it may be to his followers, Mr Salmond is not the Biko of Banff but a shrewd populist who is adept at pressing buttons which would be best left unpressed and at driving wedges where none need exist.

Having wrapped himself in the flag that used to belong to all of us, Salmond wants us to take sides between “Team Scotland” and “Team Westminster”. Within that not very subtle code lies the insidious folly of what he is promoting. Everyone who follows him is, by definition, in “Team Scotland” while dissenters are branded as supporters of a hostile, alien entity.

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How SNP once kicked out 'royal hating' Salmond: Scottish National Party leader was once member of Republican faction expelled from party in the 1980s, Daily Mail

Salmond part of Republican faction expelled from SNP in 1980s

The 79 Group wanted to set up Scottish Socialist republic

Removal of Queen as Scotland's head of state one of its founding principles

Fervent Republicanism contrasts to his current support for the Queen

Alex Salmond was a leading member of a Republican faction that was expelled from the Scottish National Party in the 1980s.

The 79 Group – named after the year in which it was formed – wanted to set up a Scottish Socialist republic and spent several years fighting for more radical policies within the SNP. 

The removal of the Queen as Scotland’s head of state was one of its founding principles.

The group even had links with Irish republican party Sinn Fein at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mr Salmond was one of its three spokesmen and took responsibility for publicity. He argued for greater militancy among workers, and advocated direct action including civil disobedience, according to his biographer, David Torrance.

‘I think Her Majesty the Queen, who has seen so many events in the course of her long reign, will be proud to be Queen of Scots as indeed we have been proud to have her as the monarch,’ the SNP leader said this week. But earlier this year, Mr MacAskill suggested there could be a referendum on scrapping the monarchy if Scots vote Yes.

He said in March: ‘We will inherit the situation we have with the Queen as head of state in the ceremonial capacity that she has. But it will be for the people of Scotland to decide.

‘If and when that would occur, if they wished to have a referendum, and we would hope we would become the government post-2016, it will be for whoever is in office then.’

The 79 Group, which was formally known as the ‘Interim Committee of the 79 Group Socialist Society’, was formed after the 1979 referendum asking Scots whether they wanted their own Scottish Assembly with devolved powers.

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Gordon Brown: This is Scotland's moment of destiny, The Guardian

For some time now I have been arguing that the whole of the UK must respond to the clear demand for constitutional change, and earlier this week I proposed a timetable to deliver a stronger Scottish parliament. But Scots are also leading the discussion on a new idea of citizenship for the global era, one that recognises the strength of national identity and wants to bring power closer to the people. Yet it also understands that, after wave after wave of globalisation, our ability to seize opportunities and make rights come alive is now being shaped within a vast network of global economic interrelationships – a network over which we feel we have too little power.

When I set out plans for a more modern constitution in 2007 I was thinking of a new citizenship for the global era. Our later measures – parliament's power to declare peace and war, MPs to be subject to a right to recall, an end to the royal prerogative, an elected Lords – were about a 21st-century democracy, with citizenship to be founded on a new bill of rights and responsibilities and, in time, a written constitution. There was little public or media appetite for change at that time. The MPs' expenses crisis should have triggered sweeping reforms but, in the wake of the global economic collapse, all talk of constitutional change had to take second place to preventing an economic recession from turning into a full blown depression and to getting us back to growth.

But across Europe we are now seeing the rise of both anti-establishment, anti-immigrant parties of the right and secessionist movements, such as the one in Scotland. It is not just because of the referendum that Scotland has moved centre stage – there are two other reasons. First: because of Scotland's experience of the most dramatic deindustrialisation we have become more aware of how our future rights and opportunities are tied to managing globalisation better. And second: because of our unique experience of being a stateless nation – which has for 300 years seen benefits in cooperation across nations – we have a unique contribution to make to what citizenship means for a more interdependent world.

Twice since 1707, Scots have redefined ideas of what citizenship means. First, the Scots Enlightenment gave the world the idea of civil society, of a citizen who is neither subject nor just consumer, and of a modern citizenship that stands between markets and states. Then, as they confronted the turmoil and injustices of the industrial revolution, Scots led the way to a 20th-century citizenship that guarantees social and economic as well as civil and political rights.

In the post-union, stateless Scotland of the 18th and early 19th centuries, Scots Enlightenment philosophers taught people to think of themselves as both citizens of their local community and citizens of the world. From Adam Smith and David Hume came the idea of the "civil" society, which taught us there was a space between the state and the individual, a public sphere that need not be dominated by markets and where people could come together in their own voluntary associations, from churches and trade unions to civic and municipal organisations.

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Scotland, Cartoon

Senior SNP figure threatens BP with nationalisation and cutting banks down to size for being 'in cahoots with rich English Tories' Daily Mail, The SNP show their true colours

  Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars lashes out at pro-Union businesses

  He asked: 'Who do these companies think we are? They will find out'

  BT Group chair Sir Mike Rake says 'Yes' would 'inevitably' cause a slowdown

  CBI boss claims this could 'easily' last for a decade because of uncertainty

  Comes after IMF warned separation could result in financial market turmoil

  Five Scottish based banks this week warned they would move to England

  Richard Branson is the latest business figure to oppose independence

  Asda, Waitrose, B&Q and Screwfix say prices would rise after independence

  Marks & Spencer set to join firms warning against 'Yes' vote next week

  Comes as poll shows 'No' campaign four points ahead with six days to go 

  Separate poll released today put the 'Yes' campaign just two points behind 

The former deputy leader of the Scottish nationalists has threatened a 'day of reckoning' for businesses that have spoken out against independence.

SNP grandee Jim Sillars lashed out after a host of banks, finance firms, supermarkets and retail giants warned about the dangers of separation.

Mr Sillars said oil giant BP would be nationalised 'in part or in whole' while bankers and big business chiefs would be punished for 'being in cahoots' with the Tories.

The remarks are likely to increase business anxiety over independence just six days before next week's referendum. 

The 'Yes' to independence campaign's economic case for independence was further damaged after one of Britain's most influential industrialists Sir Mike Rake warned that Scotland’s economy could be damaged for a decade if it votes for independence.

But Mr Sillars vowed to punish big business for siding with the 'No' campaign against independence.

He said: ‘This referendum is about power, and when we get a Yes majority, we will use that power for a day of reckoning with BP and the banks.

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George Baker Selection Una Paloma Blanca

George Baker Selection Una Paloma Blanca