Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2014
It must confront the real world—not the fantasy world it has been living in for the past two years.
The SNP—the party which sided with Thatcher; the party which said that Scotland did not mind her economics; the party which sided with the people who said that unemployment was a price worth paying—is now saying that there is no price too high for Scotland to pay for separation. A deficit more than double the rate of the UK deficit? That will be fine. Losing more than the entire education budget? A mere bagatelle. Losing thousands of nurses? Scotland can afford that.
The truth of the matter is that the nationalists think that they will liberate Scotland; instead, they will impoverish Scotland. The truth is that no one joined the SNP to improve public services; they joined to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK. They are so determined to do that they will say anything about anything else because everything is a side issue to the main event.
Scotland’s public services face two futures on September 2014: a future after a yes vote in which all the experts agree Scotland will face renewed austerity over and above what we currently face and cuts to schools and hospitals as a consequence; or we could face a different future if Scotland votes no.
We know that the best future for our schools and hospitals is one in which we can make the key decisions here at the Scottish Parliament but backed by the economic security and stability of the United Kingdom. The best future is one in which we in Scotland decide what is best for our young people’s education and our national health service, but we share the costs across 60 million people rather than 6 million. Pooling and sharing resources; spreading risk and sharing reward: that is the argument that is persuading a majority of Scots that a no vote will give us the best of both worlds.
I move,
That the Parliament recognises that the best future for Scotland is one where its devolved public services are delivered by the Scottish Parliament but backed by the security and stability of the United Kingdom; acknowledges the many financial experts, economists and think tanks that believe that Scotland would be worse off financially if it were an independent country, and agrees that the best way to ensure a high level of investment in its schools, hospitals and public services is for Scotland to stay strong in the UK, allowing it to pool and share resources with its neighbours, which means that the people of Scotland enjoy the best of both worlds.
14:54