Hansard

I know of at least one Liberal Democrat candidate who stood in that election in Scotland and backed Scottish independence, so Mike Rumbles’s argument is somewhat flawed. On the subject of elections, my party has now won three successive elections on a manifesto commitment not to impose a future on people, as the Tories want to do, but to give them a choice between accepting Brexit as part of the Westminster system and choosing a different future as an independent country.

In the general election just past, it was the Tories who explicitly recognised that the result would provide a mandate. It was on the ballot paper, they said. A vote for the Scottish National Party was a vote for a referendum, and the only way to stop it was to vote Tory. Well, people cast their verdict. In that election, the Tories lost more than half of their seats and the SNP won a higher share of the vote than Boris Johnson did UK-wide. The democratic case for allowing people in Scotland to decide whether or not to become an independent country is overwhelming, and it is that principle—not the substance of the independence issue—that the Parliament is being asked to endorse today.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that it is their fear of the choice that Scotland would make on the substantive question that is driving the anti-democratic position of the Opposition parties. Parties that had confidence in their case and believed that it would win the day would have no problem whatsoever in trusting the people of Scotland to make their choice. It is only ever parties that know that their arguments are bust that have to resort to blocking democracy.

The problem for the Tories, Labour and the—completely misnamed—Liberal Democrats is that the more contempt they show for the right of Scotland to choose our own future, the more they demonstrate the urgent need for us to become independent as the only way to protect our vital interests. I cannot remember the last time that I heard any of those parties make a positive case for the union. All they ever do is tell us to keep quiet and accept whatever the Tories want to throw at us. For my part, I will continue to make the positive case for independence. It is the means by which we can shape our own future and build a better Scotland.

With control over tax and social security, we can protect our schools and hospitals from the Tory austerity that has been imposed on us for a decade; we can do more to lift people out of poverty; and we can build a fairer country. With control over economic levers, and as part of the world’s largest trading bloc, we can build a more prosperous country. With control over migration policy, we can end the hostile environment and ensure that we remain the welcoming, tolerant nation that we must always be. With independence, we can choose to become a member of the European Union in our own right.

As I said, I know that not everyone agrees with my position on independence, but I am happy to have that debate and let Scotland decide.

What members of the Scottish Parliament across the chamber have to decide today is this: do they support the principle in the claim of right for Scotland that it is for the Scottish people to determine our future? Do they support the principle that, in any democracy, people must be entitled to change their minds—particularly when they face a democratic outrage such as being forced out of the EU? Do they support the principle that election results in Scotland matter?

I know that the Tories will vote against all of those principles. Others in the chamber should consider this: if they support the Tory position, they will not only be voting against the right of the people of Scotland to choose our own future; they will be voting for something, too. They will be voting for the right of the Tories to impose a hard Brexit on us. They will be voting for a future to be foisted on Scotland that they know will make us poorer in so many ways. They will be voting to expose our workers’ rights and environmental protections to a Tory party that is threatening a race to the bottom. They will be voting to give Boris Johnson the right to negotiate—over our heads—a trade deal with Donald Trump that they know will threaten our national health service. They will be voting to end freedom of movement, knowing that it will lead to a decline in Scotland’s population. If we refuse people in Scotland the right to choose a different future, all those things will happen.

Given what the Tories have in store, proposing a further decision on independence is not simply legitimate; it is necessary. It is time to put Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands, which is why I urge the Parliament to back the motion in my name.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises the sovereign right of the people of Scotland to determine the form of government best suited to their needs; agrees with the cross-party Smith Commission report published after the 2014 referendum and backed by the UK Government that “nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose”; recognises that there has been a material change in circumstances since 2014 and that a referendum should be held so that the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country, and calls on the UK Government to reach an agreement with the Scottish Government on such a referendum taking place on a date and in a manner determined by the Scottish Parliament, which the Scottish Government proposes should take place in 2020.