Dear Friends and Family, If my opinion on the referendum hasnt been made clear so far, then it probably will be by the end of this. In the last few weeks when people have asked where are you from?, Ive quite proudly said Scotland. The Yes campaign may paint a picture of a bemused look at this response, but believe it or not people do know Scotland is a country, no one has said oh, you mean England. Which brings me to my first point. Scottish nationalism exists and is strong and identifiable throughout the world. Although many yes supporters believe I should be deported I do love my country but I love it as part of the UK. Id actually argue that Scotlands national identity is so strong around the world as we played a strong role in colonising most of this planet and that empire spread scots around the world where many still strongly identify with there Scottish roots. I do not believe a yes vote will change this, we are perhaps the loudest people on the planet, it is simply unimaginable we can get any louder or better recognised. The reason I currently am not at home is that I am studying abroad as part of University. Scotland has some of the best universities in the world and for such a small country that is a very big deal. The top four universities in Scotland were created long before the union was, however, under union, they have thrived. Scotland receives 20% more research funding per capita than any other country within the UK. As most of our funding comes from the UKRC, thats quite a big deal, one which the yes campaign has failed come up with a solution to how we could get such funding in an independent Scotland. Which brings me to one of my greatest concerns about independence, education. The Scottish Parliament has power over education so when the yes campaign asks us to vote yes to protect our education it does worry me theyll do something drastic Im the event of a no vote. The economic climate being as it is, education is one of the only two ways one can further themselves economically - the other being luck. Quite frankly its hard to trust a government who has a record of cutting funds for education with something so important to our nation. Its inevitable cuts will have to be made in an independent Scotland and with us being promised so much, I have a major fear those cuts will be made in education. Fees arent the end of the world - but they are the end of hopes of lifting thousands of aspiring children living in less economically stable conditions any chance of success in life. This is just simply unacceptable. Next up, the economy. Scotland is often considered the creator of modern banking and we have huge banks to show for that. Unfortunately, these banks made some pretty devastating mistakes a few years ago and so the UK government decided to bail them out. Could an independent Scotland afford to do this, no. Our economy would have fell to its knees and accepted money from anywhere it could get it. Perhaps more worrying is these banks reliance in the rest of the UK. From a business perspective, these institutions would benefit from being in the same country as 90% of their customers so its inevitable they would move operations to the UK, to also receive the benefit of being in the same country as the City of London, the world leading financial exchange. This mass exodus of business would cripple our economy from day 1 and this time, we would have no United Kingdom to back us up. Currency is also a great concern for us all but Ill tell you the truth, we can keep the pound! But thats not the issue here, its how we keep the pound. We can keep it without a currency union, where we would have no monetary controls whatsoever and would be refused entry to the EU for using a currency we have no powers over. Or, we could enter a monetary union, where monetary policy would still be controlled by the Bank of England (arent we wanting to get away from the controlling London), so if we did go into another recession, we would have little to no power to fix it. And then there is the EU itself, its likely wed get in at some point but every constitutional law expert in Scotland has said it wont be immediate, which begs the question, who do we trade with until we do gain entry? NHS is a devolved power, any privatisation would have to be done by the Scottish government so even discussing it in this referendum is pretty pointless. Could Scotland survive as an independent country! Yes. Wed find away, that I do not doubt. However, I dont want Scotland to merely survive, I want it to thrive. Under union we have saw Scotland lead the way in technology, medicine, arts and science, we dont need independence for this to continue, in fact Id probably say it would hamper it. With us being promised more powers in the event of a no vote, something no wise party would go back on in an election year, Id ask why take a monumental risk, which some of the worlds best economists think us downright stupid. When we in fact, we can make the changes Scotland need, with the Strength and Security of being in the United Kingdom. With this referendum getting as close as it is, I found it my duty, to beg the people of Scotland not to risk our nations future and to vote No on September 18th. Yours Faithfully, Sam
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:35:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015