Jim Murphy MP - My piece in the Mirror today on the most important vote weve ever had MPs Press Release | Thu, 04 September 2014 URL:jimmurphymp/news-room/News-desk/news.aspx?p=1041588 Contents My tour across Scotland didn’t start when eggs were thrown, but for lots of people South of the border that’s the first time they heard about it. I’ve been getting around Scotland on my street corner tour for three months because a vote is about to take place more important than any election we’ve ever voted in. Most Mirror readers won’t get a vote - It’s taking place in just one part of the UK - but will have huge impact across our islands. And I don’t want us to break up - just think of what we have achieved together. Our countries together defeated the Nazis and created the industrial revolution, we gave the world the theory of evolution, the television, and the telephone. Admittedly mostly Scottish inventions but built together as Britain. We invented just about every sport going and we produced the greatest writers in history from Shakespeare to Robert Burns, and JK Rowling - an Englishwoman living in Scotland wrote Harry Potter. No-one really knows what Burns or Shakespeare would have voted but JK Rowling wants to keep Scotland in the UK. So around the country it’s been me, a microphone, two Irn-Bru crates as a makeshift stage – one for each of my size 13 feet – and whoever turns up. For a while over the past fortnight things have got a bit heated. The Yes campaign in local towns organised for groups to turn up and drown out the undecided voters. I was lambasted over and over again for being a Traitor, Quisling, Terrorist and much worse. None of it put me off or intimidated me but in truth I wasnt their target. Things became so bad that we had to postpone the tour for three days. But weve had discussions with the police and we’re back on the road. I would never dream of sitting on the sidelines of a debate like this. Like many people, when the very future of my country is at stake I have to get stuck in. And anyway, for every meeting that was disrupted theres been a dozen that have been good debates and great fun. As well as the undecided and the interested of course, there have been the hecklers – but you know what? It all adds to the drama of our public street meetings. They add a sense of theatre. And it’s mostly been good natured. After all, we all just have a passionate disagreement about whats best for the country we love. Ive been heckled by a horse with a Yes blanket on its back and barked at by a dog that had Freedom scribbled into its fur. My favourite so far was a man claiming to be ‘the Oban Seagull Whisperer’. He turned up in the West Highland capital with the sole aim of persuading the call of nature of said seagulls to disrupt our session. I think the bag of chips in his hand were a bigger calling signal than any of his silent sounds. From Barrhead in my constituency - half an hour drive from Glasgow - to Barra in the Western Isles – landing on the airport runway on the long flat beach, I’ve been all over Scotland listening, debating and arguing with people about the future of our country. It’s a return to good old fashioned politics from a pre-internet age. I’ve spoken to Scots workers worried about their Ministry of Defence jobs in Benbecula, Edinburgh pensioners concerned about their future pensions and families who rely on strong public services in Dundee. And the one thing that has come through again and again is uncertainty with what those who want separation have to offer. There’s been excitement this week about an opinion poll that puts the Better Together campaign 6 points ahead. But there hasn’t been a single reputable poll in two years that has shown a majority of Scots in support of separation. Its worth remembering that whilst polls come with a margin of error, the Yes campaign is dominated by economic doubt. On pensions and the pound, the EU and Nato, the SNP can’t answer the most obvious questions about the future of an independent Scotland. The SNP Leader Alex Salmond hasnt been able to answer the basics and yet they want Scotland to vote for separation from the UK – the most successful partnership of nations in history – on the basis of a wing and a prayer and a hope that things will be alright on the night. Theres been so much to enjoy about the campaign to support Scotland staying in the Union. I believe in Unions. From the shop floor to a union of our nations they make sense. Just like the trade union at work that can give you the protection of strength on your side the same is true of the social union of the UK. On an uncertain and often dangerous world our four nations are stronger together. Why would we put that at risk for the uncertainty of the SNP’s quarter-baked plans? But from pensions to the pound, public services to national defence, the Yes campaign haven’t got the answers. It is buy before you try nationalism. I wouldn’t buy a used car like that, let alone plan the future of a country. And we can’t get this wrong - because unlike an election we won’t get another chance in five years, it’s permanent. The Tories are falling apart over Europe and we can get rid of them in just a few short months. On an island where foodbanks, poverty and unemployment dont discriminate on the grounds of nationality, Scotland leaving the UK does no more to help Scotlands poor than the UK leaving the European Union would do to help the poor of England, Wales or Northern Ireland. This isnt about passports or nationality - its politics and economics. Together we should make that change. Lets not turn neighbours into foreigners. Mirror readers may not have a vote but you do have a voice. If you have a friend or family member in Scotland give them a ring today and tell them please don’t go.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:52:51 +0000
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