Independence: A step into the unknown 22/4/14

Sir,

There has been no shortage of SNP activity these last few days with the visit to Lewis of the Scottish Cabinet. If this visit leads to more powers devolved to the islands, then all to the good; however I fear that this visit has more to do with the independence referendum than the governance of Scotland.

Certainly governance is very much on the back burner while Alec Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon strut their stuff.

Is it not interesting that breaking a 300 year plus relationship with the rest of the UK is not seen as negative? Is it not strange that arguments as to why it would be a good idea to remain in the UK, or arguments giving reasons why it is not in our interests to leave the UK, are met with scorn and dismissal rather than counter arguments? It would appear that the SNP believe that all they need to do to win the independence debate, is to field Salmond and Sturgeon demonstrating their arrogance and contempt for the Scottish electorate - assertions, assertions, assertions when it ought to be facts, facts, facts.

What the SNP is asking us to do is step into the unknown. The notion that their White Paper answers questions is laughable. As ever with the SNP it is a catalogue of assertions - a wish list with no factual base. In a sense that is understandable in that not even its leaders can possibly know what the effects of tearing up a 300 year old union might involve. I am quite clear that the effect will not be to herald in the promised land, more than likely it will be quite the reverse.

I thought I might try and see if the SNP White Paper held the answer to a matter that concerns me greatly - taxation. So I found the reference to taxation, and was not surprised to find that apparently taxation was to be fairer and simpler. I then read on to find out how this was to be done but I find that we are not to be told of the SNP’s ideas on taxation until their manifesto for the next Scottish Election! So we are to take them on trust! More aspiration but no facts.

During the time the SNP have been in power they made one attempt at reforming the tax regime with a Local Income Tax, that was quickly abandoned since it could not be made to work and they settled for a freeze on Council Tax, a policy which the nasty Coalition government in London favours too.

The freeze is guaranteed until the end of this parliament. What then? It certainly is not sustainable. One thing that will be true is that by then £5.6 billion in taxation will not have been collected. That is a very scary figure; what might have been done with such a sum? It is roughly equivalent to the amount of money spent on education in Scotland in one year. This amount of money could have built a great many houses. It could have gone a long way to alleviating fuel poverty which the SNP has promised to eradicate in Scotland by 2016. Hmm. It may help to put all this into some perspective if we consider that when the freeze was introduced in the Outer Hebrides in 2007, a Band D tax payer saved 69p per week. That’s right 69p per week. Not even a loaf of bread could be bought for that ‘saving.’

So we do not know what tax regime will be in existence should there be an independent Scotland. There has been some discussion about emulating the Scandinavian countries’ high standard of living. Norway is number one contender. It has a very high standard of living but it also has a very high basic tax rate of 28% plus additional surtax and social security contributions. Are we to have this very much higher rate of taxation in a separate Scotland? The basic rate in the UK is 20%.

It is, of course, very dangerous to make direct comparisons of one country with another, that was clearly demonstrated when the SNP, in the past, insisted that we ought to adopt the Irish or Icelandic economic principles. Both countries are in real economic difficulty now.

Personally, I am comfortable being part of the UK. I know it is not perfect, far from it, but I wish to see improvements for everyone in the UK not just in Scotland. That takes time. There have been major improvements in the UK since the end of the Second World War - my lifetime. The general standard of living for the bulk of the population is so much better now than when I was ten years old. In 1953 on Kenneth Street, Stornoway at least 350 people lived crammed into buildings, with no hot water, sharing toilets, no electricity and few home comforts. Now there are around 30 people living on Kenneth Street in good conditions and the families who lived there in 1953 live in new housing all round Stornoway. The same situation happened throughout the UK. It still does. It happens for Geordies, Cornishmen, Welshmen too, indeed a Welsh poll has just made it clear that they would far rather Scotland stayed tied to the UK and did not change all our sisters and brothers into foreigners.

I am, too, happy to be a member of the European Community. Again a most imperfect organisation but there has been no European -wide war in my lifetime. That is a big plus. Working closer together is my preference. I do not understand the need to break with the rest of the UK in the most unlikely prospect of a bright new tomorrow for Scotland. If the SNP had put as much effort into the governance of Scotland as they have into the separatist cause, there is a very good chance that Scotland, with a devolved government, would be in a better place now. The SNP have foregone that opportunity and wasted our scant resources on promoting Alex and Nicola. I suspect that will prove to be their downfall.

Angus McCormack

25 North Street

Sandwick

Isle of Lewis

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