Independence debate

Published 10 Aug 2010 13:30

WILLIAM McLeod’s comments in Your Letters suggest he may have a point (August 3).

To question and criticise the Government of the day and its policies and actions is his democratic right.

What are his alternatives, I wonder.

He does not mention policies that he supports or objects, nevertheless we must assume by the vitriol he shows that he hates all things SNP, especially its policies.

Is he against the SNP Government’s policies of free prescriptions, its abolition of tuition fees and the free care of the elderly and not to mention free OAP bus passes? Maybe.

Presumably he would prefer the resources to go towards illegal wars in the Middle East.

Or another Trident nuclear warhead or two? Or more tax cuts for the rich?

Or the condoning of tax avoidance by ex-pat billionaire Labour/Tory Supporters?

He should put his case forward.

These have all been Labour policies.

Regarding the scenario of ‘worldwide economic catastrophe’ and collapse of the Scottish-based banks raised by Mrs E Murray, she wonders how an independent Scotland would have coped.

Well some countries, large or small, have coped better than others.

It is not the fact that a country is small and independent that decides its fate, it is the economic system that it adopts which matters.

The catastrophe has been a mere blip in Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland and France.

Countries which had proper regulatory control of their banks and financial systems are now doing rather well, with healthy growth rates. An independent Scotland would be a bit more canny than previous governments.

The US/UK model of loose control over fiscal systems has been a disaster.

Our own Lord John of Alclutha lauded it and called it “light-touch regulation”.

The small cliques that ran the economies of Iceland and Ireland were also duped by this and have suffered accordingly.

Norway, along with Scotland, has the most bounteous natural resources in Europe, and it avoided going down the route of casino economics.

The Norwegians have used their resources wisely over the years and it has become one of the richest countries in the world.

You have to ask what about Scotland under this failed union - more unemployment and more lost opportunities.

We are the only country to discover oil and gas and then become poorer.

Finally, Mr MacLeod provides no evidence for his failed state claim.

Why would Scotland fail?

It has everything going for it and a future filled with great promise of renewable resources and the ever-increasing revenues that those would bring to a Scottish state.

I really do not think it has dawned on many of us the implications of it all, our two correspondents included.

Maybe someday soon they will wake up.

The short-term may be bleak but long-term, we are on to a winner with independence.

James Cormack, Dumbarton

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This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 10 Aug 10

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