Now is the time for a detailed plan for Scottish independence (Financial Times)
Voters are potentially enthusiastic but will want to weigh the pros and cons
Independence for Scotland is more likely now than it has ever been. Not yet inevitable, but increasingly likely. Since June there have been 20 opinion polls and every one found a majority of people living in Scotland in favour.
Increasing numbers of Scots trust the Scottish government more than the UK government on domestic matters of public service as well as on navigating the bigger issues of climate crisis, the changing role of government and its financing and, indeed, the nation’s relationship with the EU and place in the world.
During Scotland’s 2014 referendum, the pro-Unionist “Project Fear” focused on the risks of independence, including, ironically, the risk that an independent Scotland would not automatically be in the EU. Now the case for the status quo looks ever riskier.
The UK’s economic performance last year appears likely to have been among the worst in the OECD group of 37 industrialised countries. Pro-Union campaigners are struggling to articulate a positive case for the more than 300-year-old Anglo-Scottish union in the face of today’s political and economic realities.
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