Thread by @kate_crichton

Why does Scotland urgently need #Independence from UK?
Here are 26 reasons. Thank you for reading this.

With #Independence we will get the government we vote for. Scotland has not voted Tory since 1955. Yet in 16 elections we got 10 Tory governments. 41 years of damaging Tory rule.

With #Independence we can keep our resources.
Currently nearly all our taxes go to Westminster. Income tax, VAT, CGT, Corporation, excise etc. They give us some of it back and claim they are supporting us generously.

With #Independence we can set our own immigration policy to meet our needs. Scotland’s population is aging and our industries urgently need new people. Westminster’s post-Brexit scheme won’t work for us.

With #Independence we can say no to nuclear weapons. Scotland is against these, but Westminster spends hundreds of billions on Trident / Dreadnought – and allocates part of this huge cost to Scotland.

With #Independence we can refuse to accommodate nuclear arms. It is completely abhorrent that the UK chooses to locate these weapons of mass destruction 30 miles from Scotland’s largest city.

Scotland was a trading partner with Europe long before being part of UK. We voted to remain in Europe. UK has no right to drag us out. With #Independence we would have remained in Europe, and we can rejoin.

With #Independence, we will raise and/or borrow our own money. Tories claim UK has ‘rescued’ Scotland with furlough cash. They borrowed the cash and they will bill us for it. Plus, furlough was only offered when London was in lockdown.

Before elections, we want & need party debate at national level. But our main political party is excluded from UK debates on BBC. Instead we hear from runner-up and irrelevant parties. We don’t get a voice at UK level.

Prime Minister visits in the past used to include formal interviews with Scottish media. Now visits are secret, last minute, shielded from public, and our national press is barred. This is so wrong.

With #Independence another country cannot overrule our Parliament. Westminster has overruled our Parliament on vitally important bills such as EU withdrawal Agreement, Internal Market Bill.

(For Scotland to overrule Westminster would be equally wrong of course. The nations have diverged - #Independence is the only way forward.)

With #Independence another country could not reduce our constitutional powers. The Internal Market Bill allows Westminster to overrule the Scottish Parliament on devolved matters. It destroys the spirit of devolution.

And without #Independence the Internal Market Bill is just the start. “The UK Govt is back in Scotland. Get used to it.”

https://twitter.com/AndrewBowie_MP/status/1315183583934451712

Johnson regards devolution as a disaster and ‘Tony Blair’s worst mistake’. Devolution is under attack but #Independence would be safe.

https://twitter.com/rosscolquhoun/status/1328470466194006018

Mogg said publicly devolution was a ‘constitutional blunder‘ and wants to ‘undo their foolish tinkering’. Devolution is under attack.

https://twitter.com/Jacob_Rees_Mogg/status/1332295965471019013

And this from a Tory policy unit - open threats to withhold the funds we pay into Westminster. We need #independence, now.

https://twitter.com/HarrietSergeant/status/1355817592892628993

Tories tried this before and will try again. The 2005 Tory manifesto (page 21) promised a referendum on abolishing the Welsh Assembly. newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h…

Johnson is actively spending public funds (our funds) building a ‘Union Directorate’ to oppose Scotland’s democratic freedom. And we will get the bill for this too.

https://twitter.com/scotsindyinfo/status/1360522102504357888

That directorate was headed by Tory unionist Luke Graham, who lost his Perth & Ochil seat in 2019 to SNP. Rejected by Scotland, but appointed on public payroll by Johnson, to work against electorate’s wishes.

We could manage everything better with #Independence. Westminster handling of the COVID pandemic has been nothing short of a humanitarian disaster. Scotland has managed so much better.

With #Independence we won’t be rewarding our own civil service to undermine us. “As civil servants you don't get involved in politics. For the first time in my life, suddenly we're part of a political campaign."
civilserviceworld.com/professions/ar…

....or the army. 77th brigade ‘adapts behaviour of opposing forces’ using social media etc.
We pay them to undermine us. army.mod.uk/who-we-are/for…

With #Independence we won’t have a ‘Secretary of State for Scotland’ who works hard to push UK Tory policies while opposing the elected Scottish government.
thenational.scot/news/18728063.…

Westminster has zero respect for Scotland. Watch playground name calling by a senior Westminster minister. This happens all the time.

https://twitter.com/FreeThinker2030/status/1355547364392644618

#Independence is better than empty promises. When UK promises more ‘profound changes’ and reform if we stay in UK never forget ‘The Vow’ of 2014. We can’t let them get away with that twice.

All these people turned out to an #Independence march on a cold wet day in January 2020. Polls reflect that support is growing all the time.