Vote to make your vote matter!

The majority of people who voted in the 2010 UK General Election did not receive the representation that they voted for. This is appalling. How can a country be a democracy if the majority of people who took part in the vote are ignored? How can we expect Westminster governments to not only reflect the people, but to represent their wishes?

 

The simple conclusion is that we can't. The First Past The Post system which the UK uses doesn't spread power, it concentrates it to a handful of constituencies. Instead of criticizing this faulty system, interest groups including the BBC celebrate it with interactive features.

 

Not everyone can have the candidate or party they want feature in their parliament, but this should be in the minority of cases, not the norm. Everyone should feel that their vote counts, regardless of where they live. The sum result of all this is that 'In Britain’s first past the post electoral system, some votes are worth 22 times more than others'.

 

So what is the alternative? In Scotland we have a more proportional system. Where the UK only represents 47% of the population, the Scottish Parliament reflects the wishes of 89%. 68.4% of voters in Argyll and Bute were ignored by Westminster in 2010. In the same area only 14.30% didn't receive representation at Holyrood.

This increase in relevance is why independent candidates and smaller parties are capable of winning representation in Scotland. They encourage positive voting as they seek of provide something that the others don't. In Westminster campaigns we are constantly told that we need to keep the other side (be it Labour or Tory) out. At Holyrood, the parties need to say what they would offer. This lessens the value of negative campaigning and can only improve our politics. It also means that no party is guaranteed to return to power (which unfortunately is the case at Westminster).

  

Independence ensures that our votes always matter. It offers us more choice and more control. It makes it difficult for special interest groups to dictate how our country is run by breaking the duopoly on power which has gripped Westminster. A Yes vote is a vote for a more democratic country, and offers an opportunity for anyone to get involved. We've seen so many fantastic new speakers emerge from the independence campaign, including Allan Grogan and Saffron Dickson, and these people have a chance to flourish if we have the powers of a normal nation.

 
1 Yes vote will make sure your vote always matters, don't let it go to waste!
Drew
  
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Not in the paper review - February

Welcome to the second of our monthly series looking back at the stories which the main stream media in Scotland didn't offer much attention to, and comparing them to those that hit the front pages.

Scotland would be 11% better off immediately following independence

Stories regarding Scotland's economic strength have featured prominently online throughout the referendum campaign (with Business for Scotland achieving over 100,000 unique visitors and one story being shared 23,000 times!) however these tend to be dismissed and ignored by our Main Stream Media. Now we have confirmation that it isn't the medium but the message that the BBC, STV and the newspapers are opposed to.

 

The Financial Times released a bombshell story on Sunday, the 2nd of February which confirmed that Scotland would be far stronger economically following independence, even if we continued Westminster's wasteful expenditure.

"If its geographic share of UK oil and gas output is taken into account, Scotland’s GDP per head is bigger than that of France. Even excluding the North Sea’s hydrocarbon bounty, per capita GDP is higher than that of Italy. Oil, whisky and a broad range of manufactured goods mean an independent Scotland would be one of the world’s top 35 exporters.

An independent Scotland could also expect to start with healthier state finances than the rest of the UK." Financial Times, 2nd of February 2014

Even this may be underestimating the economic strength of an independent Scotland, with the full value of corporation tax and VAT being potentially understated.

"Neither do the figures account for companies operating in Scotland who currently pay taxes via head offices in England – taxes like Corporation Tax or VAT for example.  After independence these companies would have to pay taxes on their Scottish operations to the Scottish government, not the UK Treasury as they do at the moment.  It's very difficult to quantify just how much extra this would bring in, but it's certainly a substantial amount." Newsnet Scotland, Guilty of bias by ommission

It's almost as if the BBC in Scotland is biased...

Other stories which didn't make it
Spanish Foreign Minister confirms that Spain won't interfere with Scottish EU membership

Another 'no' campaign scare story, this time regarding EU membership, has shown itself to be nonsense as the Foreign Minister of Spain, José-Manuel García-Margallo, confirmed once again that his government will treat Scottish Independence differently from attempts in Catalonia.

"We don’t interfere in other countries' internal affairs.  If Britain's constitutional order allows – and it seems that it does allow – Scotland to choose independence, we have nothing to say about this." José-Manuel García-Margallo, Monday, 3rd of February 2014

The reality is that an independent Scotland is wanted in the EU. A large number of citizens from different member states live here, many European companies trade within our borders, and we are the largest oil producers in the EU. We add value and unless the 'no' campaign can show otherwise, we can't understand who would block Scottish membership.

The 18 month timescale which the Scottish Government has allowed is plenty of time to negotiate details with both Westminster and Brussels. We know this as another European nation, Estonia, achieved full membership just 9 months after a referendum (and they weren't existing members!)

Glance over the BBC

The BBC took the unusual step of blocking their own news broadcasts from being viewed this month. The reason - well, Reverend Stu at Wings over Scotland has the full story.
 
Also this month, the BBC had to pick which stories to cover. Whilst happily cheering the news that David Bowie is against independence (although he sent someone else to say this at a pop music award event in London), the story regarding former Prime Minister Tony Blair's 'advice' to Rebekah Brooks, which broke the day before, was deemed to be less important.

He said the inquiry would be “Hutton style” – a reference to Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of David Kelly – and would “clear” her, but warned that “shortcomings” would have to be accepted as a result of the report.
Read more at http://www.maxkeiser.com/2014/02/tony-blair-advised-rebekah-brooks-to-set-up-hutton-style-inquiry-which-would-clear-her/#xe2hcBmkCQL32qki.99

He said the inquiry would be "Hutton style" - a reference to Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of David Kelly - and would "clear" her, but warned that "shortcomings" would have to be accepted as a result of the report. - Guardian Newspaper 19th of February

He said the inquiry would be “Hutton style” – a reference to Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of David Kelly – and would “clear” her, but warned that “shortcomings” would have to be accepted as a result of the report.
Read more at http://www.maxkeiser.com/2014/02/tony-blair-advised-rebekah-brooks-to-set-up-hutton-style-inquiry-which-would-clear-her/#xe2hcBmkCQL32qki.99

He said the inquiry would be “Hutton style” – a reference to Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of David Kelly – and would “clear” her, but warned that “shortcomings” would have to be accepted as a result of the report.
Read more at http://www.maxkeiser.com/2014/02/tony-blair-advised-rebekah-brooks-to-set-up-hutton-style-inquiry-which-would-clear-her/#xe2hcBmkCQL32qki.99

"Britain could benefit from a Fascist leader," David Bowie (but he didn't mean it!)

Glance over the papers

'SALMOND DUCKS OUT' was the headline in the Daily Mail on the 14th of February. It claimed that the First Minister '(left) his deputy to be mauled on national TV...while he relaxes at home'. The only problem with this is that the night before Alex Salmond appeared on both of Scotland's flagship news programs. You can see his appearance on Scotland Tonight here, and Newsnight here.

 

Maybe we should describe this section as 'look at how ridiculously wrong the Daily Mail are!'

And now something that was in the papers!

Just not the ones in Scotland. The most glaring example were reports that a Scottish Pound linked to Sterling was viewed as sensible by Deutsche Bank. Our newspapers, the BBC and STV didn't believe this was worth mentioning (which was a bit careless of our journalists, wasn't it?) It's almost as if they didn't want to report the facts. We can only speculate as to why...

 
Join us again for our next 'not in the paper' review in March!
Drew
 
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So who else can't use the pound?

Here's just a little sample of the different news articles that have appeared since UK Chancellor George Osborne's speech regarding a Sterling Zone:

   
"Three main political parties unite to deny a separate Scotland the pound" - The Telegraph
"Britain warns Scotland - Forget the pound if you walk away" - Reuters
"Alex Salmond no longer has the pound in his pocket" - The Guardian
"Scots lose pound if they vote 'yes' to independence in September" - Russia Today
"Scotland likely to relinquish the pound" - Liberty Voice
"Independent Scotland would have to leave pound" - Yahoo! News

  

Each of these headlines are wrong. The pound is a freely convertible currency which anyone can use. This was the point of our blog 'Ten a Penny - Westminster's Current Currency Threats" and again in "Rule it out!". But to prove beyond doubt that any nation, even those which has declared themselves independent from Westminster, can use the pound if they wish, here is a list of some of the countries which have done just that at some point during the last 75 years.

 

Aden - Federation of South Arabia

Bahrain

Australia

Sudan

The Bahamas

Cyprus

Fiji

Hong Kong

Ghana

Iceland

India

Éire

Jamaica

Nigeria

New Zealand

Singapore

Trinidad and Tobago

The Republic of South Africa

And here is the list of countries which couldn't: ...none
 

Of course, this confusion could have be stopped if our printed press or the BBC had wanted to highlight this reality. Unfortunately they feel no obligation to do this, which is why we, the people who will be voting in the referendum, are being forced to seek out the facts for ourselves.

  

The important question to ask is this: if all of these nations above used the pound (or had currencies which were linked to the pound) without any problems from Westminster, then why is Scotland different? Why, alone amongst the nations of the world, is our use of Sterling such a threat to them?

Senior adviser to Chancellor George Osborne

The truth is that Westminster is engaging in a form of psychological campaigning. They believe that by making us feel worthless, useless and frightened we will allow them to continue holding sway over us. It's a sickening strategy which we've highlighted in the past and although it shows no signs of ending, it is also doomed to fail. No matter how many times our newspapers talk us down, no matter how many 'no' campaign press releases the British State Broadcaster slavishly repeat, no matter how often unelected Lords tell us we can't achieve anything, the self evident fact that we have value will reach enough people.

  
And people who value themselves don't bow down to bullies.
Drew
 
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P.S For anyone is interested, you can find the Yes Scotland Q&A on this topic here. If what you are looking for is missing, then you can send Yes Scotland a question directly. Just click here to post them a message! Finally, the numerous Business for Scotland articles which highlight the benefits of a currency union to the rest of the UK can be found here.