If you have ever tried to get Unionist politicians to outline their arguments for the Union between Scotland and England you have probably found a great reluctance to come up with the goods.
 
So that is why I welcome the attempt by Scottish LibDem president and MP Malcolm Bruce to explain his point of view in The Herald last Tuesday July 3.
 
Here is a summary of Malcolm’s main points.

1. The stage on which Scots could perform would shrink dramatically.

2. Scots would no longer have access to Britain’s 224 overseas posts.

3. We would lose the influence the UK has as a big player in the EU and the UN.

4. Scots would not be eligible for the influential careers many have pursued in public and diplomatic service.

5. We would have to construct our own welfare state and external relations.

6. This would be at higher unit costs than the UK.

7. We would no longer influence England’s direction of travel.

8. Conservative England may quit the EU, ‘leaving them free to discriminate against the Scots’.

9. Breaking up the UK would greatly weaken our combined influence.

10. We need a modern Union that ‘offers a partnership fit for this century and defeats small-minded separatism wherever it is coming from’.
     
     

This, I believe, is just the sort of great debate on our constitutional future that Alex Salmond is looking for.  So let’s keep our eyes on the goal, take the arguments head-on and not get diverted by petty arguments, point-scoring or personalities.
 
Referring to the points above:
 
1     Not so.  When we become independent, actual Scots will represent the interests of Scotland in Europe and the United Nations.  In the EU, Scotland as Scotland will not be excluded from the Council of Ministers, and we will more than double our representation of MEPs. We will appear as Scotland in the Olympic Games and have many more competitors taking part.  We will have our own entry in the European Song contest: it may not be important, but at least a country can indicate that it does exist by taking part.  At the moment, Scotland simply just does not exist in these areas.  We are an invisible country.

2     How do other small countries manage?  They manage perfectly well without having access to these overseas posts, and so will we.
 
3     Scotland as Scotland has no influence in the EU por the UN.  Scotland is a mere adjunct to English policy.  Worse, our assets can be traded off without reference to the wishes of the Scottish people, as our fish was in the 70s.
 
4     It would be much better if talented Scots had the chance for influential careers in Scottish public and diplomatic service.
 
5     Other small countries have shown that they are far better at constructing their own welfare state than Britain.  And our external relations would be built on the basis of being one nation in the international community.  We would not approach other countries with the arrogance so typical of Westminster politicians.
 
6     The welfare state and external relations are not like a tin of beans.  Other small countries seem to manage very well.
 
7     Does Scotland have any influence at all on England’s ‘direction of travel’?  Basically, that is up to England, and we should not interfere.
 
8     It is possible, but highly unlikely, that England would leave the EU  However, it seems a strange argument that we should stick with England because they are so nasty that they would turn against us if we went our own way.
 
9     Breaking the Union would not weaken England’s influence at all.  The Union would lose about eight per cent of its population, from about sixty million to fifty-five million.            
 
10  This is a real give-away.  Malcolm cannot bring himself to use the word independence.  To win his argument he has to turn independence into ‘small-minded separatism’; I wonder if he has ever visited the Irish Republic, Iceland, Norway, Finland and other states that have won independence to castigate them for their ‘small-minded separatism’
 
 

BASIC DIFFERENCE

It seems to me that there is one basic difference between those who argue for independence and those who argue against.  Those who are in favour of the Union have a ‘great state’ mentality. For them, big is better, and you must belong to state that is really important in this world.  Small countries to them seem almost irrelevant.
 
Hence Malcolm Bruce’s talk of ‘influence’, ‘224 overseas posts’. ‘big player’, and his apparent belief that smaller countries have no part to play in world affairs.
 
Those of us who believe in independence accept that Scotland is a small country, but we want to be a good neighbour, friend and example to others.  Incidentally, we also want the highest possible standard of living for our people, which is something the small countries of northern Europe have achieved in spades, unlike their large neighbours.