by Rab Bruce’s Spider

I was chatting to my son about politics the other day. He’s pro-Indy but, like many people, doesn’t take a close interest in daily politics. He does, though, like to have answers for those who oppose Scotland becoming a normal country, and he told me he had a friend whose boss had told all employees that he would shut down the business if Scotland ever became a normal country, thus putting them all out of work. The lad in question has therefore already decided he will vote No in any referendum. My son wanted to know how you can argue against this point of view.

My initial reaction was that the lad intends to vote selfishly, putting his personal situation ahead of what is best for the country, but that’s a fairly common attitude, and we can’t really blame people for acting in what they see as their own best interests.

The stated intentions of his boss are even less laudable, but they are typical of those who have done well out of a system and therefore don’t want anything to change, although how closing down his own business isn’t a massive change is, I’m afraid, beyond me. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. But it’s the sort of bullying response we have come to expect from those who support the Union. You have to ask whether he would really go ahead with such a threat considering it would affect his own livelihood, but there’s no accounting for the hatred some people have for the very notion of Scotland becoming a normal country.

Of course, the views of both employer and employee are personal opinions and highly subjective, but I’ve now had some time to think about the wider factors which may help answer the question of how we can respond to people who feel intimidated into voting against independence.

Of course, it’s not pleasant when you lose your job, so fearing for your job safety is understandable. What a lot of people don’t yet appreciate is that Brexit will put nearly everyone’s job more at risk as the economy falls into recession. The first effects are already being seen as factories lay off workers, and it will only get worse. After December 2020, once the transition period has ended, problems are really going to bite hard. So voting against Scotland’s independence may result in some uncertainty, but voting against it will definitely result in economic recession for the UK.

And let’s say you are unfortunate enough to lose your job. What then? Can you expect the State to look after you? Quite frankly, no. The introduction of Universal Credit shows that it is aimed at making life extremely difficult for vulnerable people. It would be nice to think that the Government of an independent Scotland would implement a more caring and responsive welfare system which would provide protection for anyone who is unfortunate enough to lose their job, but we certainly can’t rely on the UK Government to do anything of the sort. We’ve recently seen Tory Ministers praising food banks as examples of caring society, but they have no intentions of changing their economic policies to reduce poverty levels and so do away with the need for food banks. This is all part of the ideology which keeps many people in fear of losing their jobs, thus giving more and more power to employers. And with the Torie’s stated intentions of reducing workers’ rights even further once we are out of the EU, that situation isn’t going to improve.

The other issue is that, in a normal country, you would like to think that people would be able to find alternative employment relatively easily. Yet that is not the case in the UK, particularly in Scotland where successive Westminster Governments have done their best to close down most heavy industries, and to make life difficult for businesses operating in many sectors. There is a reason many ambitious Scots move to London in search of employment; it’s because successive Westminster Governments have succeeded in making London the centre of most economic activity to the detriment of the other regions and nations of the UK.

The overall UK economy, though, is struggling, as witnessed by continual reports of retail outlets closing down. For the 7th largest economy in the world, this is not a good look, and it suggests that something is seriously wrong with the management of the economy.

So who is to blame for that? Well, the picture is often muddied due to the Scottish Government’s habit of claiming credit for any good news on Scotland’s economy while blaming Westminster for any failings. This is, sadly, standard political practice, and you cannot really blame the Scottish Government. It would be worse if they sat quietly and made no noise about economic success stories. However, the reality is that they actually have little ability to affect the economy. They can tinker at the edges, but all the fundamental controls remain with Westminster.

If you look at things like decisions on interest rates and quantitative easing, these are made by the Bank of England in order to comply with UK Government policy. The UK Government also retains control over around 80% of Welfare Benefits, along with most taxes. Rates of Capital Gains Tax, Value Added Tax, Inheritance Tax, Duties on alcohol and tobacco, and Vehicle Licencing all remain under UK Government control.

In addition to all this, the Barnett formula ensures that Scotland does not retain control over all the taxes it does raise. The whole point of independence is that the Scottish Government could set rates of tax on all areas and retain full control over the money raised. In addition, a programme of national infrastructure investment would allow our economy to expand, creating more jobs. Let’s face it, if England goes ahead with its intention to create trade barriers with the EU, Scotland is going to need some way of sending exports around the world. Our airports, particularly Prestwick, will need to handle more traffic, and our ports on both east and west coasts will need some serious upgrading. Power transmission connectors between Scotland and Ireland, Norway and even Denmark will help take advantage of Scotland’s huge potential in renewable energy. We could even create new towns in the Highlands on areas which are currently given over to grouse moors. At the very least, our forestry industry could expand into some of those areas. Those are only a few ideas, and there will be plenty of people who can come up with other suggestions. What these have in common is creating work which in turn puts money in the hands of the public which creates demand for other services. This is how Trickle Down should work, except that it trickles down from Government investment instead of from the wealthy who have had forty years to prove that their version of Trickle Down Economics works. They have instead shown that all they want to do is keep a larger slice of the pie for themselves.

So there are plenty of reasons to vote Yes even if your boss is threatening you with unemployment. I know it’s a brave step to make, but unless your boss comes into the polling booth with you, they’re never going to know how you voted anyway. If you take a wee step back and look at the wider picture, you are either voting for continuing deterioration in the economy or the chance of making things better for everyone.