FOR AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2013 :: RMTnews 17 and beyond. Overseas companies, mainly state owned, now control 65 per cent of Britain’s railways proving that the government are happy with state ownership as long as it’s not by the British state in the interests of British people. While European competitors have been building high- speed, modern rail networks the backlog of essential repairs and renewals in Britain has been allowed to build up to an estimated £1 billion leaving services permanently on the edge of disruption. 2000 safety-critical track jobs have already been lost and with the regulator demanding another £1.7 billion of cuts, and train companies moving to axe guards and station staff to boost profits, Britain’s rail users face the prospect of years of misery as demand outstrips supply and infra- structure deteriorates. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that November 5 was the time to remember two decades of greed, exploitation and political sabotage which have dragged Britain’s railways through the mud in the name of private profit. “It is also the time to renew the fight to end this long- running scandal and to bring the entire network back under public ownership. “For twenty years the political class has failed rail passengers and workforce while overseas state operators have been allowed to plunder our services to keep costs down on their own turf. “It is a shocking indictment that £3.5 billion has been robbed in private dividends while the essential maintenance backlog stands at around £1 billion and profit is placed head and shoulders above safety. “We remember the twenty years of profiteering and destruction on our railways and we step up the fight to bring the entire network back under public control,” he said. T he referendum on Scottish independence on September 18 2014 will be a monumental moment in our nation’s history. After 300 years of political union those eligible to vote including 16-18 year olds are to be asked ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ My response to that question will be Yes. In the event that the Referendum will declare a Yes vote the Scottish government has proposed that Independence Day will be March 24, 2016 to allow negotiations with the Westminster government on the transition arrangements towards independence. May 2016 would then see the first ever elections to an independent Scottish Parliament. This will be the time for political parties to present their election manifestos to the electorate. It is important to understand that voters are not being asked on September 2014 to support a political party or endorse a political programme. Neither does it register support for Alec Salmond and the SNP Scottish government. I am not an SNP supporter but credit to the party in government for giving us the opportunity to have our own parliament - to enshrine the right of all nations to self determination. A parliament with all the necessary powers to make our country more fair, just and prosperous.. The Scottish government White Paper - “Scotland’s Future – Your Guide to an Independent Scotland” is designed to inform the voters of the benefits of independence and explain the ways of building a stronger economy and a fairer society. This comprehensive document (670 pages and 170,000 words) describes what an independent Scotland would look like and answers a range of questions on the practicalities of Independence. It also lays out a number of policy choices the SNP will implement if returned to government in May 2016. Alec Salmond is quoted as saying “We do not seek independence as an end in itself, but as a means to change Scotland for the better”. Welcome as some of their commitments are such as getting rid of nuclear weapons, scrapping the bedroom tax, protecting the NHS and other improved social and welfare provision we must be careful to ensure that an independent Scotland would not be forced to accept all SNP policies. RMT will also have our agenda on workers’ rights, repeal of anti-trade union laws or transport issues relating to rail and the ferries and the off-shore energy industry. Perhaps the emergence of a ‘new party of labour’ which is being discussed in the union currently will emerge to take the cause forward. Support for a Yes vote is a far broader church than the SNP. It includes Greens, socialists, trade unionists, members of the business community, artists, authors, entertainers, poets and individuals with no political affiliation. There is a coalition of Tories, Labour and Lib Dems working for a No vote in Better Together, engaged in a campaign of scaremongering, they even refer to themselves as Project Fear. Better Together? Successive Westminster governments have made us the 4th most unequal society in the developed world, the gap between the rich and poor ever widening, child poverty, poverty pay, zero hours contracts, greed and irresponsibility rewarded –certainly better for the few. Here in Scotland there is one Tory MP and a small number of Lib Dem Tories. Scottish MPs in Westminster overwhelmingly voted against the Bedroom Tax, welfare cuts, austerity, increased VAT and postal privatisation, in other words Scotland opposed, Westminster imposed. Where is the democracy? Through independence we would always get the government we voted for. Much is being made of the finances of an independent Scotland and the charge that we cannot stand alone. We are subjected to disparaging comments of the type that Scots are “subsidy junkies” whereas the truth is that we get a 9.3 per cent share of UK public spending and give 9.9 per cent as Scotland’s contribution to UK taxes. Even David Cameron said in 2007, “it would be wrong to suggest that Scotland could not be another successful independent country”. My support for independence has no basis in nationalism or xenophobia. I treasure and support solidarity and friendships with peoples across the world. I have a shared experience of struggle with many comrades in my almost 44 years of union membership and I believe that an independent Scotland would have a positive impact on that struggle because it would engender a belief that there is an alternative to the Westminster consensus. RMT has rightly commenced a consultation exercise with our members in Scotland and I welcome the opportunity to engage with them. They will exercise their democratic right next year. But what if the result of the referendum is No? We would continue to get Tory governments we didn’t vote for. Who believes that the Labour Party would make any difference? In other words a continuation of the Westminster consensus – how would that help working people in Scotland or anywhere else? In this battle of Project Hope versus Project Fear, I side with Hope. John Milligan FOR AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND