TER Holyrood blue sky

A resumé of remarks, comments and pointers to articles about the Scottish Independence Referendum.

Today marks 363 days until the people of Scotland are invited to vote in the referendum on independence from the United Kingdom.

The question which will be asked on 18 September 2014 is “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Whether you intend voting Yes or No to that question, your views, and those of others,  have a place here. We invite comments and we also invite you to write about what you think by using our Submit your Story feature here.

The SNP said today that publication of further results from opinion polling earlier this week has confirmed that people in Scotland want extensive powers for the Scottish Parliament that only a Yes vote will secure.

They also claimed that additional detail from the YouGov poll for the Times has revealed that clear majorities of people in Scotland want to see control over welfare, pensions, taxation and drugs policy all rest with the Scottish Government while more people also want to see immigration run by the Scottish Government than by Westminster.

Even more damagingly for the anti-independence campaign, just 18% of people in Scotland believe that the powers of the Scottish Parliament will be substantially increased in the event of a No vote – meaning that 82% of people don’t trust the vague promises of anti-independence politicians that Scotland can secure substantial additional powers after a No vote.

Commenting, SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell who sits on the Referendum Bill Committee said:-“This polling is deeply telling and confirms that people in Scotland want to be able to make our own decisions over taxation, welfare, pensions, immigration and drug policy.

“With Westminster imposing policy after policy that people in Scotland simply do not want and which Scotland’s MPs voted against, it is no wonder that people want Scotland to be able to make our own choices in these areas.

“Yet what is most significant is that just 18% of people believe that Westminster will allow Scotland to take on substantial new responsibilities if there is a No vote next year.

“It speaks volumes about the credibility of anti-independence politicians that only 82% of people in Scotland believe their insubstantial claims.

“With anti-independence politicians failing to commit to devolving those powers people in Scotland will clearly recognise that the only way that Scotland will secure the full powers we need to build a fairer, more prosperous country is with a Yes vote a year from now.”

There is to be a rally on Calton Hill by pro independence campaigners on Saturday.

You can get full details here.

 

 

 

The Daily Telegraph’s Scottish Editor Alan Cochrane has written his usual anti-Salmond diatribe over here claiming that the SNP policies are being made up on the hoof.

Alistair Darling claimed David Cameron was irrelevant to the Independence debate and claimed that he speaks for Scotland in an artice in the Herald.

The Edinburgh Reporter will round up the variety of views we find across all media as often as we can.

This may be a daily article if there is a lot of chat about the independence referendum, or less frequently if we have too much else to do. If you would like to write about your views on independence then please feel free to submit your article using the Submit your Story feature here.  The Edinburgh Reporter does not have a stance on the independence question, but hopes to help you make your mind up about the vote on 18 September 2014 by providing as much unbiased coverage as possible.

There are two main websites where you can obtain further information:-

Yes Scotland can be found here http://www.yesscotland.net

Better Together has a website here http://bettertogether.net

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Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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