31/10/2025
INDEPENDENCE sometimes felt like a tough sell when I was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2003. Many Scots hadn’t yet considered it a serious proposition, and even many of those who felt the attraction dismissed it as a bit of a romantic dream. What a journey we have been on since those days.
During my time as an MSP, and having had the opportunity to play my part in advocating for Scottish self-determination, I have seen the independence cause grow from a distant aspiration to a solid, viable proposition that more and more Scots see as not only attractive, but achievable.
Just last week, polling showed an impressive double-digit lead for Yes. And frankly, I’m not surprised. The people of Scotland have been forced to endure years of austerity budgets from Westminster.
We’ve been left to clear up the mess caused by some disastrous policy mistakes to keep people from poverty and harm. And now, we’re being faced with the very real threat of Nigel Farage being handed the Downing Street keys in a few years.
So independence feels ever more urgent. The stakes are getting higher. But despite this, the independence movement is too often bogged down in endless discussions on strategy and process, with the fruitless search for a trick or shortcut that simply doesn’t exist.
Independence won’t be delivered by that kind of magical thinking. Of course, it won’t be delivered by just waiting and hoping either.
If we want to see independence turn from a tantalisingly achievable aspiration into a reality, we still have to give the people of Scotland a belief in the kind of country we would build if we had the power.
We have to take Scotland with us. Every year, more people who voted No in 2014 come round to Yes, and more young people reach voting age with a belief in Scotland’s future. This is the task we need to continue.
Scotland is a devastatingly unequal country. A tiny number of people sit on more wealth than they could spend in 1000 lifetimes. The five richest families in Scotland are estimated to have more wealth than the Scottish Government collected in income tax last year.
There’s huge support for a wealth tax in Scotland. And while many of the powers to deliver this sit with the UK Government, the Scottish Government can tax property and land – where a vast amount of wealth in our country is hoarded.
Yet Scottish Government ministers have passed up opportunities to tax wealth with the powers they already have, doing little more than tinkering at the edges. They rejected Green proposals to end tax breaks for big landowners, to end the king’s personal tax exemptions, and even proposals to introduce a tax on mansions.
Supporting something “in principle” and then refusing to take action doesn’t cut it.
It doesn’t raise revenue or tackle inequality – but it also doesn’t tell the people of Scotland that we have the courage of our convictions.
Westminster is a drag on Scotland, but it can’t stop us completely. If anything, it should force us to be braver and bolder with the powers we do hold. The constraints we face should leave us determined to do everything we can to improve the lives of people in Scotland, and dare the UK Government to challenge us.
Sometimes, it’ll mean having a proper row. But too often, the SNP back away from that fight. The Scottish Greens will always stand up for a Scotland where the wealthiest people start paying their fair share.
Where our public services are properly funded and workers aren’t run into the ground. Where our public transport is brought back into public ownership, preventing the millionaires who own our privatised bus companies from cashing in on rubbish services.
Where big polluters pay for the damage they’ve done to our natural world, instead of getting away with doing more.
Every day, we fight to show people what a greener, fairer independent Scotland could be. Public services built for people, not profit; climate policy built for people and the planet, not for corporate interests.
Independence isn’t about self-preservation for one party, and it’s not just about nationhood for its own sake either.
Independence for a purpose means building a movement rooted in shared values and a bold plan to change people’s lives here in Scotland, and to show responsibility in the face of global challenges too.
That is why a vote for the Scottish Greens at next year’s election really matters. A strong Green presence in Parliament ensures that independence is about transforming society, not simply transferring power from Westminster to Holyrood.
It’s the surest way to deliver a strong pro-independence majority, and it will mean that a vision of independence is accompanied by the bold action right now that will convince more people that our country’s on the right path.
We believe that independence can give Scotland a future that brings equality and fairness. But that future will not come if we sit back and wait. It will only come if we act.
It will come if we show Scotland what we can do today, not just what we would do after independence.
We have hope in a better future, and the determination to act upon it now.
