Salmond argues for independence
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond has launched an attack on the Labour government in both Westminster and Holyrood, and called for true independence for Scotland.
In his first major speech since being elected SNP leader for the second time, Mr Salmond bemoaned that lack of “true democracy” in Scotland. He said devolution was “yesterday’s news” and had not responded to the issues of today, “let alone the challenges of tomorrow”.
Addressing delegates at the SNP’s annual conference, Mr Salmond adding that Scotland should have the right to choose on issues such as war. He attacked Tony Blair’s conduct over the war as “beyond the pale of decency” and said he would continue to press for his impeachment.
Turning his fire on the First Minister, Mr Salmond argued that Jack McConnell was wrong to tell the SNP that issues such as the war in Iraq and fisheries were “reserve” matters. These were issues vital to Scotland – issues of conscience and community – he argued.
Mr Salmond said the SNP should “set [its] sights on the Scottish horizon” and come up with a policy programme to match.
To do that, he vowed to restore the Scottish public’s faith in public services, “breathe” democracy into all public institutions, and restore Scotland to “a free and equal member of the community of nations”.
Scotland, he argued, had social democratic levels of tax and spending, but did not enjoy social democratic levels of service, and claimed that if the country had enjoyed the same level of growth as England, all its citizens would be £2,000 richer.
Scotland needed a competitive economy and an infrastructure fit for the 21st century, but more than anything it needed to have control over its own economy, he said.
He added: “We can make Westminster dance to a Scottish tune.”
There were “three great lies”, he said: “Of course I’ll respect you in the morning”; “The cheque is in the mail”; and “I’m from the UK Treasury and I’m here to help Scotland.”
On energy, the SNP leader attacked Westminster for “filching” 30 years of Scotland’s energy, and vowed not to let them “sabotage” Scotland’s renewables future. He also promised to make Edinburgh the “renewables capital”.
Expanding on his early suggestions that the public should be allowed to nominate topics to be debated in Parliament, he said the petitions committee should be asked to put up for debate on an annual basis the best supported petitions from the public.
“We have to engage real people in real democracy,” he said.
