Scotland is blessed with resources, things should be much better

THE Scotland we seek is not some distant dream or imaginary Valhalla – it’s simply the nation that Scotland should be. Our land’s tragedy is not how bad life is, though for too many the statistics are as shameful as the poverty is grinding. But for most life’s good and it’s a beautiful land in which to stay. The shame is that it should be so much better, and for all.

Our land has been blessed with great natural resources, the birthplace of educated people with some outstanding minds, and heir to the bounties of firstly oil and gas and now renewables.

Yet we have underperformed not just over recent years but generations. It’s why emigration, not immigration, has been the curse of Scotland for centuries so that perversely more born in this land now live outwith it than within its borders.

Other nations, blessed with so much less, have outperformed us with their lands and people thriving. Our Celtic cousins across the North Channel lacked the industrial base and natural bounties and yet have streaked ahead. Finland and Denmark too. Norway, blessed with similar natural bounties, has used them for their people’s benefit. Whilst Scotland’s have been used to smash trade unions, fight illegal wars, or shore up an inherently unequal UK economy.

I recall meeting a leading figure in Bòrd Fàilte, the Irish Tourist Authority, who told me: “Your scenery’s more magnificent, your history less bloody, but you screw it up. You’re our biggest competitor – keep it up.” It was said jocularly but it hurt. Some lands discover oil and make the desert bloom, whilst we’ve seen industrial deserts created as a stroll around Grangemouth or Aberdeen reveals.

It’s not the absence of resources or talent but the lack of control over our own livelihoods and destiny. What differentiates us from other similar-sized European lands is that they are independent whilst we are dependent upon the decisions, interests and whims of another land.

Independence doesn’t offer sure-found wealth or a land of milk and honey. As our Irish cousins discovered, nations can make mistakes and pay a heavy price.

But they sorted it. As we would, because no other country will put our interests first. Scotland’s future isn’t written in the stars but in the decisions made by its elected representatives.

Recently, errors and mistakes have been made. But salvation lies not in London, Brussels or Washington DC but in changes made here. Those who make the mistakes can be removed but when you’re dependent on decisions by others you’re lumbered with choices made by them.

Independence allows us to grow our economy. Maintaining the oil and gas sector is essential for our economy, society and environment. Yes, we need to transition but that takes time and requires continued use of fossil fuels. Using your own resources and benefiting from them is essential.

The base for a new economy is renewables. The second bounty that our land has been blessed with offers not just promise now but throughout the generations. Not only benefiting from cheap electricity but seeing businesses locate here.

As it is, we are but a resource to be exploited, our environment trashed, and our economy left moribund. Independence changes all that, with our energy becoming our resource to use as we see fit.

It is also the basis for supporting, sustaining and developing both old and new sectors in our economy. Building ships at home, promoting our fishing and agriculture, and assisting the new kids on the block whether finance, IT or other spin-offs from our great universities. Using our economy to benefit our society, unlike the UK where industry is sacrificed on the altar of the City of London and the welfare of citizens is ignored as wealth inequality shamefully widens.

Social issues will remain to be tackled, whether poverty, drugs or alcohol abuse. But the needs of Scotland and its most vulnerable will only be resolved within this land. One where there’s both a vibrant economy and the will and powers to do so. But done it can be, as nations such as Finland have shown.

It’s also a dangerous world. Independence offers us the opportunity to seek safer waters and offer comfort to others, as opposed to being embroiled in illegal wars or finding yourself at the epicenter of a future conflict. It’s small independent nations such as Norway through its Red Cross and Ireland with the voice of its President who have been the force for good, while the UK has become a Ruritanian satellite of the USA.

It’s what Independence offers, and the opportunity lies before us in the ballot box. A plebiscite election can be both the mechanism and the catalyst for the land Scotland should be.

[This article was first published in The National on 29.09.2025]