Whatever the result announced on the morning of 19 September, the constituent countries of the United Kingdom will never be the same again. The poll published yesterday (6 September), which
for the first time, placed the Yes campaign in the lead, produced a flurry of activity and comment on both sides of the debate. Those coming from Better Together’ revealed an unedifying sense of panic.
Whatever the result announced on the morning of 19 September, the constituent countries of the United Kingdom will never be the same again. The poll published yesterday (6 September), which
for the first time, placed the Yes campaign in the lead, produced a flurry of activity and comment on both sides of the debate. Those coming from Better Together’ revealed an unedifying sense of panic.
On the Marr Show this morning, George Osborne promised “further powers” for Scotland to be revealed “in the next few days” in the event of a No vote. Such a last-minute scramble is evidence of nothing else but the Westminster state having failed to take the possibility of independence seriously, or to plan with intelligence and forethought for its realisation.
Alistair Darling, leading for the No campaign, spoke of the referendum campaign as “a battle for Scotland” which “we will win”. The hyperbole is disturbing. Fraser Nelson, in his Spectator blog, writes of the “dissolution of our nation” and of a “great country falling apart”.
The anxiety is understandable, even if the language is absurd. Change can never be without an element of risk and although all change is of course, not automatically good, it is well to remember that it is a sign of growth, and that growth is evidence of life.
There is a strange insecurity and fear being manifested which can only see a nation seeking to take responsibility for its own future as a threat and which fails utterly to consider that ties of affection and respect are not broken by change and development. Ask any parent who has, through proud tears, watched a child leave home for the first time. The blind stupidity evinced by the Chancellor can only reinforce the conviction that few people, offered a choice, would wish to be governed by such incompetent, cynical and arrogant legislators.
No individual poll can be taken as an irrevocable signifier. There may well be further swings and uncertainty over the next ten days. But one thing is certain: the contempt and complacency shown by Westminster politicians will not be forgotten. Neither will the vision, hope and spirit shown by the best of the Yes campaign. Imagine a better Scotland” , Commonweal urged the Scottish people. Change is coming and those of us who do not live in Scotland must use the next ten days to imagine a better England, a better Wales.
* More on the Scottish independence referendum: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/scottishindependence
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© Jill Segger is an Associate Director of Ekklesia with particular involvement in editorial issues. She is a freelance writer who contributes to the Church Times, Catholic Herald, Tribune, Reform and The Friend, among other publications. Jill is an active Quaker. See: http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TQig/Jill-Segger You can follow Jill on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/quakerpen