Scotland is approaching our vote on independence on 18 September amid a debate which has energised and renewed participative democracy like never before in our nation’s long history.
Town and village halls the length and breadth of the country have been packed out as public meetings and debates have been held on the future of Scotland. And it is becoming ever clearer that the only guarantee of a European future for Scotland is as an independent country following a 'yes' vote later this month.
At Westminster, the UKIP tune grows ever more shrill, forcing the Conservative-led government to lurch towards its threatened in-out referendum on European Union membership.
UK prime minister David Cameron is now a prisoner of events which he no longer controls – and the odds on the UK exiting the EU are narrowing all the time. A vote for independence, in contrast, will give Scotland the opportunity to chart our own future as a constructive partner in the European family.
As I made clear in the speech I delivered at the College of Europe in Brugge in April, Scotland has much to offer Europe, in terms of our huge energy and natural resources, our highly educated and skilled workforce and our history of innovation and discovery.
"At Westminster, the UKIP tune grows ever more shrill, forcing the Conservative-led government to lurch towards its threatened in-out referendum on European Union membership"
With a population of around 5.3 million, we have only around one per cent of the European Union’s population. However, we have around 60 per cent of the EU’s conventional oil reserves, around a quarter of the continent’s offshore renewable energy potential – and some of the richest fishing waters in Europe.
Allied to that we have fantastic strengths in life sciences, creative industries, food and drink and tourism, and we have more top universities per head of population than any other country.
Scotland can more than afford to be an economically successful independent country. We are more prosperous per capita than France, Japan and the UK itself and the global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s recently concluded that even without North Sea oil and gas an independent Scotland would be a wealthy nation and would qualify for their “highest economic assessment”.
The problem is that, despite that great native wealth, too many people living in Scotland today do not feel the benefit of it. Parts of Scotland still have life expectancy statistics that lag well behind those in the rest of the UK and Europe, and the UK as a whole has become one of the most unequal societies in the developed world.
For as long as Westminster continues to control Scotland’s economy and other key policies, we will continue to have a situation where all the people of Scotland do not benefit from our inherent strengths.
The case for independence is fundamentally a democratic one, meaning that decisions affecting Scotland will be taken in Scotland by the people who live and work here. A 'yes' vote will mean investment in priorities like childcare, and substantial savings by not spending on Westminster priorities like Trident nuclear weapons.
Independence will also allow us to protect our vital public services, including Scotland’s National Health Service, at a time when the privatisation of the health service in England threatens Scotland’s budget.
"Of the 10 countries that joined the EU as new members in 2004, more than half had become independent in the years after 1990 and more than half are smaller or around the same size as Scotland"
A vote for independence will also be flowing with the tide of history. When the UN was formed, it had 51 independent members - in the last 70 years or so that has grown to 193. And of the 10 countries that joined the EU as new members in 2004, more than half had become independent in the years after 1990 and more than half are smaller or around the same size as Scotland.
Scotland’s referendum is a defining moment for our nation. Polling day itself will be a time when Scotland is sovereign for the first time in more than three centuries—and the decision the people make that day will determine whether we hand that sovereignty back to Westminster or move forward in a new 21st century partnership of equals.
Independence for Scotland will also be wholly in line with European ideals of peace, democracy and inclusion.
The song 'Flower of Scotland' has become an unofficial national anthem in recent years, and one of its most quoted lyrics talks of rising to be a nation again.
However, my message to the people of Scotland as they begin to cast their votes is that we don’t need to rise and be a nation again – we simply need to believe in ourselves and retake our place in the international family of nations.