Four reasons for Scotland’s women to strive for independence
Women have always been at the forefront of the independence movement and that is because we understand how independence offers a stronger, fairer, more equal future to us and our families.
As mothers, grandmothers, aunties, daughters and friends we are concerned for our own futures but also for our children, old folk, friends and communities.
Westminster has forced policies on us that are breaking the backs of Scotland’s women
We can compare our standard of living with that in similar-sized independent countries and see that we are lagging far behind on metrics like energy poverty, child poverty and state pension.
We see the limits of devolution. The Scottish Government doesn’t hold the great offices of state - the Treasury, the Home Office, the powers of the Prime Minister’s office. It doesn’t control the levers of power. In so many areas - such as the privatisation of Scotland’s energy infrastructure - Scots don’t get a say.
Only with the full powers of an independent country can Scotland build a more equal country where children, women and men can reach their full potential.
These are some of the problems Westminster has created:
- They privatised our energy infrastructure without our consent, leading to unaffordable heating bills, which are hurting families and low-income old people hardest
- They condemn children to lives of desperate poverty for being born into larger families
- They pay one of the lowest state pensions in the developed world, and many older women have been cheated even of that
- They slammed an ill-thought-out tax on jobs at us that punishes Scotland unfairly for having a bigger public sector, and is especially bad for people in low-paid and part-time jobs, who are often women
And here are some of the ways that an independent Scotland could build a better future.
1 - In an independent Scotland, the people could benefit from Scotland’s renewable energy
Scotland is a renewable energy power house. It generates around 15.5% of the UK’s electricity – nearly double its population share of 8.2%. It exports massive amounts to England.
Yet almost a third of Scottish households can’t afford to heat their homes and cook their meals - the definition of energy poverty. Energy poverty in Scotland is 31% - in England it is just 13%. There is no EU country with energy poverty levels anything like Scotland’s.
Our businesses, from hairdressers to construction, are paying the highest energy bills in the world.
In 2023, Scotland exported a total of almost 18 TWh of energy to England - enough to power almost 3 million homes. Yet the Scottish people don’t benefit from the energy that is produced here in the way independent Scandinavian countries do from theirs.
That is because Scotland’s energy infrastructure was privatised in the 1990s by UK governments that Scotland never voted for. The result is that private energy companies based in Scotland make huge profits off the backs of the Scottish people.
If Scotland were an independent country with a publicly owned power company, like Iceland, it would be generating much more money from Scottish power for the public coffers.
It would be able to make innovative changes - for example in Sweden, charging a low price for energy in the north of the country where there is a lot of renewable potential is encouraging business growth.
Women are disproportionately affected - more likely to be poor in old age, more likely to be heading a low income family, more likely to be doing low paid work.
2 - In an independent Scotland, every pensioner would get a wellbeing pension, enough to support the necessities of life
Too many women pensioners live in poverty in Scotland, 23% compared to 16% of men. Many women spend parts of their working life in part-time or low-paid jobs because of caring responsibilities for elderly relatives or for children, meaning Scottish women pensioners, who already face one of the lowest state pensions in the developed world, are being forced into poverty through no fault of their own. Furthermore, the Waspi women (Women against state pension inequality) were short-changed on even that as they have suffered pension injustice at the hands of Westminster.
If Scotland were an independent country, it could model its pension provision on a country like Denmark and offer a Wellbeing Pension, set at the level required to sustain a life of dignity, where every older person can afford the basic necessities of life. But only with the powers of independence can Scotland take control over this.
3 - Child poverty levels in an independent Scotland could be similar to Scandinavia
Child poverty is on course to increase in the UK by the end of this parliament, with only Scotland bucking the trend, according to analysis by a respected poverty charity.
This is essentially because the Westminster government continues to discriminate against children born into larger families. The two-child cap means that only the oldest two siblings get help if their parents fall into poverty - that is pushing many families into misery.
Low-income women who fall pregnant with a third or fourth child are put into an iniquitous position - if they have the child they risk pushing the whole family into poverty. Many low-income families are in work. Other families where someone falls ill or loses their job may need the safety net.
In contrast, the Scottish government pays the Scottish Child Payment to every child in a low income family. That means that Scottish poverty rates are not growing as fast - but they are still much higher than many other comparable countries. The Scottish child payment is not as high as the other benefits. By itself, in a largely fixed budget, the Scottish government can only do so much to mitigate Westminster’s choices.
In many of the Scandinavian countries that have comparable geography and population size to Scotland, about one in ten children live in poverty. If Scotland had the full levers of an independent country it could hope to reduce child poverty to rates similar to those.
4 - An independent Scotland could make choices to support its economy.
Westminster’s raising of employers’ national insurance is going to hit primary care facilities like GPs surgeries, pharmacies and care homes particularly hard. These are all places that women are especially likely to use.
Westminster talks about boosting growth. But its actions tell a different story. Without consultation or warning it forced a tax on jobs on Scotland which unfairly impacts Scotland because it has a larger public sector, partly an inevitable consequence of having a more dispersed population.
And the workers who stand first in line to get their hours cut or their contracts ended are those in low-paid or part-time jobs - again disproportionately women.
That is not all. Employment rights which guarantee women equal rights in the workplace were dependent on EU law. Now Scotland has been forced to come out of the EU those don’t have the same legal backing.
Brexit killed the pool of seasonal labour that Scotland’s rural areas relied on. And it also damaged the chances of Scotland’s youth - the UK has knocked back an offer of a youth mobility scheme. And immigration rules designed for England are now making it harder to recruit fresh talent.
An independent Scotland could tailor its policies and its strategy on things that would benefit Scotland’s people and the Scottish economy.
Conclusion
Women like us are struggling every day to keep the heating on, get children to school or to help elderly relatives to maintain their dignity on a miserable pension that is far less, in the case of the Waspi women, than they were led to expect.
At every turn Westminster disappoints Scotland and puts in place policies that harm and don’t help us.
We have seen the limits of devolution and are now ready for Scotland to take the full powers of independence and build a fairer country.
22,000 others have already pledged their support, because only a non-party-political independence campaign can move independence support to the levels we need to win our independence. We Believe in Scotland – Join us!
