The Scottish parliament has improved our country but now Westminster is out to strip away its powers and destroy devolution.
Since the Scottish parliament was reconstituted in 1999 it has improved the way Scotland is governed, bringing power closer to the people and even protecting the country from some of the worst decisions imposed by the Westminster government that would otherwise have inflicted great pain.
But despite its achievements the Scottish parliament is now facing a determined campaign to strip it of even the limited powers it has.
Devolution has certainly brought improvements to Scotland, although it does not give our country the powers it needs to take full control over its money and its future. Only independence will allow that.
Opinion poll after opinion poll has shown support for independence and for a second independence referendum. A panicking UK government has not only set itself against that democratically expressed desire by attempting to block indyref2 but it has also moved to take back some of the powers devolved to the Scottish parliament.
It is using new legislation – the Internal Markets Act – to ignore the Scottish parliament and pass crucial decisions over to the UK government. Money which should have gone to the Scottish parliament will instead by spent by Westminster. How and where it is spent will be decided by ministers in London. The policies and priorities decided by our own parliament will be ignored.
To rub salt in the wound it threatens to plaster the union flag over the projects it has hi-jacked from Holyrood as if to suggest we should be grateful.
All this flies in the face of promises made by the Unionist side in 2014 that the powers of the Scottish parliament would never be altered without the express consent of Holyrood. It also breaks international law.
This dangerous attack on our parliament illustrates the problems with devolved powers – they are bestowed at the ‘’gift’’ of Westminster and can be taken away on a whim. Only independence can permanently give Scotland the powers it needs to become a better, fairer, more prosperous country which reflects the values of the people who live here.
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