IN 2014, my heart raced and my nerves frayed as I awaited the result of the independence referendum. Though I had never aligned myself politically with the SNP, I saw the immense value in re-imagining Scotland in the image of its people. A movement that valued and uplifted the vulnerable and the oppressed, instead of leaving them in the dirt, ready to be consumed by cruel and unrepentant austerity.

While agreeing with the idea of our right to self-determination, the rhetoric from the leaders of the Yes campaign did not excite me.

This was an opportunity to completely overhaul our political system and thus society as we knew it and yet the debate largely centred on trivialities such as whether Scotland can use the pound sterling (one of the biggest issues that swayed the vote at the time, as quaint as it sounds now). My one reservation was, and still is to some degree, that independence would be more of the same but with an all-too comforting bonnie smile.

My passion for independence waned when Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party. Finally, a political leader who did not think socialism was a bad word and was not scared to point out the huge power imbalance that has existed in this country for far too long.

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Corbyn was the only leader who gave me hope and made me believe that others were ready to prioritise social justice as much as I was. I did not just go through the motions when I voted Labour in 2017; I was genuinely excited and passionate that I could give my voice to such a progressive programme, carried out by politicians who had fought for decades for left-wing causes as activists as well as Members of Parliament.

With Labour’s unexpected seat gain in 2017, there was a sense that the Westminster establishment had started to crumble and that there was now space for a new kind of radical politics.

As the SNP pushed policies that seemed to me like nothing more than a band-aid to larger systemic problems, I saw Labour tackle the systemic problems head on.

As we moved into the most recent election, the policies from before were still there, but with the addition of a whole host of modern forward-thinking ones. Policies that I had never even thought of before but instantly saw their value in how they would uplift society and make the country a braver, smarter and more compassionate place. Allegiance to the Labour Party was the only rational path my mind could comprehend taking.

OF course, now I’m heartbroken. It was naive to think that this change could come from inside the beast. Westminster is rotten and too entangled in the old-school Etonian bourgeoisie. It does not care about you or me; it only cares about the transfer of power from one to the other. Wealth, privilege and superiority complexes are the only things that truly matter within those walls.

And to an independent Scotland, I say: full steam ahead. Not only must we take this opportunity, we must also strip out the poison left behind. We must be creative, ambitious and imaginative in an independent Scotland.

This won’t just be a referendum to get rid of the Tories or to remain in the EU, it is the chance to completely reshape Scotland in our own image and start anew.

We must be fearless in procuring the society we want, and start from a blank canvas.