A LEADING Yes campaigner and former MSP has said he remains “optimistic” Scotland will still become independent because of the “disaster” Labour Government that is leading the UK.
Colin Fox, who sat on the Yes Scotland advisory board representing the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), said he doesn’t believe Scotland was ready for independence in 2014, admitting he never truly thought winning over more than half the nation was possible despite the “energy and vitality” of the campaign.
But he believes the “austerity” agenda and “non-existent leadership qualities” of the new “right-wing” Labour Government will ultimately end up in the independence question resurfacing.
He told The National: “My optimism remains because I think this Labour government is going to be a disaster.
“The SSP comes from a labour tradition, and I can see this is a Labour government that hasn’t got a clue what it’s doing. It’s so right wing.
“They got 33% of the vote so that means 67% already despite them and that’s not counting people that don’t vote.
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“The national question in Scotland is still unresolved, Labour has no answer to it, there is austerity, and in a year’s time Labour is going to be hugely unpopular in my opinion. Their policies are rubbish, their leadership qualities are non-existent, and that’s when the independence question resurfaces.”
Asked about how he reflected on the 2014 Yes campaign 10 years on, Fox – who was an MSP for the Lothians from 2003 to 2007 – said he looked back with “immense pride” as Scots right across the country engaged in political discussions about the country’s future for the first time.
He said the significant voter turnout at the referendum of more than 84% showed how the Yes campaign had mobilised people in a way that hadn’t been seen for many years.
“When you looked at the campaign it was fun, it was full of energy, vitality and passion,” Fox said.
“I saw Ruth Davidson getting interviewed the other day on the TV and I could understand, she was saying the Better Together campaign hated every minute of it. For them it was misery.
“My memory is the Yes campaign was energised, we had the upper hand as far as campaigning was concerned.
“I think it’s fair to say during that time Scotland was possibly one of the most politicised countries in the world for that period of two years. Everyone had an opinion on currency and pensions, all the aspects of this debate. You saw that in the 80% turnout.
“It was a delight to be involved in. We lost, but we mobilised Scottish opinion in a way that hadn’t been done since the anti-poll tax campaign nearly 20 years previous.”
However, Fox added that it was difficult to believe the pro-independence side would ever come out victorious.
Although the Yes campaign gathered huge momentum in the build-up to the vote, and a YouGov poll showed Yes were set to win a couple of weeks before, polling generally always showed Yes to be behind.
Looking back on the Yes Scotland monthly meetings, Fox said few people privately believed Yes had any chance and he believes if there is another referendum, key questions around the economy still need to be answered.
He also argued the independence argument needs to focus more on the idea of change and Scotland starting on a different path.
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Asked if he had any regrets about the campaign, he said: “Not really. My feeling was Scotland wasn’t ready for independence. The settled will of the Scottish people was for more powers for the Parliament, it wasn’t for independence.
“Privately, none of us thought we were going to win I don’t think. Blair Jenkins would come to the meetings we had every month with polling and it always showed we were behind. The gap might have been narrowing but we were always behind.
“The economic case has got to be improved.
“The other thing that’s not been resolved is whether or not independence is about change. The leadership of the campaign, and in particular the SNP, have been saying ‘no, don’t be frightened of change, we’ll keep the pound, we’ll keep the EU, we’ll keep the monarchy’. And essentially they are undermining the argument that independence is about changing the inequalities that are there.
“It’s about Scotland being a different place.”
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