The independence movement will always remember Winnie Ewing

She first burst into the national spotlight in 1967 when she unexpectedly won a Westminster by election in Hamilton for the SNP. Until then the seat had been one of the Labour party's safest seats, with Labour having taken over two thirds of the votes in the seat in every election since 1945. The by election had been called when the sitting Labour MP resigned in order to take up the post of head of the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board.

To call Winnie's victory a shock is something of an understatement, like calling being struck by lightning as a 'bit of a tingle'. No one, least of all the SNP, expected her to take the seat. The SNP was then a marginal party in Scottish politics, which had won a mere 5% of the Scottish vote in the previous year's General Election.

However, Winnie won 46% of the vote, with Labour's Alexander Wilson achieving just 41.5%. After the result was announced, Winnie famously declared: "Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on."

Although the seat reverted to Labour at the next Westminster General Election, Winnie Ewing's by-election victory proved to be a pivotal moment, catapulting the SNP into the mainstream of Scottish politics and demonstrating that it was a party to be taken seriously. Ever since the 1967 Hamilton by election, the SNP have maintained a continuous presence in the House of Commons and could no longer be dismissed as a fringe irrelevance.

It's no exaggeration to say that modern Scottish politics began in 1967.  The Hamilton by election presaged increasing Scottish national self confidence and the ultimately successful campaign for a Scottish Parliament which would dominate the next thirty years in Scottish politics and lay the groundwork for the current debate on independence.

Scotland has changed radically since 1967. The current First Minister Humza Yousaf, and the SNP leader Stephen Flynn were not even born until two decades after Winnie Ewing's stunning victory in Hamilton.

The campaign for Scottish independence is now being led by a new generation, but we will never forget giants of the movement like Winnie Ewing, on whose shoulders we now stand.

An anniversary not worth celebrating 

Today is the seventh anniversary of the disastrous 2016 EU referendum which was narrowly won by a Leave campaign which had lied through its teeth in order to get the result it wanted.

Despite promises prior to the referendum that leaving the EU did not mean leaving the Single Market or Customs Union, the zealots on the English nationalist right of the Conservative party then did exactly that, forcing their extremist vision on the entire United Kingdom without making the most minimum concession to the 48% who had voted to remain.

Despite the fact that Scotland voted heavily in favour of remaining, the Conservatives have also shamelessly used Brexit as an excuse to undermine and bypass the devolution settlement and the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

Now, a new report has laid bare the massive damage that Brexit has caused to the Scottish economy.

READ MORE: Winnie Ewing – inspiration, friend, and true parliamentarian

Published by the Scottish Government, the report finds that Brexit has caused the loss of £3 billion in public revenues every year. Over nine years that totals £27 billion, a massive sum which is directly due to the incompetence and ideological right wing Anglo-British nationalism of the Conservative party, but which is scarcely mentioned by a Scottish media that is too busy obsessing over the ferries.

The report also finds that 44% of Scottish businesses report that Brexit is the main cause of the difficulties that they face trading overseas. Staff shortages which have been directly blamed on Brexit putting an end to freedom of movement are also reported by a significant number of businesses in the critical hospitality and tourism sector in the Highlands.

Meanwhile a new poll published today finds that 58% of people across the UK would vote to rejoin the EU. A similar percentage believe that Brexit has had a negative impact on the British economy.

Perhaps the most surprising finding is that more respondents said that they trust the European Commission (25%) than trust the British government (24%). Although if you pause to look at the shysters, chancers, and liars who comprise the highest levels of the Conservative party it's even more surprising that as many as 24% still claim to trust them.

Voter ID shows the Tories are determined to thwart democracy

The Electoral Commission has found that 14,000 people were turned away from polling stations during the recent local elections in England for not having the correct form of ID.

This figure is certainly a huge underestimate as it only counts those who actually turned up at a ballot station and attempted to vote and does not include those who never showed up in the first place because they knew they lacked the correct ID.

SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman said: "This report shows restrictive Tory voter-ID laws prevented thousands of people from voting in the local elections – and pose a damaging threat to democracy in the UK. If this trend continues, thousands more could be prevented from voting in the next General Election because they don't have the right ID or aren't aware of the changing rules.

"Not only would this stop eligible voters from having their rightful say – but it could also change the outcome of elections in marginal seats, where a handful of votes can determine who wins."

That was doubtless the intention of the Tories in the first place. Those most affected by these measures will be people from demographic groups which are less likely to vote Conservative.