Edinburgh rally could be a pivotal moment in the push for independence

Are there any policies that have ever been as misrepresented and mis-sold as Brexit? The whole thing was built on a preposterous cocktail of false promises, half-truths, misinformation and flat-out lies.

It’s easy to forget just how ridiculous, arrogant and grandiose some of the claims were. Michael Gove told us the UK would “hold all the cards” and get the best deal possible and then-International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told us he would negotiate “one of the easiest trade deals in human history.”

They promised a new era that would see a buccaneering and forward-looking Britain opening itself to the world. They said that there would be no downsides and lots of upsides, with lower prices on essential goods, greater choices and freedoms for all of us and extra funding for public services.

Of course, all of this was about as reliable as Boris Johnson’s marriage vows. It is seven years later and the lofty promises and rhetoric are looking more absurd by the day. It’s obvious what Brexit means.

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We can all see and feel it. Brexit means paying higher prices for basic everyday items in shops. It means extra costs and hurdles for local businesses. It means huge staffing shortages across our economy, particularly in the NHS, care sector, and hospitality. And it means curbs on our right to live, work and study in 31 other countries.

Brexit may have been brought about by Johnson, Nigel Farage and their respective bands of political snake oil salesmen, but now it has been embraced by many of the same people who spent years rightly warning us about it.

I’m old enough to remember back to only a few years ago when the now leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer led the calls for a second referendum on EU membership. At the time he branded the 2016 vote “catastrophic”, but now he wants us to trust him to “make Brexit work”.

Even putting his staggering hypocrisy to one side, the reality is that Brexit can never work because it was based on wishful thinking and a shameful litany of lies.

It is a vision that the people of Scotland overwhelmingly rejected at the time, and which we have continued to reject at every

election since. The case for rejoining the EU has not gone away. The polls show that more of us than ever recognise the huge and avoidable failure that successive Tory prime ministers have inflicted on us.

But that desire for change has nowhere to go as long as we remain trapped between a reckless Tory Party in government and a pro-Brexit Labour Party in opposition. %image('12251673', type="article-full", alt="A pro-independence protester outside the Scottish Parliament ") We don’t have time to waste waiting for Labour MPs to find a backbone. The longer we remain outside the EU and the more entrenched that Brexit becomes, the harder it will be for us to reverse it.

In 2016 we were told we had to leave Europe so we could “take back control.” But the reality is that they meant giving even more powers to Westminster.

Right from the start Brexit has been used to attack devolution. In 2020 Westminster forced through the anti-democratic Internal Market Act, a terrible piece of legislation that gave them veto powers over key policy areas in Scotland.

It’s the same legislation that they used to torpedo Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. It hardly seems like taking back control when we can’t even recycle cans and bottles without Westminster intervening. It is a clear and present threat to devolution and our democracy.

That is why the demand for EU membership is so central to the case for Scottish independence.

The people of Scotland did not vote for Brexit. We opposed it then and we oppose it now. It is only with the powers of a normal independent country that we can choose our own path.

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I know that there are some independence supporters who have very strong views against EU membership and some of their objections are well-founded and totally valid.

The austerity that was forced on Greece was horrific and the EU’s anti-refugee policies have been absolutely inhumane and contributed to turning the Mediterranean into a mass grave. But Brexit was never about trying to end Tory economics or create a migration system based on compassion and solidarity.

On the contrary, the Tory governments that we have had since Brexit have pursued policies that are even more inhumane and extreme. We don’t just want Scotland to be in Europe making up numbers, we want Scotland to be at the table challenging these cruel policies and leading calls for progressive change across our continent.

EU membership would allow us to regain all of the benefits and rights we have lost, co-operate with our neighbours on major international issues such as the climate crisis, and build an economy that works for people and planet.

But it isn’t going to happen by itself. That’s why we need a movement for change and a movement for a fairer, greener and better Scotland at the heart of Europe.

If you can, please join tomorrow’s rally in Edinburgh and help to make it happen.