IT comes down to this: how can you best cast your vote tomorrow to send a clear message that austerity is not working and an alternative must be put into action.
It will come as no surprise to readers of this newspaper that we believe that the answer to this question is to vote for the SNP.
It hardly needs to be said that we support the SNP in this election and we intend to lay out our reasons in detail in tomorrow’s newspaper on election day.
However, it is not just The National’s view that austerity is damaging the British economy and the lives of those who live here. A growing number of informed and expert voices agree with this.
One of these is Professor Steve Keen, who argues that politicians who describe the British economy in the same terms as a household budget are misleading the voters.
He goes even further, lambasting the Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour plans for the economy and praising the policies of the SNP and the Greens. His argument underlines why, left to its own devices, Labour will not take the action needed to stop austerity. Its plans are simply a little less extreme than the steps suggested by the Conservatives.
The only way to pressurise Labour into adopting a more radical approach is to make sure there are enough SNP MPs to ensure that the wishes of Scotland – and indeed the wishes of thousands of voters south of the Border – are heard and are taken into account.
Labour would have us believe that this makes the prospect of a Labour Government less likely. This argument attempts to make Scots responsible for the effects of votes cast in England and Wales. We are not.
Gordon Brown made a passionate speech yesterday pleading for Scotland to return to the Labour fold.
The trouble is that we no longer believe him. And we no longer believe that the Labour Party will act in our best interests unless we show them how seriously we want change. Tomorrow is our opportunity to do so.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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