INDEPENDENCE does not depend on the gracious bounty of Mrs Maybe.

Sovereignty will never be simply be granted. Independence will not come from an intervening hand in Brussels or by waiting for Brexit to derail itself. Independence will come when we have achieved independence in all but name. We must, as a nation, affirm that we are a country, a state in the making. We must create the conditions for this to come about, by behaving as a state.

During the days before devolution, we waited patiently for a Scottish parliament to be granted when we could have created one ourselves, whether recognised by Westminster or not. We could have raised the money, built the building and created a shadow government, feisty, symbolic and revolutionary.

In our nation's history, great events and slow burning change happened when Scots united in purpose and made them so. But independence cannot happen without wealth, nor without friends. For that reason we must set off now on a quest to create the skeleton of a functioning state, and a vibrant, independent economy. To do so we must seize every ounce of devolved power that we can, and we must begin to demand more.

Rather than force headlong into a second referendum that I am not convinced we will win at this stage, we could set our sights on independence in a decade hence. We can even set a date, say 30th November 2027. For now until then, Scotland should build herself. We need a shadow diplomatic system. We can do this through the creation of a worldwide network of trade missions, self-funding through the generation of trade, and at the same time creating a Scottish voice around the world. We should look at what Scotland does well and do more of it, using our devolved powers. If we crash out of the EU in 2019 against our will, then let us make the best of it by assuming control of our agriculture and fisheries, our whisky and salmon exports, our cheese and our beef. We can set up tourist missions and use Scottish government money to build better roads, airports and attractions.

Let us begin to create wealth, and examine why we are underachieving, why our cities are ringed by sink estates and what skills we need to build. Let's encourage the creation of technological powerhouses, become a world leader in green energy. Let's find the money to do it ourselves. Let's push now for total fiscal freedom.

Above all let us not wait for other countries to do it for us. What can we do, realistically and gradually, to get to the a point of total financial and diplomatic freedom by 2027? Can we raise money ourselves, through inward investment and financial services, through Scottish government bonds? Can we begin to draw up detailed plans for our new currency and plan, detail by detail our divorce from the UK? What can we do as individuals too, in order to work towards independence ten years hence?

Can we each try to persuade our friends and families, build social media followings, one contact at a time? Can we work on creating our own businesses too, an organic, home-grown Scottish economy?

Independence will come when we have made it so.