FOR most supporters of independence the possibility of having a second referendum campaign on that great constitutional question of our time is tempting.
We maybe think we know now, or know better the arguments we need to make. We feel that this time we can prove to those who voted in 2014 that their cross would be better off in the yes box.
You’ll likely know some who have a mischievous glint in their eye at the thought of the rest of the UK voting no to remain in the EU while Scotland votes yes. Even the staunchest of unionist can not deny that such a result would be a sure fire trigger for a second referendum.
As much as we would like Scottish independence, and as much as we believe it is coming, now is not the time to be planning that campaign.
Britain being pulled out of the EU would be disastrous for Scotland. It would be disastrous for an independent Scotland too.
The EU is far from perfect – there are few who can honestly believe it would not benefit from reform – but its benefits are far too important to lose.
Free trade, free movement, subsidies for farmers and fishermen, health and safety legislation.
According to the Economist, Brexit would mean “the UK would become a scratchy outsider with somewhat limited access to the single market, almost no influence and few friends”.
The damage that would do, in the short and long term, to Scotland is almost impossible to calculate.
The SNP have called for the European referendum to be put back towards the end of the year. They believe a summer campaign will give everyone time to put their case forward positively.
It’s certainly true that the argument for remaining within Europe needs to be articulated carefully and positively, with none of the scaremongering we saw from Better Together in 2014.
During the referendum on Scottish independence many of us, if not most of us voted yes, not for patriotism or nationalism, but because we believed it was a better way of doing things.
The European project is flawed, but it still remains the better way of doing things.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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