THE LIE: STAY IN EUROPE ... VOTE NO
BETTER together were clear that voting Yes in the independence referendum was a dead route to Scotland losing its EU membership. Their infamous tweet read: “What is the process for removing our EU citizenship? Voting yes. #scotdecides”. It hit the headlines again earlier this year when David Mundell made an attempt to dismiss the unionist threat as a “myth”.
Since the referendum, unionists have consistently peddled the mistruth that an independent Scotland would be forced to “join a queue” in order to re-obtain EU membership.
WHAT THEY SAID
RUTH Davidson: “I think it is disingenuous of Patrick [Harvie] to say that No means out and Yes means in, when actually the opposite is true. No means we stay in, we are members of the European Union.
READ MORE: Michael Russell shuts down Tory’s attack on indyref2 with one tweet
Better Together Head Strategist Blair McDougall: “President Barroso has been really clear. He was asked in the context of Scotland, so he was clear about what he was saying, if there is a new state that state has to submit a new application for EU membership.
People have consistently said across Europe that Scotland’s a new state...”
THE TRUTH
SCOTLAND now faces being dragged out of the EU at the mercy of a Tory hard-Brexit the country emphatically voted against. Only 10 trade deals have been made since the vote, which includes the UK’s 114th largest trading partner, the Faroe Islands.
One of the key figures in drafting the European Constitution, German MEP Elmar Brok, was clear that Scotland’s re-admittance to the bloc would be “relatively speedy”.
READ MORE: Will Farage get the seat at the table Scotland was denied?
THE LIE: SCOTLAND WILL BE STRONGER IN THE UNION
FACING defeat, the No campaign and Messrs Cameron, Milliband and Clegg turned to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who brokered “the vow” in the Daily Record which promised a swathe of “extensive new powers” for Scotland.
WHAT THEY SAID:
GORDON Brown: “I sense that people want change that can unite Scotland, rather than divide Scotland. They want to know that a No vote does not mean no change and instead seek guarantees of change, locked in and clear assurances that from September 19, the pace of change will not stall but speed up.”
THE TRUTH
CURRENTLY resting in the hands of the Westminster Government are 70% of Scottish taxes and 85% of current UK welfare spending in Scotland. The Scottish Trade Unions Congress remarked on the widespread limitations of the new legislation, while the cross-party committee on devolution concluded that it “falls short” in “critical areas”. A year after the vow YouGov found that only 9% of Scots felt that it was delivered. Since then Tories have indicated that they would be returning certain powers to Westminster.
READ MORE: Is there any sign of life in the wreckage that is Scottish Labour?
THE LIE: SCOTLAND’S FUTURE IN SCOTLAND’S HANDS
IN August 2014, then-PM David Cameron, Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson pledged, with other party leaders, that “power lies with the Scottish people and we believe it is for the Scottish people to decide how Scotland is governed”.
WHAT THEY SAID
“WE now pledge to strengthen further the powers of the Scottish Parliament, in particular in the areas of fiscal responsibility and social security. We believe that Scotland should have a stronger Scottish Parliament while retaining full representation for Scotland in the UK Parliament. That can bring people together from all of Scotland, from civic society and every community.”
THE TRUTH
SCOTS returned 56 SNP MPs across Scotland’s 59 seats in the 2015 General Election. But the SNP charge for new powers for Scotland was thwarted by a veto, and the UK Government again proved its contempt by overruling the Scottish Parliament vote on withholding consent for the EU withdrawal bill. Theresa May then promised that she would not trigger Brexit without universal consent from every nation in the UK, but rolled ahead with it anyway.
THE LIE: INDEPENDENCE WOULD THREATEN BENEFITS
BETTER Together were vocal about the need for public spending to be slashed in an independent Scotland, releasing a paper which argued that pensions and benefits in Scotland are more secure in the UK where costs of the welfare budget can be spread across more people and claiming that “we are better placed to support the most vulnerable in Scotland with a No vote”.
WHAT THEY SAID
MARGARET Curran, then Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, said: “The experts are clear... if we leave the UK we would have to make massive cuts in public spending. This would hit those who have the least the hardest.
‘‘Leaving the UK would be a leap in the dark for those reliant on benefits or their pension. By saying no thanks to separation, we can make sure that we protect the most vulnerable in our society from the massive cuts that would have to happen in a separate Scotland.”
THE TRUTH
WESTMINSTER’S 2015 budget was viewed by many as a direct attack on the poorest and most vulnerable people in society. It led to cuts worth more than £12 billion to welfare services and benefits. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) that the Chancellor was “demonstrating a cruel disregard for the impact this will have on hundreds of thousands of people’s lives”. The Child Poverty Action Group said the budget cuts damaged economic security of working families. And the No campaign also said that a No vote was the best way for people to protect their pension. Following the referendum, UK Government reforms to the state pension scheme has resulted in millions of WASPI women being denied their pension rights.
THE LIE: BARNETT WOULD BE PROTECTED
A MAJOR part of the promises enshrined within the vow was a pledge that there would be a continuation of the Barnett allocation for resources. “Because of the continuation of the Barnett allocation for resources and the powers of the Scottish Parliament to raise revenue, we can state categorically that the final say on how much is spent on the NHS will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.”
WHAT THEY SAID
THE vow read: “Because of the continuation of the Barnett allocation for resources and the powers of the Scottish Parliament to raise revenue, we can state categorically that the final say on how much is spent on the NHS will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
POST-BREXIT, Tories immediately began to make clear that there was a keen intent to cut Scotland’s budget further than it is currently set.
Prominent Brexiteer, Lord Owen called for the EU vote to be used as a basis to scrap Barnett completely, while Tory MEP David Bannerman posted a tweet which stated that a “new Brexit Government should suspend the Barnett formula for Scotland”.
Even more worrying is the rhetoric of the man who could potentially be the next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Michael Gove, who also voiced an intent to dismantle Barnett.
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