THE reaction to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s launch of the Scotland’s Right to Choose document continues to pour in from across the Yes movement and it seems she has sounded a rallying cry for Yessers everywhere.
John Schofield of Dumfries and Galloway English Scots for Yes told the National: “The UK fought the Second World War to preserve democracy throughout the world.
“The UK has just had a General Election where the SNP, won 45% of the vote and 80% of the seats, a massive win. An election fought with holding an independence referendum at its heart. The Scottish Conservatives had only two policies: Get Brexit Done and No to IndyRef2 and won 6 seats out of 59 in Scotland, that is 10% of the total.
“The Conservatives cannot accept that they lost the election in Scotland. Suddenly vote share – and it being a UK-wide election – is extremely important. With 43% of the UK-wide vote going to the Conservatives, the UK didn’t vote for Brexit in that case.
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“As someone originally from England, how dare Westminster impose Brexit on Scotland and impose immigration policies on us which will be disastrous for Scotland’s farmers, our NHS, our care sector and our tax base.
“How dare anyone say that Scotland is only a region of the UK, not a country with a proud history of more than 1000 years. How dare those who have not fulfilled their 2014 promises and vows say we cannot consider the issue of independence again.
“And as English Scots and the Yes movement keeps on repeating, Scottish independence is not about disliking those from other countries. It is not about saying we are superior to any other country. Scotland wants to have open borders and to welcome everyone who comes here to live, work, visit or study. Scottish independence is about making all decisions at Holyrood and the first decision that needs to be made by Scotland itself, and no-one else, is the timing of the next referendum. Otherwise, sadly, we no longer live in a democracy.”
Laura Robertson of Yes Linton stated: “For years Scotland voted Labour and got Conservative governments; nowadays Scotland votes SNP and gets Conservative governments. Scotland voted Remain, but we’ll soon be leaving the EU. The unfairness of this ‘democratic deficit’ is why groups like Yes Linton exist. Our group supports the First Minister’s careful work towards achieving independence for Scotland through the consent of the people who live here. We understand that she is seeking to do this through legal, democratic processes. She is right to set out these arguments as clearly and forcefully as she does on our behalf, stressing Scotland’s right to self-determination.”
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