Allen Whitehead, 74, is a retired architect living in Stenton, Dunbar

I AM an Englishman but in 1973 my wife and I decided to move with our family to live and work in Scotland. Since then we have lived on the Black Isle, in Caithness, and Edinburgh before settling in 1988 in East Lothian where we now stay.

When given the opportunity, I voted for Scottish devolution but not for independence. This was not because I feel especially English or even British but I consider myself European, a citizen of the world, and I believed at that time that Remain was the only way to keep us in the EU.

Tell us about your journey from No to Yes 

The European project is not perfect but it is the best means of ensuring peace on our continent and if, as I believe, improvements could be made to the bureaucratic processes, these would be best addressed from within rather than by carping from the outside.

My work as an architect has enabled me to work alongside individuals from around a dozen overseas countries, several of whom I interviewed and offered employment.

With only one exception, they were all great colleagues who contributed enthusiastically to the projects and enriched my life. Several were students benefitting from Erasmus.

READ MORE: From No to Yes: I campaigned for Better Together, but Brexit changed everything

The fiasco of Brexit has overturned all this and now I see only an inward-looking UK trying to hang on to a vision of “Great Britain” that is really the embers of a long-lost empire.

I now accept that lies were told about an independent Scotland being too wee and too poor to survive in the world, as I have learned more about other small nations such as Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark who share some history with Scotland.

They are all thriving and providing their citizens with a better and more equitable quality of life, concentrating on education, healthcare and happiness instead of trying to be a world power.

Tell us about your journey from No to Yes 

These European neighbours don’t think of themselves as world leaders with a seat on the “top table” and neither would an independent Scotland. It would no longer be required to send tax revenues to Westminster to be spent on HS2, a massive aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines equipped with missiles etc. Hugely expensive projects like these would not be the choice of the majority of Scottish people and they provide no tangible benefits.

I’m now satisfied that independence for Scotland is essential, not really for me, but to give my grandchildren greater opportunities to live, work and travel.