THE Welsh are now sitting with a cross-party document on the country’s constitutional future. Since its publication last week I have found myself wishing Scotland had been as wise as Wales.

For two years their politicians have been mature enough to get round the table, work together, review the status quo and publish, in black and white, that independence for Wales is viable. Oh how I yearn to be able to quote such wisdom from an equivalently serious academic and political document relating to Scotland.

Those of us who have never gone away during the last decade would so have welcomed it being “official” that for Scotland, as it is for Wales, the evidence for backing the current constitutional position was “poor”. These are the words of Professor Laura McAllister, the co-chair of the Independence Commission.

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The conclusion also that there is a “lack of respect” from the UK Government, and that it views devolved governments as “stakeholders to be managed”, will come as no surprise to those of us north of the Border. How welcome this indisputable evidence would have been, as opposed to what we all observe and bear on a daily basis as our representatives are belittled, ridiculed, ignored and worse Can you imagine the difference this would have made – on the doorsteps, on every SNP, Green and Alba piece of election literature, and in the words spoken out loud in Holyrood and in Westminster? There is no greater ammunition than the truth.

The co-chair also made clear that, when broken down into accessible language (ie, how independence relates to service delivery in relation to, for example schools and hospitals), the general public do indeed have strong constitutional views, even if they do not realise they do and see them as such.

I am so very tired of reading that the issues that concern voters the most are the economy, the cost-of-living crisis and the NHS. Of course they are, as we are all touched by them in one way or another as they are part of our daily lives. I IMPLORE the SNP to urgently facilitate the understanding “in the street” that the economy and being an independent country are interwoven. Instead of constantly saying we need independence, spell out to voters – both the convinced and yet-to-be-convinced – that if, for instance, we had our own energy policy (especially with the abundance of natural resources on our lands and in our seas), if we weren’t paying for the weapons of mass destruction sitting in the Clyde, HS2 etc, how our potential could be tapped.

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Please, please can this be the focus of the months leading up to the election. Voters need MSPs and MPs, and their literature, to spell out what Scotland would GAIN from being independent, not just constantly banging on about the need to be independent.

This stuck record is doing us no favours and in no way shifts the numbers our way. Even those of us who believe in self- determination, autonomy and democracy, and all that goes with them, are tired of hearing it without it being backed up by the specific facts and substance of what it means in terms of the benefits for Scotland. Please spell it out, just like the Welsh have. I envy their platform as they have it now FOR EVER, which is way longer than “once in a generation”.

Such a paper, and the vision and truth lying at its heart, would have been worth all the unread white papers put together. It certainly would have provided a much-needed shot in the arm for loyal independence supporters, unlike the most recent SNP party political broadcast. It is embarrassingly limp. I usually turn down the sound when I see there is one coming on, with the exception of those on behalf of the SNP. I was wishing I had done the same as it almost made me weep, its message is so weak. It is deeply forgettable, instead of indelibly imprinting something vital and meaningful, in passionate words, music and images.

How very ironic it would be if our Celtic cousins in Wales beat us to it. At this rate I think that is a strong possibility. If they can succeed, so can we, but equally, if they do gain independence before us, there would surely be no way that Scotland could again fail? Could there?

Jenny Pearson
Edinburgh