In a rare intervention, Elizabeth Smith
As I write, we’re just days away from
making arguably the most important decision in Scotland’s long and proud
history.
On Thursday, each of us bears a great responsibility to the generations who will follow us, for there is no turning back from independence and it is our children and their children who will feel the enduring consequences of our votes.
I look now at my own grandchildren, too young and carefree to understand what is happening in their country today, but part of the generation that matters the most.
Whatever happens, few of us will deny that Scotland has changed forever.
If recent opinion polls are to be believed, the most immediate legacy of this long referendum campaign will be a divided nation.
That is a great shame.
Politics should be about a civilised competition of ideas and it ill serves the people who need it most if it creates division and animosity where there should be none.
Mature and steady hands will be required to guide the country through the aftermath of a long, passionate and often angry debate, and I hope such leadership emerges in the fullness of time.
But that is for another day.
Our choice is now a much stronger Scottish Parliament, making decisions in Scotland for Scotland, or the unknowns and risks of independence – terms of which are yet to be agreed.
I have long believed, and my husband believed, that the United Kingdom is a great nation – much more than the sum of its parts – and one that has faced down adversity many times in its history, simply through the common endeavours of its people.
I believe wholeheartedly in its future; we are stronger together than we are apart.
For generations, Scots have lived and worked across these islands and beyond; we have stood shoulder to shoulder with friends, colleagues and family in England, Wales and Ireland.
We built great ships together, we sailed the seven seas and discovered new lands and cultures, we fought and won the world wars together and we founded the trade union movement and the Labour Party together.
As Labour, we created the National Health Service, the welfare state and introduced a minimum wage.
There was no prouder moment in my life than when John Smith, a man from modest roots in Argyll and representing a large swathe of industrial Lanarkshire, became the leader of the British Labour Party.
It was from this position that John desperately wanted to help those who cannot help themselves, right across Britain, whether in Caldercruix or Coventry, Liverpool or Glasgow.
To him, their accent was not important. Making their lives better was, and so too was putting real decision making power closer to those people.
That is ultimately what the British Labour Party delivered for Scotland, and it remains a matter of pride that a powerful Scottish Parliament opened on the 1st of July, 1999, following a process that involved most of civic Scotland.
As my dear, late friend Donald Dewar said in the Parliament’s first session, that was “the day when democracy was renewed in Scotland, when we revitalised our place in this, our United Kingdom”.
I look at those words now, 15 years later, and wonder where in this debate we have given proper credit to the Scottish Parliament, and the many good people who serve and have served there.
Where is the honest recognition of a bold young Parliament that helped reverse a declining population, reduced cancer waiting times, built new schools and took the pioneering decision to ban smoking in public places?
Too often, we allow our political leaders off the hook of accountability.
We should more often stop to ask them: have you done everything you possibly can to help the most vulnerable people in society by using the power you already have here in Scotland?
If you have not, then make way for people who thrive on the responsibility handed to them by voters, and who will lift every stone to find a better way to improve the lot of our people.
Passions are now running high. Friendships, families and working relationships are being tested like never before.
It is incumbent on all political leaders to engage honestly with the voters.
If the Labour Party, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats promise to devolve new powers to Scotland, then so they must, and quickly.
And the Nationalist campaign must reflect carefully on its bold statements and promises and know that its leaders will be accountable for delivering them all.
My plea to people, especially Labour people, is to use your vote carefully this week.
This is not a General Election, and the decision Scotland makes is permanent.
Before you cast a vote, think of our children, and their children, and the bigger British family of which we have long been an important part.
And please vote “no thanks” on Thursday.
On Thursday, each of us bears a great responsibility to the generations who will follow us, for there is no turning back from independence and it is our children and their children who will feel the enduring consequences of our votes.
I look now at my own grandchildren, too young and carefree to understand what is happening in their country today, but part of the generation that matters the most.
Whatever happens, few of us will deny that Scotland has changed forever.
If recent opinion polls are to be believed, the most immediate legacy of this long referendum campaign will be a divided nation.
That is a great shame.
Politics should be about a civilised competition of ideas and it ill serves the people who need it most if it creates division and animosity where there should be none.
Mature and steady hands will be required to guide the country through the aftermath of a long, passionate and often angry debate, and I hope such leadership emerges in the fullness of time.
But that is for another day.
Our choice is now a much stronger Scottish Parliament, making decisions in Scotland for Scotland, or the unknowns and risks of independence – terms of which are yet to be agreed.
I have long believed, and my husband believed, that the United Kingdom is a great nation – much more than the sum of its parts – and one that has faced down adversity many times in its history, simply through the common endeavours of its people.
I believe wholeheartedly in its future; we are stronger together than we are apart.
For generations, Scots have lived and worked across these islands and beyond; we have stood shoulder to shoulder with friends, colleagues and family in England, Wales and Ireland.
We built great ships together, we sailed the seven seas and discovered new lands and cultures, we fought and won the world wars together and we founded the trade union movement and the Labour Party together.
As Labour, we created the National Health Service, the welfare state and introduced a minimum wage.
There was no prouder moment in my life than when John Smith, a man from modest roots in Argyll and representing a large swathe of industrial Lanarkshire, became the leader of the British Labour Party.
It was from this position that John desperately wanted to help those who cannot help themselves, right across Britain, whether in Caldercruix or Coventry, Liverpool or Glasgow.
To him, their accent was not important. Making their lives better was, and so too was putting real decision making power closer to those people.
That is ultimately what the British Labour Party delivered for Scotland, and it remains a matter of pride that a powerful Scottish Parliament opened on the 1st of July, 1999, following a process that involved most of civic Scotland.
As my dear, late friend Donald Dewar said in the Parliament’s first session, that was “the day when democracy was renewed in Scotland, when we revitalised our place in this, our United Kingdom”.
I look at those words now, 15 years later, and wonder where in this debate we have given proper credit to the Scottish Parliament, and the many good people who serve and have served there.
Where is the honest recognition of a bold young Parliament that helped reverse a declining population, reduced cancer waiting times, built new schools and took the pioneering decision to ban smoking in public places?
Too often, we allow our political leaders off the hook of accountability.
We should more often stop to ask them: have you done everything you possibly can to help the most vulnerable people in society by using the power you already have here in Scotland?
If you have not, then make way for people who thrive on the responsibility handed to them by voters, and who will lift every stone to find a better way to improve the lot of our people.
Passions are now running high. Friendships, families and working relationships are being tested like never before.
It is incumbent on all political leaders to engage honestly with the voters.
If the Labour Party, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats promise to devolve new powers to Scotland, then so they must, and quickly.
And the Nationalist campaign must reflect carefully on its bold statements and promises and know that its leaders will be accountable for delivering them all.
My plea to people, especially Labour people, is to use your vote carefully this week.
This is not a General Election, and the decision Scotland makes is permanent.
Before you cast a vote, think of our children, and their children, and the bigger British family of which we have long been an important part.
And please vote “no thanks” on Thursday.
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