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Paul Wheelhouse, our Prospective
Parliamentary Candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk,
says:
"Like many people in my generation, we were spoon fed the
notion that Scotland was dependent upon money from the rest of the
UK for its survival. For many years, despite my attraction to
self-government, I believed that to be the case,
trusting and supporting those who governed us. I know from speaking
to many others that they also bought in to this argument."
"However, documents released under Freedom of
Information legislation have revealed that my generation have
been robbed of a major opportunity that might have seen massive
investment in Scotland's services and infrastructure following
discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea. Labour and Tory
ministers knew Scotland would have a "chronic surplus",
i.e. have far more tax receipts than we needed, at a time when we
were being told Scotland was being subsidised by the rest of the
UK. Meanwhile more than £100 billion of tax revenue was being
syphoned off to shore up public finances at a UK level and
Scotland's pensioners have struggled on minimal pensions to pay ever
rising council tax and have incurred ever greater fuel poverty in
what should be an energy rich country.
"The myth regarding subsidies was
a great deception perpetrated on us all and I am angry that I and
many others fell for it. However, while extraction is becoming
more challenging, almost as much oil remains under the North Sea as
has been extracted and we have a second chance to use the revenues,
and those from sensitive development of our massive renewable energy potential, in the best
interests of Scotland and all who live here."
"The Scottish Government will try its best
to solve Scotland's problems of significant pockets of
deprivation, pensioner poverty, poor infrastructure, low business
growth rate and inability to retain many of our brightest and best.
All of these problems have afflicted the Borders.
Already, significant steps have been taken to have distinctive
solutions to Scottish problems. However, the Scottish
Parliament neither has the macroeconomic powers, over tax and
public expenditure or indeed social security, nor does it have
a direct voice at the top table in Europe. Basically, as a
nation, Scotland has one hand
tied behind its back."
"Worse still, land-locked nations like Austria and
Luxembourg have a direct say on the Common Fisheries Policy that is
wrecking our fishing sector, and Scottish Ministers are treated as
subservient to a UK minister with no fishing fleet in his
constituency. Despite being one of the oldest nation states
in the World, with the oldest national flag in the World, Scotland
has no direct voice and that is ludicrous. Moreover, while
Scottish MPs and MSPs vote against a new Trident nuclear weapon
system and the war in Iraq, we may have son of Trident forced upon
us and meanwhile our boys are dying in Iraq. I also want a
more positive future for all our children. In my opinion, Independence
is the answer."
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