Scottish independence: what happens after the flag-waving?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/17/scottish-independence-after-the-flag-waving

Version 0 of 1.

A year from today people will vote on the apparently straightforward question: should Scotland be an independent country? But although this appears a simple idea, it disguises a more complex and profound issue. What is really being asked is how do citizens and the state organise for the future in a sustainable way.

At its best, the Scottish nationalist movement knows this, and offers a critique of what democracy and the state of the United Kingdom can achieve. At its worst, it succumbs to the temptation to focus on old songs and tired policies. In this, Alex Salmond is wrong. As head of policy to Salmond from the SNP's landslide election victory in 2011 to this summer, I spent two years considering the white paper that will set out the Scottish government's case for voting yes.

Had the superficial elements of the independence argument been true, this would have been easy. If the SNP had been nationalist in the negative sense, for instance, the white paper could be a paean to the virtues of Caledonia. In fact the nationalist movement is tied in knots of liberal anguish – just like any progressive European party. If independence were a simple thing to define, not a wide spectrum of possibilities, the goal would be clear.

As for what is meant by Scottish, I may as well have tried to count the dust mites in the shaft of afternoon light. This may be puzzling to a wider audience, who like their emergent nations to have feather-hatted marching soldiers and a ferocious mythology. But the issues facing Scotland today are common to any developed European nation: how do we rebuild society in the light of the financial crash, a crisis in democracy and an onslaught on the welfare state – and do so in a sustainable fashion?

The campaigns to date have been a tedious parade of union flags versus saltires, of pop identity about caring Scots versus heartless Tories. By insisting on something particular to Scotland and contrasting it to the UK, Salmond has denied a crucial truth about the debate: Scotland's problems are common to the developed world, and the questions for him are the same as those for David Cameron and Ed Miliband, François Hollande and Angela Merkel.

What is the relationship between citizen and state if governments are weak in the face of a financial crash? Why should the young pay the pensions of the old if they are never going see similar rewards? What is the best balance between taxation and services? How do we tackle inequality when the coffers are empty and the electorate untrusting?

The SNP must decide if the point of the white paper is to give a tactical answer that will win hearts or a more profound assessment that will persuade minds. So far it has opted for the former, with polls suggesting it has yet to pay off. There is still time for the Scottish government to acknowledge the wider issues at play, and build a proposition that makes sense in Edinburgh, London and the rest of the developed world.

The issue is how do citizens regain control over their collective welfare. The yes campaign should offer a critique of how such issues impact on the local and the individual and show that a Scotland empowered has a better chance of tackling them than a directionless UK. To date, the Scottish government hasn't had the confidence to embrace this.

For many of us the nationalist case represents what the UK Labour party could be, if it had a spine: local democracy, tackling inequality, challenging elites and rewriting the algorithms of what makes a successful state. At its worst, it is the accountancy of worn-out policies that have already failed. The case for a yes vote rests not on nation, independence or being Scottish. A smaller unit of government, given the chance to start over, might have a shot at reinventing the sustainable state – which would be of value to all.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.