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| Scottish independence white paper: panel verdict | Scottish independence white paper: panel verdict |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Ruth Davidson: 'No answers, just more assertion and assumption' | Ruth Davidson: 'No answers, just more assertion and assumption' |
| The challenge for the SNP today was to try to sell the idea that under independence things would somehow be better, while everything that Scots care about would still remain the same. They didn't manage it. | The challenge for the SNP today was to try to sell the idea that under independence things would somehow be better, while everything that Scots care about would still remain the same. They didn't manage it. |
| Deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon raised the bar high on what we should expect in the white paper when she boldly declared that it would answer everyone's questions. | Deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon raised the bar high on what we should expect in the white paper when she boldly declared that it would answer everyone's questions. |
| Yet many of today's 670 pages disappoint. | Yet many of today's 670 pages disappoint. |
| The Scottish people are crying out for hard facts on what a separate Scotland would look like and were hopeful this would be delivered in the document today. | The Scottish people are crying out for hard facts on what a separate Scotland would look like and were hopeful this would be delivered in the document today. |
| Sadly, many of those facts and answers were absent, and replaced by the usual assertion and assumption. | Sadly, many of those facts and answers were absent, and replaced by the usual assertion and assumption. |
| There are a number of uncosted promises, and so much in this document relies on goodwill and co-operation of the likes of the UK government, Nato, other EU countries and the UN. There's no plan B on currency, EU membership or a host of other areas where the SNP isn't in a position to guarantee an outcome. | There are a number of uncosted promises, and so much in this document relies on goodwill and co-operation of the likes of the UK government, Nato, other EU countries and the UN. There's no plan B on currency, EU membership or a host of other areas where the SNP isn't in a position to guarantee an outcome. |
| This was a chance for the Scottish government to put meat on the bones of its constitutional arguments, giving the people an authoritative document to inform their opinions. | This was a chance for the Scottish government to put meat on the bones of its constitutional arguments, giving the people an authoritative document to inform their opinions. |
| But despite the big build-up many central questions remain unanswered. | But despite the big build-up many central questions remain unanswered. |
| • Ruth Davidson is the leader of the Scottish Conservative party | • Ruth Davidson is the leader of the Scottish Conservative party |
| Alex Bell: 'A map of the visible moon – without Whitehall's dark side' | Alex Bell: 'A map of the visible moon – without Whitehall's dark side' |
| What it lacks in starry vision it makes up for in necessary detail – government isn't glamorous and this is a bid to show the SNP's competence in office will extend into building a new state. The third of the electorate who claim not to have the information to decide have just been given plenty of homework. | What it lacks in starry vision it makes up for in necessary detail – government isn't glamorous and this is a bid to show the SNP's competence in office will extend into building a new state. The third of the electorate who claim not to have the information to decide have just been given plenty of homework. |
| It is like a map of the visible moon – half of which remains in the dark side of Whitehall. What will be negotiated and the outcome of those talks can only become clearer if London reveals its hand. With the Treasury fighting an overtly political campaign while blocking access to its spreadsheets, we are unlikely to get any detail on costs. | It is like a map of the visible moon – half of which remains in the dark side of Whitehall. What will be negotiated and the outcome of those talks can only become clearer if London reveals its hand. With the Treasury fighting an overtly political campaign while blocking access to its spreadsheets, we are unlikely to get any detail on costs. |
| When pressed on the benefits of being British, people mention the BBC and defence. The white paper is keen to make it clear you won't be bombed while watching Strictly on free-to-view TV. | When pressed on the benefits of being British, people mention the BBC and defence. The white paper is keen to make it clear you won't be bombed while watching Strictly on free-to-view TV. |
| Scots rate the overall BBC highly, but give low marks to BBC Scotland. This has worsened as budget cuts bite. The white paper sets out a continuous BBC service disguised as a Scottish Broadcasting Service (essentially an autonomous arm of the existing corporation). It is a cautious proposal designed to avoid complex issues over territorial rights while reassuring the audience. | Scots rate the overall BBC highly, but give low marks to BBC Scotland. This has worsened as budget cuts bite. The white paper sets out a continuous BBC service disguised as a Scottish Broadcasting Service (essentially an autonomous arm of the existing corporation). It is a cautious proposal designed to avoid complex issues over territorial rights while reassuring the audience. |
| As for defence, a notional military structure capable of defending assets and participating in Nato peace-keeping is promised. The Scottish government has taken this from military experts. The promise is to be rid of nuclear weapons within the first term of an independent parliament. Whether this ever happens is another matter. Berlin and Washington will take an active interest in Trident post-Yes and Scotland may find it more diplomatic to back down on this article of faith for the SNP. | As for defence, a notional military structure capable of defending assets and participating in Nato peace-keeping is promised. The Scottish government has taken this from military experts. The promise is to be rid of nuclear weapons within the first term of an independent parliament. Whether this ever happens is another matter. Berlin and Washington will take an active interest in Trident post-Yes and Scotland may find it more diplomatic to back down on this article of faith for the SNP. |
| • Alex Bell is a former head of policy and speechwriter to Alex Salmond | • Alex Bell is a former head of policy and speechwriter to Alex Salmond |
| Alistair Darling: 'Alex Salmond has failed to make the case for independence' | Alistair Darling: 'Alex Salmond has failed to make the case for independence' |
| Following the publication of the SNP's white paper we are no further forward. There's nothing here that we didn't know already. Fundamental questions remain. | Following the publication of the SNP's white paper we are no further forward. There's nothing here that we didn't know already. Fundamental questions remain. |
| The SNP promised us that today's white paper would answer all of your questions, however it does nothing of the sort. Instead of a credible and costed plan, we have a wish list of political promises without any answers on how Alex Salmond would pay for them. On currency, welfare, pensions, EU membership and much more the white paper is more fiction than fact. | The SNP promised us that today's white paper would answer all of your questions, however it does nothing of the sort. Instead of a credible and costed plan, we have a wish list of political promises without any answers on how Alex Salmond would pay for them. On currency, welfare, pensions, EU membership and much more the white paper is more fiction than fact. |
| Astonishingly, the white paper contains no detail on Alex Salmond's Plan B on currency. The currency we use isn't just about the pound in your pocket. It's about your mortgage, savings, pensions and the future of our economy. | Astonishingly, the white paper contains no detail on Alex Salmond's Plan B on currency. The currency we use isn't just about the pound in your pocket. It's about your mortgage, savings, pensions and the future of our economy. |
| Alex Salmond knows that retaining the pound is very unlikely, so today was his opportunity to set out what his fallback position is. Would we join the euro or would we set up our own currency? Instead all we have is more assertion that the very country we would have just left, the UK, would agree to a eurozone-style currency union with an independent Scotland just because the first minister says so. It's utter nonsense. The only way to guarantee that we keep the UK pound is to stay in the UK. | Alex Salmond knows that retaining the pound is very unlikely, so today was his opportunity to set out what his fallback position is. Would we join the euro or would we set up our own currency? Instead all we have is more assertion that the very country we would have just left, the UK, would agree to a eurozone-style currency union with an independent Scotland just because the first minister says so. It's utter nonsense. The only way to guarantee that we keep the UK pound is to stay in the UK. |
| Today was Alex Salmond's chance to produce a credible case for breaking up the UK. On the evidence of the white paper, he has failed that test. | Today was Alex Salmond's chance to produce a credible case for breaking up the UK. On the evidence of the white paper, he has failed that test. |
| • Alistair Darling MP is the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign and a former chancellor of the exchequer | • Alistair Darling MP is the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign and a former chancellor of the exchequer |
| Mike Small: 'Childcare at the heart of a new democracy vision' | Mike Small: 'Childcare at the heart of a new democracy vision' |
| Projecting forwards with maximum vision – Glasgow's Imax cinema was the perfect location for the launch of the Scottish government's white paper on independence, introduced with some thumping bravado as "the most comprehensive blueprint for an independent country ever published". It's certainly hefty. | Projecting forwards with maximum vision – Glasgow's Imax cinema was the perfect location for the launch of the Scottish government's white paper on independence, introduced with some thumping bravado as "the most comprehensive blueprint for an independent country ever published". It's certainly hefty. |
| There's perhaps little new in this document but what was clear was the simple reiteration of the aim, not just to renew democracy but to transform society. One stand-out pledge was what they call "a transformational change in childcare" – effectively creating full-time childcare for all Scottish children. It's this idea, one that is deliverable, practical and yet visionary, that may make some real impact, not to the media pack but to the "mums" vote, still to be won over. | There's perhaps little new in this document but what was clear was the simple reiteration of the aim, not just to renew democracy but to transform society. One stand-out pledge was what they call "a transformational change in childcare" – effectively creating full-time childcare for all Scottish children. It's this idea, one that is deliverable, practical and yet visionary, that may make some real impact, not to the media pack but to the "mums" vote, still to be won over. |
| It's estimated such a move would create 35,000 jobs in pre-school education and nursery provision and bring Scotland into line with many of our European counterparts. It's stinging that this comes only a week after Baroness Sally Morgan, chairwoman of Ofsted, suggested that two-year-olds from disadvantaged families should be enrolled in schools in England. There's a gulf emerging between the desperate policies of a broken Britain and the potential for a new democracy in Scotland. | It's estimated such a move would create 35,000 jobs in pre-school education and nursery provision and bring Scotland into line with many of our European counterparts. It's stinging that this comes only a week after Baroness Sally Morgan, chairwoman of Ofsted, suggested that two-year-olds from disadvantaged families should be enrolled in schools in England. There's a gulf emerging between the desperate policies of a broken Britain and the potential for a new democracy in Scotland. |
| • Mike Small is editor of Bella Caledonia | • Mike Small is editor of Bella Caledonia |
| Joyce McMillan: 'Broadcasting could become a key battleground' | |
| Of all the areas of Scottish government responsibility, arts funding is probably the one least affected by a move to independence. Most of Scotland's cultural policy has been fully devolved since 1999; and the white paper seems to envisage a steady-as-she-goes approach to the subsidised arts in Scotland, with few proposed cuts. | Of all the areas of Scottish government responsibility, arts funding is probably the one least affected by a move to independence. Most of Scotland's cultural policy has been fully devolved since 1999; and the white paper seems to envisage a steady-as-she-goes approach to the subsidised arts in Scotland, with few proposed cuts. |
| When it comes to broadcasting and communications, though, independence as envisaged in the white paper would mark a revolution. In one of the SNP's frequent gestures of support for the traditional public goods cherished by the postwar British state, the Royal Mail would be renationalised. And most crucially, Scottish licence-fee payers would find themselves supporting a new Scottish Broadcasting Service, which the SNP envisages working with the BBC in "a joint venture". The figures around this proposal are persuasive; an independent SBS could probably invest much more in home-based television and film production, and still buy in all the favourite network BBC programmes audiences would demand. | When it comes to broadcasting and communications, though, independence as envisaged in the white paper would mark a revolution. In one of the SNP's frequent gestures of support for the traditional public goods cherished by the postwar British state, the Royal Mail would be renationalised. And most crucially, Scottish licence-fee payers would find themselves supporting a new Scottish Broadcasting Service, which the SNP envisages working with the BBC in "a joint venture". The figures around this proposal are persuasive; an independent SBS could probably invest much more in home-based television and film production, and still buy in all the favourite network BBC programmes audiences would demand. |
| On the downside, though, there is no single idea that exposes the famous Scottish "cultural cringe" more successfully that the notion of a Scottish Broadcasting Service delivering endless parochial news bulletins and country dance music, while viewers desperately retune to London channels. Broadcasting in an independent Scotland wouldn't have to be like this, of course; look at the recent Danish example. But recent experience of Scottish-made programming has not encouraged viewers and listeners to have faith in an independent Scottish broadcaster; and this proposal could rapidly become one of the main battlegrounds of the referendum debate, and one of the most revealing. | On the downside, though, there is no single idea that exposes the famous Scottish "cultural cringe" more successfully that the notion of a Scottish Broadcasting Service delivering endless parochial news bulletins and country dance music, while viewers desperately retune to London channels. Broadcasting in an independent Scotland wouldn't have to be like this, of course; look at the recent Danish example. But recent experience of Scottish-made programming has not encouraged viewers and listeners to have faith in an independent Scottish broadcaster; and this proposal could rapidly become one of the main battlegrounds of the referendum debate, and one of the most revealing. |
| • Joyce McMillan is a columnist for the Scotsman | • Joyce McMillan is a columnist for the Scotsman |
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