The independence campaign’s descent into a quasi sporting fixture is a detachment from reality, says TERRY MURDEN

Humza Yousaf will take his seat in the Holyrood chamber on Tuesday to announce his first Programme for Government, buoyed by the flag-wavers and face-painted fanatics who marched through Edinburgh on Saturday in what has become a come-what-may call for independence.

Evidence stacks up daily against the Scottish Government’s record which has not only under-performed on just about every measure, but has failed to prove its competence and honourable intent in handling even basic disciplines, from the census and deposit return scheme to the selective interpretation of research on the minimum unit pricing of alcohol, the ferries debacle and battles over short-term lettings.

The marchers who turn out routinely to damn the union and all it represents seem oblivious to this wretched scorecard and in true Monty Python style continue to ask: ‘what has the UK ever done for us?’

Maybe they should start by averting their eyes from social media messages that reinforce their prejudices promoting this notion of a separate Scotland as a land of milk and honey that somehow has answers to everything from inflation, energy supplies and high interest rates that have escaped every other country in the world – including those in the SNP’s beloved EU.

Apart from the failures of the Holyrood government on the above mentioned issues, there has been some good news from Westminster on the economy and the cost of living that ought to at least cause some of the anti-unionists to pause for reflection on what they wish for.

The SNP-Green coalition thrives on an underperforming UK economy, so it will not welcome data showing that it has already grown faster than Germany, Italy, Japan and France since 2010, recovered from the pandemic faster than any country in Europe, and is second only to France for foreign investment.

Based on such evidence, why would Scotland want to pull out of the UK?

Because many of those campaigning to leave will not countenance views that contradict their own and have turned it into a quasi sporting fixture. The constitution really has become a ‘political football’ in which Scotland’s independence rally is engaged, not in a rational debate, but in an emotionally-charged battle for bragging rights against the auld enemy.

It’s as simple as that. Details over economic performance, the enormous cost of dismantling the UK and the dubious promises of re-joining the EU (which, by the way, is under-performing the UK), are cast aside because the prize of separation is the political equivalent of winning the Calcutta Cup.

The SNP has produced “evidence” papers on how an independent Scotland would operate. They’ve so far failed to convince sceptics. There is no detail on monetary policy, aside from a brief mention of retaining the pound in the short term, or how Scotland would hope to join the EU with a deficit that could only mean significantly higher taxes and deep cuts in public spending. The papers have come up with no solutions to Scotland’s poor productivity record, or its failure to meet targets on housing, health, education or jobs in renewables.

Supporting separation against these stark realities would be like casting aside a warning that the national stadium is about to collapse when there is an important game to be played and national pride is at stake. But isn’t that what the independence campaign is really all about?

Terry Murden held senior positions at The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Northern Echo and is now editor of Daily Business

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