I’ve voted NO

I don’t put a lot of my political thoughts in the public domain – I’m not well enough informed for my views to be interesting for others, and where I have strong opinions I aim for actions rather than words. However, on this occasion recording my thinking – and my disappointment – on blip seems like a good a use for my journal. One way or another, this is a historic occasion.

I have found the whole referendum process terribly disappointing. At first I hoped there might be a logical and rational approach to making a choice, but I quickly realised that since the definition of what independence will look like is so weak that can’t be the case. The definition of independence is entirely dependent on a set of separation negotiations that won’t take place until after the referendum. So logical, rational approaches simply cannot serve.

Instead, as I see it, the case for independence should be an aspirational one – to build a our country according to our vision as Scots. Undoubtedly our vision is different from that of the rest of the UK, and many of those differences are ones I support. We are more socially inclusive, more caring about those who need support, and more certainly have different views on recent wars and nuclear weapons. Building a country that could reflect those values in deed as well as thought seems like a worthy ideal – in fact, and AWESOME idea. At the start of the “Yes” campaign, that was the message, and I liked it.

Unfortunately the “Yes” campaign has backed down on this vision. It has shunned ambition in favour of the comfort blanket of the familiar. Open borders and keeping the pound have taken precedence – policies that if reflected in an independence settlement will play a massive role in limiting our independence. The campaign has descended into a disappointing mess – with both sides making unsubstantiated claims and inconsistent promises. I might be able to get behind a fully independent Scotland with a new ambition, but I don’t find the idea of a becoming currency sharing client state that appealing. Without control over our own financial destiny, we can never fulfil the promises of independence.

Then there is the atmosphere of the campaign. The “No” campaign has been generally pathetic, and has been disappointingly focussed on creating fear and uncertainty – appealing to its core demographic at the expense of a wider audience. The “Yes” campaign has claimed the moral high ground, and some of its most vocal proponents have become almost unbearable in their seemingly blind defence of a campaign lacking in substance, ambition and integrity, while pushing their alternative histories of Scotland. This inwardly jingoistic nonsense has pushed me to quite deeply consider my national identity – because being associated with it make me feel nauseous.

I am Scottish. I wear a kilt, fly a Saltire if I fly a flag at all, go to Murrayfield to cheer in the freezing cold and I like haggis. I wear the badge of the Saltire Foundation on my lapel for work every day and I bristle at being mis-identified as English. I have a Scottish name, and I have given my son a Scottish name. I hope he is as proud to be Scottish as I am.

I am also British. A citizen of the UK. I have a wife from England, and I have lived in England for 5 years. I regularly do business in London, and although it’s not a city I’d especially choose to live in, I am proud that I am from a country with such a global centre in it. I am a member of proud UK institutions such as the Institute of Directors, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, the Royal Yachting Association and the British Sub Aqua Club. Whenever I travel overseas I am glad of my UK passport, and the privileges it affords me around the world, and the recognition that both Scotland and the UK receive overseas. British history and identity is as much part of who I am as is being Scottish. I want to keep that.

I want to keep that Britishness, and I want to distance myself as much as I can from the snarky, offensive, parochial views that according to some “Yes” campaigners are a part of the Scottish identity. The “No” campaign may not be much better, but at least they aren’t telling me my views are wrong, and accusing me of “not being a Scottish patriot” for the views I hold.

I think this referendum has brought out the worst side of the Scottish national identity, and I don’t want to build a nation on the basis of something so ugly. If we’re going to take a huge risk and endure years, or even decades, of disruption for independence, I want it to be on a positive platform for true independence – which can’t ever be the case if we start with a comfort-blanket approach and a (non-voting minority stake in a) currency union.

This nothing more than a record of my personal feelings on one particular day – albeit an important one as it is the day I cast my vote on Scotland’s future. I have cast it the only way my conscience allows.

I love being Scottish and I love Scotland, and I love being British too.

I’ve voted NO.