Natural resources

5 reasons Scotland would thrive as an independent nation (updated)

Stephen Richard — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 18:52:02 +0000

5 reasons Scotland would thrive as an independent nation (updated)

Primary Author or Creator

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp

Stephen Richard Wed, 09/29/2021 - 19:52

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Believe in Scotland

Alternative Published Date

2019

Category

Economy

Type of Resource

Web site

Fast Facts

Scotland is economically viable as it has natural resources, a skilled population, strong trading relations, excellent industrial sectors and products, and a well developed financial sector.

Resource Address (URL)

https://www.businessforscotland.com/5-reasons-why-an-independent-scotland-will-…

Keywords

Language English

How Scotland’s been tricked into thinking it’s too poor. Open Minds on Independence #2:

Stephen Richard — Sat, 18 Sep 2021 07:18:14 +0000

How Scotland’s been tricked into thinking it’s too poor. Open Minds on Independence #2:

Primary Author or Creator

The National

Stephen Richard Sat, 09/18/2021 - 08:18

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Believe in Scotland

Date Published

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 12:00

Category

Economy

Type of Resource

News Media

Fast Facts

A poll for Prospect Scotland found that 75% of Scottish voters would vote for independence if they felt that the economic plan for an independent Scotland meant we would be better off.

Resource Address (URL)

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19095343.open-minds-independence-2-scotlands-…

Keywords

Language English

Reform Scotland’s Land

Stephen Richard — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 09:05:16 +0000

Reform Scotland’s Land

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Tue, 09/14/2021 - 10:05

Alternative Published Date

2020

Category

Land

Type of Resource

Video

Fast Facts

There is no country in the western world which has fewer people owning so much of its land as in Scotland and so there have been calls for land reform for hundreds of years. It is a social justice issue – but it is about so much more than that. It is about our environment, our wildlife, our communities, employment and homes for the next generation, the nation’s economy and the life of our towns and cities. If our land is controlled by a tiny number of rural landowners and a smaller number of big property developers, how can we make democratic decisions about the kind of country we want to build for the future?

"A Mosaic of Life" is a 2:20 minute video

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/big-ideas/reform-scotlands-land/

Keywords

Language English

Resilient Scotland Part Two

Stephen Richard — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 10:58:51 +0000

Resilient Scotland Part Two

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Sat, 09/04/2021 - 11:58

Date Published

Sun, 06/21/2020 - 12:00

Category

Economy

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

This phase of creating a resilient Scotland covers 2021-26 the five years of the next Scottish Parliament. It provides the detail of how the transformation envisaged can be achieved quickly, with a closer look at our economy, society and democracy.

More details

This is the second part of a three-part plan for creating greater economic, social and environmental resilience in Scotland and focusses on the four- year period of the next Scottish Parliament. It contains too many individual recommendations to summarise all of them here. At the same time it does not cover a number of areas which require much more space to cover than is possible here – not least the need for a National Care System (which will be covered in a forthcoming Common Weal report). These are some of the key points:

Over this period Scotland should accelerate economic transformation by creating an industrial strategy for green reindustrialisation in Scotland, using the full set of policy tools available in Scotland to support green manufacturing and other forms of production.

This will not only create high-pay jobs and increase national prosperity,
it will also transform Scotland into a ‘circular economy’ in which our economic activity does not do damage to our environment – or to anyone else’s environment either.

To make this happen will require extensive public interventions in banking, infrastructure, energy, food, transport and training and organisational development, each designed to create the best possible condition for the transition to take place and to lead to the creation of new high-quality jobs as quickly as possible.

A National Pharmaceutical Company should be set up to provide Scotland’s NHS with inexpensive medicines and to act as a manufacturing hub more generally, producing high-quality medical equipment in Scotland – including PPE.

The Council Tax should be replaced with a fairer Property Tax which also taxes land, to finance local development and to incentivise the productive use of land

Scotland should undergo major democratic reform, particularly to introduce a dynamic system of local democracy, but also to move Scotland into a transformational new phase of participatory democracy. This should be accompanied by a much stronger commitment to a system of transparency and accountability and new ways of making policy.

This decentralisation will enable a much greater focus on both localism and ‘placemaking’. The Plan proposes specific action programmes for town regeneration and for a rural and coastal industrial strategy based around green reindustrialisation. This will involve major reform of the fishing industry in Scotland to bring jobs back to Scottish communities.

To enable all of this Scotland will need a radical programme of land reform to provide adequate access to essential natural resources which provide the basis for much of what is in this Plan.

The Plan then focusses on how to improve social and community cohesion, democratic and social participation and how to ensure that the sense of civic duty which was so evident during the Covid crisis is embedded into public life.

This will need a much greater focus on what really creates wellbeing, not least the need to move away from GDP as the primary measure of economic success and the wellbeing benefits of deconsumerisation.

This phase of the Plan also acts as an ‘incubator phase’ of a full Green New Deal. Much can be done under devolution and this is all covered in this report, but crucial things are not possible with the power of independence. The three big ones – decarbonising heating, electricity and transport – cannot be achieved under devolution. However, each of these involves large engineering projects which have a long lead time of three or four years. It is perfectly within the powers of devolution to get these projects shovel-ready.

However, this will represent the limits of what is possible in Scotland under devolution. At this point Common Weal believes that Scotland must choose either to continue on this economic and social path or to revert to following the economic and environmental strategy being pursued at a UK level. For this reason a detailed proposal for how Scottish independence will be achieved will be prepared and this will be put to the people of Scotland not later than year three of this Parliament. Those who support the objectives of this Plan but do not support independence will be encouraged to explain what steps they believe can then be taken.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Resilient-Scotland-Part-Two…

Keywords

Green reindustrialisation

circular economy

Property tax