Among the many oddities in the EU referendum campaign is that, by backing the Remain side, the Scottish National Party is effectively campaigning against Scotland having more control over its own affairs.
The SNP and its leader, Nicola Sturgeon, constantly complain of decisions being imposed on Scotland from London.
Yet in supporting Britain’s continued membership of the European Union, they are backing more and more decisions being imposed on them from Brussels.
By voting to leave the EU, the Scots would take control of policy on fisheries and farming.
In 2012 the Scottish Government decided to introduce a requirement for
a minimum price for alcohol.
However, it has not come into force because the European Court of Justice has ruled that it is contrary to EU law.
Personally, I think a minimum price for alcohol is a bad idea.
However, that is not the point. The decision should be made by those accountable to the people.
If that is the policy voted for by the Members of the Scottish Parliament then it should be implemented. It comes back to the fundamental question of whether you believe in democracy; if you trust the Scottish people or not.
The pessimism of saying that the United Kingdom would be unable to cope in the world as an independent nation is absurd. And Scotland would surely thrive, along with the rest of the UK. Think of the great Scottish inventors.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. We have John Logie Baird to thank for television. William Murdoch gave us gas lighting. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.
Scotland exports 38 bottles of whisky every second. Salmon is exported to 60 countries.
Then there is tourism. Donald Trump doesn’t need to be told that Scotland is the place to go for a round of golf. It is true that he has recently threatened to cancel £700 million of planned investment if he is banned from entering the UK as a result of a proposal from some Scots MPs.
In 2007 the then Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was very chummy with Trump who was proposing a $1.5bn investment in Salmond’s Gordon constituency.
Relations with the two are less good of late. But Scotland does not need to be in the EU to attract international investment – whether from Trump or anyone else.
What of the canny Scots being so famously prudent with money?
Scotland’s share of our EU budget contribution is a tenth – around £1.5 billion a year.
Scotland’s union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland means shared sovereignty. But it can be defended on democratic grounds. There is
shared British identity. A common heritage of language, culture and law. There is also a democratic safeguard. Scots MPs also take part in deciding laws that apply to the United Kingdom.
For many Scots, of course, this is not enough. They demand full independence. The passion of that case can be understood.
What is baffling is for the same proud Scots to want to be subservient to the European Union – where they have far less of a say than in what happens at Westminster