I was extremely honoured this week, along with my colleagues, to be in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament when our First Minister made the announcement about the date of the referendum<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201c\u2026It is worth reflecting just for a moment on the privilege that this nation and this generation will have: nothing less than the privilege of choosing the future course of our country, in a democratic referendum that is made here in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n We have been on a journey since 1999 and the restoration of our Parliament, here in the heart of our ancient capital. We have witnessed a growing confidence and increase in democratic accountability.<\/em><\/p>\n I am honoured to announce that on Thursday 18 September 2014, we will hold Scotland\u2019s referendum\u2014an historic day, when the people will decide Scotland\u2019s future\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Our SNP group is an eclectic bunch with a range of ages and experience all with our own stories of our journey in the Party with our country’s Independence the finishing line. \u00a0Each and every one of us was excited and enthused on Thursday as we reflected on how far our Party, our country and our cause have come.\u00a0 As a mother of a 15 year old who will be able to vote I was delighted to highlight my ambition for Scotland\u2019s young people to be informed, confident and engaged in their Referendum.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t often quote Labour politicians. However, I am reminded of Donald Dewar\u2019s \u201cI like that!\u201d\u00a0 There is no doubt that everyone in the SNP feels the same, although there was little to like from the opposition benches on this historic announcement. Vitriol and scorn poured from the Labour benches with the occasional comedic moment, such as Elaine Murray\u2019s mishearing of the date leading her to complain \u201cOn 18.11.14, many Scots may have to go to vote in the dark.\u201d No fear, the First Minister promised to \u201clight a candle for Elaine Murray to shine upon her darkness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I wonder, on reflection and with hindsight how many opposition members will regret their stance on this historic day in our country\u2019s history.\u00a0 Even if you do not support Independence, to fail to rise to the occasion of this momentous event is surely to be regretted?\u00a0 As Margo McDonald said<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 This is about our country \u2019s soul. It is about our children and our grandchildren\u2019s standards and place in the world, and we are talking about candles in case someone cannot vote. Many friends of mine on the Labour side of the chamber have let me down and have let Scotland down this afternoon by the way in which they have approached the debate. This is a big question and it needs big people and big answers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So why did the opposition get this so wrong?\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t had an easy week! Tuesday saw a sombre and reflective day as the parliament debated the 10th<\/sup> Anniversary of the Iraq War, which is an uncomfortable subject for those who can neither bring themselves to regret their support for this illegal war or acknowledge the enormity of the failure to plan for peace following the demise of Sadam Hussain. The reflective and poignant contributions from both Alex Salmond and Annabel Ewing, both of whom were in the Commons when the vote to go to war was called, transported us back to that time where many members recalled the marches and public spirit generated when Scotland said \u201cNot in my name\u201d.\u00a0 On Wednesday, Trident was the subject and it was no less uncomfortable a subject. I remember a Labour Party that stood for unilateral disarmament, in partnership with the trade union movement where warmongering was despised.\u00a0 Jim Murphy described the legitimate policy position as Labour\u2019s \u201cFlirtation with surrealism\u201d, while Michael McMahon derided those committed to an anti-nuclear Scotland as \u201cCND\u2014the organisation that is itself becoming more like the campaign for nuclear delusion.\u201d \u00a0So, not a good week for Bettertogether partners.\u00a0 But, even given this uncomfortable territory, history will judge them poorly for failing to rise to the occasion and acknowledge the magnitude of the opportunity for the people of Scotland to decide their Nation\u2019s future on our day of destiny, 18 September 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was extremely honoured this week, along with my colleagues, to be in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament when our First Minister made the announcement about the date of the referendum \u00a0\u201c\u2026It is worth reflecting just for a moment on the privilege that this nation and this generation will have: nothing less than the privilege of choosing the future course of our country, in a democratic referendum that is made here in Scotland. We have been on a journey since 1999 and the restoration of our Parliament, here in the heart of our ancient capital. We have witnessed a growing confidence and increase inRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=661"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}