Independence can help transform our country for the better - Lorna Slater

So much has changed since 2014 but the difference in how our two parliaments do business has not, says Lorna Slater (Picture: Michael Gillen)

It’s a day I’ve been thinking about a lot, and one that I’ll be reflecting on when I open a Members’ Debate tomorrow in Parliament on the anniversary of the referendum itself. For some, that window of opportunity will feel like a distant memory now.

I desperately wanted us to take that opportunity with both hands and use it to build a greener Scotland and a modern democracy: one where power rests with the people rather than a government we can’t remove, an unelected monarchy, or a House of Lords stuffed full of cronies and donors.

The months leading up to the historic day turned Scotland’s workplaces, schools, cafes and almost every home into hotbeds of discussion. Even those with little interest in politics found themselves glued to it. I had close friends on both sides of the debate, but, with the prospect of Scotland taking control of its own future, I was excited to vote Yes. From that moment on I’ve found myself thinking about what could have been.

I have felt the lost opportunity almost every time Westminster has done something Scotland opposed. Leaving the EU, hostile campaigns against refugees and migrants, hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licenses. Scotland didn’t vote for these things, but the decisions were made for us. So much has changed since 2014 but the difference in how our two parliaments do business has not.

I don’t believe that the two million people who voted against independence are now looking down on Westminster and watching Keir Starmer punishing pensioners by removing winter fuel payments and doubling down on Tory cuts and thinking it is any kind of advert for the status quo.

Many people who voted No have changed their minds and polls currently show that we are closer to a 50/50 split now. Yet, I know that a lot of people still have concerns, and we need to listen to each other and engage openly and honestly.

I hope you will watch the debate tomorrow. I want to use it to talk about the positive case for independence and how the powers it gives us could help to transform our country for the better.

It is my hope that a decade from now, when the 20th anniversary of the day comes around, we are able to join together in celebrating it in a fairer, greener and independent Scotland.

Lorna Slater is Scottish Green Party co-leader