10 hours ago
SNP now seem content to manage Scotland's decline within the Union
What was once a party of national ambition now seems content to manage Scotland's decline within a Union that's tightening the noose. Devolution doesn't empower – it strangles. And Grangemouth's demise is proof. Scotland's last crude oil refinery, lost. Yet the SNP offer mitigation, not mobilisation.
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Meanwhile, the UK rolls out Freeports – a glossy rebrand of economic extraction zones. These aren't engines of Scottish prosperity; they are conduits. Wealth flows in, value is stripped, and profits vanish south – into the deep vaults of the City of London Corporation and beyond, to offshore havens. Scotland gets low-paid jobs, deregulation, and a Union Jack stamped on the ruins of our industrial base.
We are watching the final chapter of Scotland's economy being written – for someone else's benefit. If we want a future where our economy serves our people, not imperial finance, it won't come from managing the Union. It will come from ending it – and reclaiming the fiscal powers we held before 1707.
Dianne Alexander
Rosewell, Midlothian
