Tories for Independence?
Because of this, Labour for Independence’s leaflets are extremely valuable when talking to Labour voters about independence.
However, here in East Renfrewshire many people tend to vote Conservative, so it’d be really useful if we had a Tories for Independence leaflet to give to them.
I’m not a Tory, so I don’t think I should be writing it, but I guess it might look something like this:
The Tories used to be Scotland’s largest party. However, after Thatcher’s necessary reforms we are now hated in Scotland. We got only one MP elected in the last general election.
All over the world, democratic countries tend to have at least one powerful centre-right party, typically either in power or providing the main opposition.
Why is Scotland unique in having only centre-left parties? Because the Scottish Parliament doesn’t raise its own revenues, so all the debate in Scotland is about how to spend money, which is not natural Conservative territory.
However, if Scotland becomes independent, voters will again react positively to a message about cutting taxes, helping our companies and growing the economy.
As the 8th richest country in the world we would take control of our own resources. We would benefit from the GDP per head being some 17% higher than the UK average and the deficit levels being about one third lower than the UK. The full 9.9% of UK taxes Scotland currently generates would be available for spending in Scotland. The £4.4bn extra revenue this represents would enable us to lower taxes and to invest more in our companies, creating jobs for hard-working Scots. We can also lower corporate tax to make it attractive for companies to relocate to Scotland, creating thousands of jobs here.
Vote Yes to independence to revive the Conservative party in Scotland!
It didn’t give me any pleasure writing the stuff above, but surely a message like that would appeal to many Scots of a Conservative persuasion?
I had a go on the same subject, but focussing on small government here: http://logicsrock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-tory-case-for-scottish-independence.html
Good points, too.
Well that’s actually quite compelling. You must be convinced yourself to write it that well!