In the light of developments since it first appeared some three years ago, I am today publishing a new version of the Manifeto for Independence. This fourth version of the document contains on significant addition, along with a number of minor amendments. The important change is the inclusion of a section dealing with a plebiscitary election ─ or de facto referendum. The document is presented in the hope that it will promote discussion around the constitutional issue.
Manifesto for Independence
The manifestos of all pro-independence parties in Scotland must include a commitment to specific action for the purpose of restoring Scotland’s independence.
- Repudiate the Section 30 process as an illegitimate constraint on Scotland’s right of self-determination.
- Declare one or all future Scottish or UK Parliament elections to be a plebiscite on the question of the competence of the Scottish Parliament to facilitate the exercise of Scotland’s right of self-determination.
- Assert the primacy of the Scottish Parliament on the basis of its democratic legitimacy and the sovereignty of Scotland’s people.
- Recall Scotland’s Members of Parliament from Westminster to sit on a National Convention with Members of the Scottish Parliament and such representatives of civic society as are deemed appropriate by the Scottish Parliament for the purpose of overseeing the drafting of a Constitution for Scotland.
- Propose dissolution of the Union with England subject to approval by the Scottish Parliament and ratification by the people of Scotland in a referendum that stands as the formal exercise by the people of Scotland of our inalienable right of self-determination.
- Hold a referendum on the question of the Union under the auspices of the Scottish Parliament and subject to oversight and management by the National Convention and such bodies as may be appointed by the Scottish Parliament.
#ManifestoForIndependence #ScottishUDI
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Peter A Bell 
“the purpose of restoring Scotland’s independence.”
Yes, precisely this, Peter. A national party must absolutely always prioritise independence above all else. Independence is never a mere ‘policy’ – as you say here it is always the primary purpose and rightful cause of the national party. The freedom of the people is also the most urgent priority in any colonial society. And it is urgent, as the unnecessary delay only gives rise to future conflict and the withering away of national consciousness.
The elected national party don’t need to appoint Ministers for this and that as we see in the present Bute Hoose show; they should let the colonizer’s civil servants ‘administer’ things, as they will do anyway. The people do not need any more colonial figureheads. They have suffered these fools for long enough. A junior minister for independence tells us how low the priority is.
National Party majorities playing at being ‘Ministerial’ in a colonial society are only there to be set up anyway. Even their sincere efforts, few and far between, are soon made to turn to dust whilst the main priority of the regime is to keep the economic plunder going; this requires the territory and its people to remain under-developed, it cannot be allowed to progress beyond a certain level, and cannot progress anyway so long as its resources are looted. Trying to convince No voters through their Ministerial ‘competence’ is a flawed approach.
A compromised (i.e. continuity) national party elite quickly becomes part of the colonial ‘racket’, they collaborate with it, and in turn start to oppress their own people, becoming ‘an instrument of coercion’; hence the oppressive laws we see, and with more to come.
The national party elite should therefore only focus on the task in hand, i.e. that of freeing the people. Once compromised the party elite becomes condemned by its own hypocrisy. Only after the people are liberated is the time to hand out ministerial jobs and to then attend to the necessary total restructure of the new state’s former colonial institutions.
Click to access THEORETICAL+CASE+FOR+SCOTTISH+INDEPENDENCE.pdf
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A Minister for Independence.
The latest carrot. Which the sheep will no doubt fall for. Fooled by the pretence of ‘Look, we really mean business now’. His brief will be to promote the gradualist approach, ensuring jobs for the boys continues for as long as possible. 2050 springs to mind for some reason.
The cork needs to be removed quickly. But it won’t be.
Peter’s manifesto is the perfect enema for the constipated state of Scottish politics. Who dares to put on the rubber gloves?
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I wouldn’t say it’s “perfect”. Even I can see things I would change. And there is a helluva lot that could be added. But that would be a mistake. The aim was to make it as simple and as fundamental as possible. It’s importance may lie mainly in the fact that it illustrates what a ‘plan’ actually looks like. I have yet to see such a plan from the SNP or Alba.
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No need for modesty Peter. I didn’t say your manifesto was perfect – it was the enema that I described in that way.
But perfect or not it would at least get things moving forward from this torpid state which prevails at present.
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Your manifesto offers the possibility of Scotland sipping the nectar of freedom from English domination and it could be put into action now, not in some distant future when, by dint of great governance by the SNP, the electorate will be convinced in sufficient numbers to desire independence. The logic of this SNP non- plan defeats me: If the SNP could show the floundering NHS, cost of living crisis, et cetera, are improving, then people would surely think things can improve under the Union so just carry on SNP and improve things further.
Humming birds are affectionately known as hummers. They are remarkable little birds that can flap their wings up to 200 times a second. Yes, a second! They can fly very quickly forwards, remain stationary, and also, uniquely, fly backwards. Humza The Hummer, like all SNP politicians, can spew out words regarding independence – ‘never been closer’, ‘progressive’, ‘progressive’, ‘progressive’ – at a rate that hummers would applause – yet they are flying backwards with the delivery of independence.
Humming birds also have an incredible high heart beat rate. The only thing that sends SNP politicians heart rates up is the flight and fight mechanism: flight from actually taking on Westminster and securing independence, and fight if they see any threat to their future incomes and pensions.
Sorry for this ramble. I am finding it impossible to believe in any politicians now. I saw an old man sitting in a warm space in the library in Auchterarder yesterday. He looked alone and defeated. At least he was not one of the hundreds taken into hospital suffering from hypothermia. Politicians are not delivering for the people. Rates of wealth inequality are obscene. The ‘progressive’ SNP, with their Hate Crime Bill, men calling themselves women, control freaks, carrots, troughers, are a lost cause who are treating the Scottish public as idiots. Other main political Parties are no better.
A National Convention that you advocate is the only way the Claim of Right of the Scottish people will be enacted. The people are sovereign and we cannot put up with this colonial subjugation any longer. Former SNP and independence supporters really need to find, and quickly agree on and implement, a mechanism, a manifesto such as you have proposed, asap.
Humza The Hummer, who is flying backwards even faster than Sturgeon, quite an achievement in itself, is totally demoralising the last vestiges of the SNP of old that actually stood for, and flew quickly towards, independence. Where is the light in this darkness?
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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I totally agree with it all but there’s a big BUT:
“The manifestos of all pro-independence parties in Scotland..”
The SNP or, as I now consider them, the Scottish Devolutionist Party (SDP) can’t be included in that category.
Is Yousaf really too dim to realise that people supported SNP because they support Scottish independence not the devolution settlement which he’s pledged to defend? It doesn’t take a genius to work out the devolution settlement will be defunct on independence but then I sincerely doubt he can be accused of being a genius.
Excuse me, I needed to get that out – I’m beeling. It looks as though 2015 was the high point for independence and it’s been downhill since. I hate what they have done to that party. I can think of only 2, either a MPs or MSPs in the SDP, who actually want independence and I’ve no idea why they stick with that party.
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The SNP HAS to be included or the whole thing is pointless. The political reality is that the SNP will be the party of government for the foreseeable future. And our predicament is urgent.
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P.S. That hasn’t helped.
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Feel free to give it another go.
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Yes, I understand SNP has to be included but Yousaf’s comments about protecting the devolution settlement were, to say the least, concerning. He has the same old mindset of kowtowing to Westminster and its supposed sovereignty over Scots.
According to what he has said, there won’t be a Westminster de facto referendum, he might go for a HR de facto (that would be 2026) but no ideas, that I can see, beyond that.
Definitely no hint of withdrawing reps from Westminster or a National Convention – and he said anything the SNP government did regarding independence would have to accord with “British” law. That is just breathtakingly stupid.
Neither does his team inspire me with confidence. They look like a mediocre bunch.
Someone more radical to tell Westminster from the outset where to shove it would have been ideal. I think Regan would have done that.
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That’s what we have to change. And the only way to change it is for a united Yes movement to demand that change. Nothing else has enough clout. But the solidarity we need is just not happening. I’ve lost count of how many different groups and organisations are vying to be the seed of a unified Yes movement. I don’t think these bodies even talk to each other. To date, none have focused exclusively on the constitutional issue. So, none has succeeded.
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“Repudiate the Section 30 process as an illegitimate constraint on Scotland’s right of self-determination.”
Why?
If you read the rest of your manifesto for independence, that first clause becomes totally irrelevant, unnecessary. Who cares? You might as well say “Abolish the House of Lords with its hingers-on and that” as some do – who cares – it’s Gone with the Indy anyway. Or you could say: “Abolish the office of Secretary of State against Scotland“. Again – who cares about the viceroy?
Worse than that though it’s a deterrent for many people who won’t even bother reading further. Remove it, and it can be a Plan B for some people, a Plan A for others. Of interest to thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of them! Leave it in and there would be a maximum of but 100 of you who’d even consider adopting it.
Indy has too many distractions and irrelevancies. Like Monarchy as well.
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I have addressed that very point in the original articles on #ManifestoforIndependence and on numerous occasions since. I recognise that repudiation of the Section 30 process is redundant. I acknowledge that it is not really part of the process. It is an ‘add-on’ which is regrettably made necessary by all the years of Sturgeon insisting S30 was the ‘gold standard’. That idea has to be laid to rest in an emphatic way.
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The new draft is definitely a step forward Peter, the original was pretty good mind you. There are a couple of differences between this and the MFI23 document which I have produced along with others in SSRG. It would be good to think that these could be consolidated in a single document – I don’t care who “owns” it or what it is called. As you know the 2 key differences are firstly that MFI23 proposes that any Holyrood election should be used to ask the Scottish people to positively affirm the supremacy of the Scottish Parliament as the only parliament which represents the sovereignty of the Scottish people, this enabling the Parliament to enact anything democratically demanded by the people. Secondly, no referendum is required pre-independence as the Parliament is empowered to make the decision to end the Union. But a referendum should be held 5-10 years later (I like to think of it as a “generation”) after Scotland is independent – the subject of the referendum to be whether the Scottish people want the Parliament to open negotiations with England on the subject of a Treaty of Union. Fancy an editing session ?
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These documents should be considered a starting point rather than a fixed plan. But there must be some ‘red lines’. No compromise on repudiation of Section 30, for example. One of the reasons I favour keeping the #ManifestoForIndependence as basic and simple as possible is to make it easier for different pro-independence parties to incorporate it into their manifestos. But we also have to be mindful that some parties might try to fiddle it so as to make it look like they’ve adopted the MfI but leaving themselves an ‘escape clause’.
It is for that reason, that I insist on keeping ‘ownership’ of the original, if only in a very loose sense, so as to be sure there the basic formulation is maintained for reference. Any reformulations of the MfI can then be compared with this base version to see whether and to what extent they depart from the fundamentals of the thing.
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Correction: The fastest recorded speed of a Humming Bird’s wings is 80 beats a second. Still pretty amazing… ( I read 200 beats a minute – fake news!). Still not as fast as SNP ‘s beating their gums re independence though…
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“Still not as fast as SNP ‘s beating their gums re independence though…”
Or Sturgeon blinking her eyelids while lying through her teeth.
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I see nom problem with your manifesto in theory, peter.
However, i cannot see it work in pracice until the SNP are willing to sign up for it and there is no sign of that from the new regime in Holyrood.
I fear that, if they will not commit, there will be repercussions at the next election wehich could result in a Unionist majority Scottish Parliament.
While that might result in a mighty reaction which would boost the Independence cause, there would be serious damage to Scottish insitutions and therefore to the pople if that were to happen.
Trying not to despair of what is happening.
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No party will sign up to the #ManifestoForIndependence unless they are forced to do so by the membership and the wider Yes movement. It’s YOUR responsibility to apply the necessary pressure. You will only do that if you join your strength to the strength of every other individual in the Yes movement regardless of who they are or what might be their political agenda. Decide.
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Apologies for the typos, eyes not greta this morning,
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