Notes

The independence referendum has torn me politically. It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, political issues this country (leaving 'this' deliberately ambiguous) will face in our lifetimes. It's also one I don't have a vote in; this doesn't, however, mean that I shouldn't have a say. So here goes...

I have, thus far, almost completely avoided making my views on this issue made on social media. Partly this is because they, and the issue as a whole, are far too complex to be condensed into 140 characters and christened with a hashtag. Yet it is also because the things I've wanted to say go, in almost every sense, in the opposite direction to people I consider political allies and comrades. I joined the Labour party only relatively recently but I am certain that it is my political home. It is a party which, I whole-heartedly believe, stands for equality, solidarity and progressivism. It is a party with a history deeply rooted within the working people of this country. It is a party that has delivered, time and time again, some of the greatest political advances in our recent history. It is a party that is currently led by a man who I genuinely believe will make an excellent prime minister; a man with conviction, guts and most importantly, I believe, a genuine belief that things need to change. I will continue to do all that I can to ensure that the next government is a Labour government. I say these things, not because I think the Labour party is perfect - far far from it - but to demonstrate why I have made it my political home.

It's for these reasons that the following is so difficult for me to say, but say it I must...

Labour has got it fundamentally wrong on the question of independence.

Whatever my fellow Labour supporters say, there is only one real reason that they do not want Scotland to leave the union. It's an entirely selfish and, some would argue, an entirely understandable one. The reason, of course, is that the loss of Labour's Scottish MPs would make it significantly more difficult for the party to win an outright majority at Westminster. Or at least that is how the argument goes. (In reality the Scottish seats in general elections have not been as crucial as is often suggested. See - (insert link). But that is beside the point.