The likes of Boris Johnson are just another by-product of the broken Westminster system

In recent weeks, people across Scotland and the UK have been outraged at the reports, cover-ups, and lies about the Tories’ rule-breaking lockdown parties.

While far too many families had to say goodbye to loved ones over a video call, Boris Johnson and No. 10 were throwing parties – with suitcases of alcohol, DJs in the Downing Street basement, and the cheek to suggest these were “work events”.

While people stuck to the rules to keep others safe, those in the UK government who made the rules were breaking them.

What has come out in recent weeks would have been enough to trigger any Prime Minister’s immediate resignation.

And the sad truth is, nobody is surprised that Boris Johnson hasn’t yet resigned – because it’s not just the parties.

Boris Johnson has committed resignation offence after resignation offence.

But just as the Tory party has shown too often, they think it’s one rule for them, and another for the rest of us. They think they’re above everyone else – even the law.

They’ve unlawfully shut down parliament, misled Parliament several times, given peerages to Tory donors, used public money to give contracts to his mates, and sanctioned the use of Covid funding to conduct polling on the Union.

Boris Johnson’s position as Prime Minister is not just untenable. It is morally indefensible.

But for Scotland, there is a more significant issue at hand:

The broken Westminster system enables a politician like Boris Johnson to become Prime Minister, no matter how out of touch with the Scottish people and values they might be, and regardless of whether or not the Scottish people voted for them.

Scotland hasn’t voted Tory since 1955 – yet we’ve been saddled with Tory governments for most of the period since, causing damage against our will.

It goes beyond the parties, the corruption or the disdain – Westminster is broken beyond repair because of the democratic deficit at its core.

And the undeniable truth is this – the only way for Scotland to always get the governments it votes for is to escape the Westminster system and choose independence.

Scotland can, and will, do so much better as an independent country.

Independence in itself will not be a magic wand, and there will be tough challenges to be faced.

But crucially, it will give us the powers that independent countries like Ireland, Denmark and Norway use to build fairer, more prosperous societies than the UK’s.

The question is no longer whether Scotland could afford to be a prosperous independent country – the question now is whether we can afford not to be independent.

In the 2021 election, pro-independence parties got the highest number of votes and the largest vote share ever, and there is a majority pro-independence government at Holyrood.

There is a clear mandate for an independence referendum, and Scotland will have that choice.

Get involved and help to win Scotland’s independence.

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