Building hope and optimism in Scotland after a disastrous decade for Brexit Britain

It’s a strange sensation to look back at the first independence referendum.

Because despite being involved in a campaign where I ultimately ended up on the losing side – I can’t help but be reminded of a deep sense of hope and optimism.

And, somewhat surprisingly, it was during this summer that Keir Starmer helped me to realise why that was.

Because it was the tone set by his new government and his summer statement that ‘things can only get worse’, which reminded me that the great attraction and the impulse which drove the YES movement in 2014 was the possibility of a politics that wasn’t stuck in the misery of managing decline.

It was instead a politics that spoke to, and aspired to, something bigger and better. The basic belief that the future doesn’t have to be the same as the past. The simple and powerful idea of building a new Scotland together, a new state crafted by the ambitions and values of the Scottish people.

The hope and optimism in the DNA of that campaign is something we must always strive to repeat.

It’s important to say that I also have deep respect for those who, then and now, disagreed. They believed that they were arguing for their families and their country. After all, Scotland does belong to them as much as it belongs to me.

And 10 years ago, they won the day. But, if they were being truly honest, I think even the most hardcore element of ‘Better Together’ would admit that they didn’t realise how much the union they were selling at the time would change and corrode.

Because the last decade has been defined by a Brexit Britain that is messily managing its own decline.

For Scotland, it has meant being removed from our natural home in the European Union – the largest of all economic black holes that doesn’t even get a mention in Westminster these days. It has meant Boris and Truss –  who we are all still paying the price for. And it has meant suffering Tory austerity, which the new Labour Government seems determined to repeat.

That self-reflection on the part of unionism is equally needed by those of us in the YES movement. After all, we lost the referendum. We need to constantly understand why that happened and we need to understand why we have not been successful in delivering independence since.

We should also be honest in admitting that it never has been, and never will be, an easy path to self-determination. And at times over the last decade, we were at fault in giving that impression. We convinced ourselves that it was always just around the next corner and all that was needed was one last push – in place of putting in the hard yards of patiently persuading those who can still be convinced.

A decade on, the YES movement must also recognise that the failures of Brexit Britain alone can’t be our sole or primary argument. Instead of resting and relying on the failure of the British state, the real motivation of our message must be the potential and possibility that Scotland is so rich in.

Our offer to the Scottish people is that Brexit Britain is not as good as it gets. We believe that becoming a normal independent country in Europe can meet our people’s daily needs and their aspirations.

So, 10 years on, what now and where next? It is another strange reflection that the YES and NO campaigns are now united by an uncomfortable truth.  Neither of us, nationalists nor unionists, have yet been successful in convincing the public of the overwhelming case for either independence or the United Kingdom.

And until we do, the immediate relevance of the constitutional debate will remain. Unionism can’t wish away the desire for independence. And no matter how deeply we Scottish nationalists believe that the waves of history are washing towards independence, we can’t force that tide before its time.

The Scottish people are cannily biding their time – the choice between Brexit Britain or a new Scotland remains – and when they deem the time to be right, they will decide our future.

So, in that context, maybe this anniversary can be used to embed two democratic principles.

The Yes movement must accept that independence will only ever happen when we make it real to people’s present – not simply a distant desire.

And Westminster must accept that they can’t keep blocking all routes to a democratic decision on independence when our people decide the time to be right.

If we agree those two principles, the future will take care of itself. Because the future will be in the only place it should ever belong – in the hands of the Scottish people.

This piece originally appeared in the Daily Record.