Sally Pattle on Independence

Only the Liberal Democrats are clear that we want Scotland to remain in the EU as part of the UK family of nations. We stand with the majority of Scots who voted for both of those ideals.

Only the Liberal Democrats are fighting to stop the chaos, division and economic cost of putting up yet another border. We believe that the big issues that affect us all – the climate emergency, failings in our under-funded public services, cyber crime and the rise in extremism and populism - can only be tackled effectively by working together; not as separate and isolated entities, but as a federal and united family of nations.

We must learn the lessons of Brexit and not repeat the mistakes with another unwanted independence vote. We’ve all seen how hard it is to cut the ties of a forty year union, just imagine how hard it would be to break a three hundred year union, one with far deeper and more valuable connections to all of us.

More than that, the case against independence remains as strong today as it was in 2014 - the SNP are so consumed by their ambitions on getting independence that other domestic issues such as mental health services and education are suffering. The last thing we need is another divisive referendum to divert attention away from the things that really matter.

That’s why in this campaign, we pledge to introduce a written constitution for a Federal United Kingdom, introduce proportional representation through a single transferable vote, lower the voting age to 16 and extend the role of all the national assemblies in creating UK wide policy frameworks.

The Liberal Democrats see a brighter future for Scotland that will only come from being part of a reformed UK within the EU and that is what we are fighting for.