Vote for Scottish (& English) Independence.

Copy of a letter sent to newspapers last week, which suprisingly they ignored .... The British Prime Minister called on the British people to have a voice in the Scottish Independence debate and to ask the Scots to stay in the UK. I profoundly disagree: indeed I would very much urge the Scots to take this opportunity for freedom and vote for independence. For the same reason, I would ask the same for the people of Northumbria, the right for a vote for independence for the citizens of the North East and Yorkshire. Independence would mean the rejection of a modern British state which allows all the money and power to be retained in London and the South East, at the expense of Scotland and the North East of England alike. It is no coincidence that David Cameron has decided to rap himself in the Union Flag not in Scotland, but in his heartland in London. His cynical abuse of the Olympic ideal to expound his jingoism cannot mask the reality of the modern British state as a slave to multinational conglomerates, who have their British bases in London. The British Parliament is full of yes men in thrall to the London money markets, who profit at the expense of us taxpayers. UK policy since Thatcher has been to destroy manufacturing industry, mainly based in the North and pass everything to the multinational service companies based overseas and in London. Take for instance the £1bn contract awarded to Bombadier for London Cross Rail trains. (At a time when London is still refusing to upgrade the A1 north of Newcastle). Hailed as a great success for British manufacturing, this is, in fact a Canadian assembly plant in Derby, mainly putting together foreign components, which is the only survivor of train manufacturing in this country. Why? Because the Tory Government of the 1990s forced all the British train makers out of business by refusing to order any rolling stock for British trains for three years before privatisation. Both Tory and Labour are united in their cynical jingoism, with the support given by Labour MP Tessa Jowell to Cameron's use of the Olympic park because it reminded people "how it felt to be British". These are the same Labour & Tory MPs that voted for the war in Iraq: how did it feel to be British then? It is this selfish ideology of the monied classes that has destroyed jobs in Yorkshire and the North East. So I say to the people of Scotland, think with your heart as well as your head and seize this opportunity to break away from this southern elite and take power back into your own hands. Do not give in to the blackmail from the Westminster club of Tories, Labour & Lib Dems over a pound they do not own. And what is good for Scotland is also good for Yorkshire and the North East. After all, Yorkshire alone has a population greater than that of Scotland. Why should only the Scots have a right to a Parliament of its own? The UK is neither a democracy (with minority parties in power) nor does it have a divine right to exist. Power should lie with people and all people should have the right to decide their own fate, not to be dictated to by a little man wrapping himself in a Union Flag.