As Brexit Britain takes a Dickensian attitude to hungry children, Scotland must prepare for independence – Helen Martin

In Westminster, Labour put the same motion forward. Most Tory MPs voted against it, and a handful supported it. When it came to Scots Tory MPs, five voted with the Tory government and Douglas Ross (who had been claiming to back that idea) abstained instead.

The UK has a shameful, Dickensian, upper-class attitude when it comes to making sure kids from families impoverished by this pandemic disaster don’t starve. Yet Boris Johnson has declared he is struggling on his PM’s salary of £1524 a week!

That may well be just another factor to encourage some people in Scotland to move from a No vote to Independence, towards a Yes. Support is growing with a recent poll putting it on 58 per cent, but in the build-up to the voting day in May, when the result can be the vital basis for an Indyref, people on the fence will be asking for a lot more information.

There can be several aspects of Westminster, such as the handling of the virus, the horror of Brexit, and the lack of a decent deal, that sways former unionists to reconsider. But there is a huge challenge for the SNP.

Nicola Sturgeon has been very non-political with her daily update on Covid-19. She declares the four nations in the UK have to work together, and that’s true. Because as Scotland has no power to borrow, we are dependent on Rishi Sunak and the UK government for more emergency funding. So how can she fight, debate and justify for independence without risking a furious response and repression from the UK government?

When will the campaigning start for the election, especially if the pandemic is still being handled and vaccines haven’t been approved, produced, tested and distributed?

Will the campaign be based on Scottish socialism plus its aim at a healthy economy? How can the SNP block the tear-down of devolution?

The Indy referendum is also expected next year following a significant majority, but what will be the Plan B if Westminster still refuses it?

Following the UK’s disaster of leaving the EU, how successful will Scotland be in leaving the UK? Is anything underway already, such as plans for a national Scottish bank, and will there be confirmation by then that the EU will welcome us back? How long would that be expected to take and would we have earlier temporary access to the single market?

Many experienced SNP MSPs are resigning and newbies are standing as candidates. Is there a background team of strong MSPs, civil servants and officials who have been working together to establish all that stuff?

And how, from January 1 to May, can Holyrood cope with the total Brexit crisis, whatever stage we’re at with Covid-19, and our determination and battle for independence?

I don’t believe in my lifetime that UK Tories have ever been as bad as the current regime. They have changed the UK, and I support the SNP and want to leave.

But I hope we are prepared, organised and ready, with major back-up from the EU.

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