Five reasons why PM Liz Truss makes independence more needed than ever

LIZ Truss will be stumbling across the Border tomorrow to be appointed prime minister at Balmoral by the Queen.

It will be the first time a prime minister has ever been appointed in Scotland by Queen Elizabeth. It is likely that once pleasantries are exchanged and formalities addressed, Truss will be rustled back south to the comfort of Tory HQ, unlikely to spare the country she left a second thought.

Unfortunately, Scots don’t have the luxury of treating Truss with the same absent-minded disregard. When Truss becomes prime minister, our independence will be more needed than ever and here are five reasons why.

Her complete disregard for Scottish democracy

Throughout the campaign trail, Truss appealed to the worst elements of the Tory base with her rhetoric on Scotland. Saying anything to rouse a rabble, she claimed at one Tory hustings she would simply “ignore” Nicola Sturgeon.

The blustery bravado was as impressive as it was thought out - not at all. By ignoring Sturgeon, the democratically elected leader of Scotland, Truss is effectively saying that all Scots are to be seen and not heard – that we do not matter.

And on the Scottish Government’s plans to hold a referendum in October, Truss got downright sinister.

At the Tory hustings in Perth, she said: “To me, we are not neighbours, we are family, and I will never let our family be split up”

Sounding more like a prison warden than a parent, Truss has put to rest any notion that this is a Union of consensual equal partners.

And now Truss is trying to rewrite the rules of democracy by plotting a new law that would see Yes needing 50%+1 of the entire electorate to win independence – not just a majority of those who voted.

This would be a departure from the rules of indyref1, the Brexit vote and the commonly accepted principles of democracy. 

One rule for them, another for Scotland.

Her meagre proposals to handle the cost-of-living crisis

While the UK faces the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, Truss has willingly ignored calls to cancel the upcoming hike to the energy price cap, with bills set to skyrocket by 80% from £1971 to £3549 from October 1.

Not only has she sold out the poorest in society to keep big energy companies happy, she claimed it is “fair” that her tax-cutting proposals will disproportionately benefit the rich.

Scotland should be one of the most energy-rich countries in the world. Instead, our natural resources are a bargaining chip for Truss’s need to keep the energy sector on side.

She plans to renew Trident

Many Scots want rid of Trident and with good reason. The conflict in Ukraine has reminded Europe of the horrors of war and why we need less destruction, not more of it.

Rather than the cost-of-living crisis which is crippling families and businesses across the country, Truss said her “number one priority” was ramping up defence and “keeping the nation safe”.

She also said she is "ready" to press the nuclear button ...

As part of this jingoistic strategy to keep voters happy, she recently committed to increasing UK defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030, alongside a full renewal of the Trident nuclear programme, based in Faslane near Helensburgh.

In contrast, Nicola Sturgeon has said that she would like to see the apocalyptic weapons leave Scottish shores within the first Holyrood term following a Yes vote.

Her plan to increase reliance on nuclear power and fracking

Truss’s proposal to lift the 2019 fracking ban is quite simply terrifying.

After a summer which brought the country’s hottest ever temperatures, our new prime minister wants to increase the production of fossil fuels that will all but kill any chance of meeting climate change targets.

Not to mention that it caused an earthquake in Lancashire before it was banned.

And then there is her plan to increase reliance on nuclear power, after Boris Johnson committed £700 million to build a nuclear power plant in Suffolk. The plan was described as “negligently wrong-headed and dangerously short-sighted” by the SNP’s Fiona Hyslop - and it’s easy to see why.

It will take decades before any proposed nuclear power station will start producing power - time that, amid the energy crisis, society’s poorest may not have.

Her rise to power proves that Westminster is broken

In becoming prime minister, Truss was voted for by 47% of eligible Tory members, a total of 81,326 votes. All in all, a small group of 172,437 people were able to have a say on who was to be the next PM, and only 82.6% bothered to do so.

Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad if Truss had said she would hold a General Election to secure a mandate for her leadership. But of course, with the Tories so far behind Labour in the polls, Truss has said she will not hold another vote until 2024.

Once again Scots are being refused a say on their own future and there is only one solution – independence.