THREE WAYS TO WIN THE BATTLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

So where do we go from here? After another milestone on the road to independence was passed on Tuesday with the launch of the independence white paper, we are in completely new political territory. It is a most agreeable place.

In the space of a week the Scottish Labour Party capitulated on the issue of new powers for Holyrood, following the Tory example of a few months ago. Alex Salmond and the SNP – now the most popular first minister and executive ever in Scotland - have forced constitutional change not just at home but across the United Kingdom. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it. In London Gordon Brown is talking up constitutional reform (as if he had a choice) as he surveys in bewilderment the new shape of British politics. He sees Labour leading in England but in despair in Scotland, its once impregnable citadel. No wonder the prime minister is a worried man: he knows if he loses Scotland at Westminster as he has done in Holyrood he (probably) loses England, and then the game will be up. He knows the Tories know it, too.

Never has the independence movement in Scotland had more clout. Even the outgoing first minister is denied his seat in the Lords presumably because he can’t risk a by-election in deepest Lanarkshire for fear of the SNP. Truly these are unprecedented times. Enjoy.

Seems to me that independistas now need to do three things. First, we should join the national conversation to argue the economic advantages of independence. We know that most disinterested economists who study the facts accept readily that we have a strong case. But we should remember that Unionism has had 300 years in government to brainwash the people of Scotland into believing otherwise. There are still many who accept without question that we are too poor and helpless to be other than dependent. So there is a challenging job to do there. When you see what an SNP government can do in 90 days, never mind three centuries, we can safely conclude the force is with us.

Second, we must deal with the eternal charge that those who want a better Scotland are separatists or isolationists or Anglophobes. This familiar smear may be venal but it works – which is why Labour in particular uses it when as now it is losing the argument. Abuse is always useful in place of reason. Expect much more negativity from the Unionist parties – and deal with it as we did in the May elections.

And third we have to tackle the persistent claim that the Scottish people don’t really want independence. This is deployment of the theory that if you tell a lie often enough people will believe it. Yet a study of opinion polls tells another story. If you look at the many polls taken over the past decade or so in which the question of independence is put as a simple Yes or No – with no other options or red-herring-type diversions like “more powers within the Union” – then there is usually a majority for independence. True, there are polls that come down on the side of the Union but when don’t-knows are stripped out there is more often than not a Yes majority. We need to get that across to our Unionist media who glibly trot out the mantra that “the polls show the Scots like the SNP but not independence”.

So the way forward for us is clear enough and we could have up to three years in which to advance the cause. Three years to bring about the first independence referendum in 300 years seems an attractive bet.