#Indy1st #AyeItsComing
The sma’ folk are on the field.

25 March is an auspicious date in the Scottish calendar for it is when Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scots, in 1306. His leadership led to Scotland regaining her independence; that resounding victory at Bannockburn on 24 June 1314 was ever more sweet because of the role played by the sma’ folk. So we launch #Indy1st today, determined to replicate the achievements of the last man to unite the Scots and attain our country’s Independence. The sma’ folk are today, as they were 710 years ago, vital to the achievement of our goal. And it is the sma’ folk who will benefit most when we realise it.

Today Scotland stands at a political crossroads similar to those faced by Wallace in 1297 and Bruce in 1314.

I am a daughter of the Rock having been born in Stirling, living and working for most of my life in Clackmannanshire and the Forth Valley. The landscape is stunning, the history blood curdling and inspiring in equal measure. But my friends and neighbours are skint and cold, worried about the future, in this land of plenty. Climb the Ochil hills behind my home and see Grangemouth and the bridges – Kincardine, Clackmannan, Forth road and rail and the Queensferry Crossing. Marvel at the engineering skills of our people yet observe in the same panorama abject poverty and deprivation, a multiplicity of food banks, baby banks and school clothing banks – testament to a laudable community spirit but also to the absence of political will or strategy for change.

Consider the prospect of the continued deadly de-industrialisation of Scotland that the loss of the Grangemouth oil refinery will comprise; from the top ten oil producers reduced to the status of a third world country, reliant on England refining Scotland’s oil! Scotland – the country that discovered oil and became a desert. No stetsons, diamonds, ranches or multi million dollar oil funds for us – just dole queues, drugs deaths, drinking dens and dunces. It doesn’t have to be this way – and it won’t be when we grasp that thistle and unite in our common cause.

With #Indy1st and the #AyeApp we will chap every door and speak with every voter in every scheme and estate in Scotland; we will record those who support our cause and we will engage with those yet to be persuaded.

#SchemesForIndy will encourage the disenfranchised because we will explain that their views matter, that with Independence they will have hope, the chance of equality and respect and for once in several generations the ability to break the cycle and release the power of Scotland’s greatest resource – the potential of our people.

#NoMP is for those who have no independence supporting candidate to vote for and who want to register their dissent and disapproval for Westminster rule. It’s a worthy stance to take as ballots marked this way are shown to the candidates – they need to know the extent of public disdain for their performance.

Today though is a positive day where we look forward to the realisation of our dream – Scotland will flourish when we reap our own harvest and ring our own till.

Join us today in #Indy1st. Now is the day. Now is the hour. Break the servile chains, the woes and pains of oppression and set Scotland free.