Independence debate
the UK. A Scottish Parliament that will be strengthened with further tax powers and welfare powers by the next government “We are also the best for jobs. The fact
that one in five workers in Scotland works for a company that is headquartered in another part of the UK. “Best for jobs, best for income. And that
means people spending money, hopefully, in your own practices as well. “It’s best for public services. The fact that
we have £ı,200 more spent per head in Scotland’s public services than we do in other parts of the UK. “The fact that tax paid right across
the UK helps support us and our public services here in Scotland. “The fact that, despite losing £4.4bn in
tax receipts in one year from the North Sea, that didn’t result in a reduction in Scotland’s budget or a reduction in the amount of money we spent on healthcare and education this year in Scotland. That is another example of safety and security as part of the UK. “It’s best for pensions. Each and every one
Anas Sarwar
over the whole of the UK, £25billion per year of additional cuts to what we have already. From 20ı5 onwards, £25bn of cuts over the UK. Scotland’s share of that will be pretty disastrous. “Politically, we have Miliband and Balls
saying that they will uphold Osborne’s proposals for tax and we have, perhaps significantly Mr Burnham, Labour’s shadow health secretary in England, saying that he wants to see more consistency in Scotland, England and Wales. “So, you have to vote Yes if you want to avoid privatisation.”
Anas Sarwar: “This has been a rather strange debate I have to be honest, in terms of the case being made for Yes. Because the reality is all I have heard is a case against the English NHS. If you are voting Yes because you don’t believe in the English NHS, you are voting Yes for the wrong reasons. “We have a separate and different NHS
for a reason. “You’ve heard it already, we’ve had
ı4 years of a different NHS in Scotland and we keep that same NHS even if we stay part of the United Kingdom. That’s what we mean by devolution. That’s why, if you like the NHS, if you are proud of the NHS, if you want the NHS to stay in public hands, that can still happen and will happen. It is a commitment from my own party that that
will happen under a Labour government as part of the UK. “Now, I want to come and talk to you
about an idea that I believe is bigger than independence. An idea, in fact, that has its roots right in the NHS. And that is the pooling and sharing of resources right across the UK for the benefit of everyone in the UK. “I think it is a positive and not a negative
that the tax paid by a worker in Glasgow helps support someone on low incomes in Newcastle. Or a tax paid by someone in Cardiff, helps someone who is unemployed or who has a disability in Aberdeen. That is a strength and no-one can ever tell you that is a weakness. “The Barnett formula is not under
attack from the Labour Party. The Barnett formula, we have said quite clearly in our own devolution committee report, will remain as part of our agreement as part of the UK. The only vote that kills the Barnett formula is if you vote Yes to independence. “If you vote Yes, there is no Barnett
formula because there will not be that formal agreement with the UK Treasury. The positive case that I make to you as dentists, for your patients, your families and the communities that you serve every single day, is that we have an agreement that is, as you have heard from Clive, the best of both worlds, in terms of having a strong Scot- tish Parliament that works in partnership but still has the security of being part of
of you pay into an occupational pension scheme. It’s not a Scottish scheme it is a UK-wide occupational pension scheme. At the moment, the rules from the EU are that you cannot have any debt-based pension scheme that crosses any borders. Every pension scheme is based on debt. “If you look at your own pension scheme,
it will be based on a debt that won’t be paid until at least ı8 years’ time. And the rules of the EU are that, if Scotland votes Yes to independence – this isn’t scaremongering, this is fact, it is EU legislation – within three years we have to fill that gap of that debt in terms of that cross border pension scheme. And that has an impact on my pension because I paid my superannuations as well for the short period I was a dentist. But it has an impact of every single one of your pensions as well. “It is best for business. As well as practi-
tioners you are also business people. The fact that we trade twice as much with the rest of the UK than we do with the rest of the world combined, is a strength. Why would we want to make the rest of the UK, currently our biggest business partner, our biggest business competitor? It doesn’t make sense for us. “And the final point is going back to that
best of both worlds option. I’m proud of the NHS, I’m proud we have created an NHS, not just for Scotland, but an NHS for everyone right across the UK. “Let’s protect our NHS, let’s protect our
public services, let’s protect our pensions, let’s protect our jobs, let’s protect our busi- nesses and let’s vote for what is in the best interests of Scotland and let’s vote No.”
Scottish Dental magazine 37
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