I did vote because I regard it as a public duty. I think that is important.

Our vote is more valuable than I can say, it is our only real power and is the basis of our democracy, such as it is with the present government anyway. We are the only people who can either influence or change our government with the use of our votes , a right which was hard won in the past.

Seperation of Scotland will remove the Financial burden for the English tax payers.
Lets see how the Scottish manage to finance themselves.

Is Scotland subsidised by the UK?

The unionist argument that Scotland is subsidised is an odd one. Firstly, if it were true, it would hardly be an advert for the UK's management of Scotland's economy. This argument is essentially saying that Scotland has been made poor by London management so cannot afford to be independent. The logic of this suggests that we can't afford not to be independent.

At any rate, the claim is a false one, and always has been. Throughout the 1990's the Tory Government produced GERS figures - Government Expenditure and Revenues in Scotland figures - supposedly "proving" that Scotland was subsidised, -a Tory tactic Labour have embraced and kept since 1997 - and claimed that these were objective civil service assessments, made without the political interference of Ministers.

That claim was rather undermined in 1995, when a letter came to light from Conservative Scottish Secretary of State Ian Lang to the Prime Minister John Major and Chancellor Kenneth Clarke which stated, "The booklet I have had prepared and printed, setting out the details of the Government's expenditure and revenue in Scotland, I judge that it is just what is needed at present in our campaign to maintain our initiative and undermine the other parties."

Scotland more than pays her way in the UK - in fact we are net contributors to the UK economy.

By the UK Government's own famous admission in 1997, Scotland paid £27 billion more in taxes to the UK between 1979 and 1995 than it received in Government expenditure.

However the Unionists will always try to say that Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the UK and that Independence means increased taxes or spending cuts. But that is the usual anti-Scottish argument that we will always hear from parties who try to tell Scots they are too poor and too stupid to run their own country.

The old assumption that Scotland is subsidised, which was once accepted as fact, is now discredited. There is every reason to believe that an independent Scotland would flourish; indeed the question is, can we afford not to be independent?

Subsidised or not the real economic question is whether policy made in Scotland for Scotland will be better for our economy than policy made in London without any focus on Scottish conditions.

The real issue is not about the state our economy under the stewardship of a UK Government, but the potential of our economy in an independent Scotland.

Independence would also give us control of energy policy – and bring home Scotland’s share of North Sea oil and gas revenues.

More than 90 per cent of the UK’s oil revenues come from the Scottish sector of the Continental Shelf. So it really is Scotland’s oil

Over the past thirty years 35.4 billion barrels have been extracted from the UK sector of the North Sea, producing a cash windfall for the UK government of £217 billion. There is plenty of potential left in the North Sea with as much as half of the oil yet to come, and new opportunities opening up for the oil industry to the north and west of Scotland.

As an independent country Scotland could follow the example of Norway and invest a share of our future oil revenues in a fund to benefit future generations. By investing just part of our oil wealth, Scotland could have an Oil Fund worth almost £90 billion in just 10 years. That is £20,000 banked for every man, woman and child in our country.

In addition to oil, we have vast renewable energy potential. Scotland has 25 per cent of Europe’s wind and tidal capacity and 10 per cent of its wave power. There are huge, untapped opportunities for offshore energy production and for clean carbon technologies like carbon capture. An SNP government will harness this potential and turn it into a profitable and environmentally sustainable industry.

Oil and renewables - along with a set of pro-Scottish business policies – can help transform Scottish prospects over the next 30 years. They are far too important to be left to London. It is time to move on so Scotland’s precious natural resources can help fuel our nation’s future prosperity.

No, I stay south and avoid the midges.