Independence inevitable - Tom Farmer

October1974 · Independence inevitable - Tom Farmer

An Article in the Sunday Times

Farmer — break away is inevitable
'Devolution is sustainable'

SIR TOM FARMER, one of Scotland’s richest businessmen and founder of the Kwik-Fit empire, has revealed that he believes Scottish independence is inevitable.
The Edinburgh-born tycoon said the issue of separatism is now uppermost in the minds of many people in the Scottish business community.

Last week, Farmer revealed that he was donating £100,000 to the Scottish National party. The businessman and philanthropist, who previously gave financial backing to the Scottish Conservatives, has not joined the SNP and made it clear he only wanted to create a “level playing field” ahead of next year’s Scottish election.

However, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, Farmer, 65, who owns Hibernian football club, said he thinks it is only a matter of time before Scotland becomes a fully independent nation.

“What we have got in Scotland at the moment with devolution is a half-way house and that is just not right. The question is how do we go forward from this?” he said.

“None of us has a crystal ball, but there is a very, very high chance that we will end up with independence. If you really press me I think it is going to happen.”

Farmer has also stated his belief that the Scottish Conservative party will no longer exist in its current form after the dissolution of the 1707 union.

The tycoon said the Scottish executive’s inability to legislate on issues such as immigration was one reason why the current devolution settlement was “unsustainable”.

“We are five million people wanting to be the greatest small country in the world, wondering why things haven’t happened quicker, he said.

“Maybe being part of a small independent country we’d realise that government can’t do everything for us — that we need each other. Maybe people will feel their involvement is worth more in a small country than in a big one. Maybe there’s an opportunity here that we should be reaching out and grasping.”

His comments were echoed by another senior public figure, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics.

He said: “There is currently some frustration among the Scots about the say they have over what happens here, and that is part of what is pushing the independence movement. I can see this coming, perhaps not in the next few years, but before too long.”

The SNP was put on an election footing at its annual conference in Perth yesterday with a rallying call from Nicola Sturgeon, the party’s deputy leader.

“When we win the election, there will be an independence referendum,” she said. “It is for the people of Scotland to decide the future of our country — and that is what will happen.”

Sturgeon said an SNP administration at Holyrood would cap the level of income tax charged by local authorities after the council tax was scrapped.

The party has been boosted by a series of opinion polls that put them in a strong position to lead a coalition government after next May’s election. A recent YouGov poll for The Sunday Times showed that more people now support independence than the status quo.

Alex Salmond, the party leader, said Farmer’s comments lent further credibility to the independence cause, adding: “Sir Tom has combined a spectacular business career with an ability to retain the common touch. He is widely respected not just for his own success, but for his willingness to support Scottish causes in many areas.”

Salmond told delegates the SNP’s election war chest had broken the £500,000 barrier and that the party was well on it’s way to meeting its £1m target. Following Farmer’s contribution, a £50,000 donation was made by Ian Watson, a Scots London-based businessman, as well as further smaller contributions from other supporters.

Farmer said he wants a national debate to take place long before the Union flag is lowered for the last time from Edinburgh Castle.

“It is vitally important that we don’t just slide into this without all the important issues being widely discussed and understood first,” he said. “People should be in a position to have made the decision having really understood what the facts are.

“People want and need to know what will happen to their pensions and the NHS under independence.”

In 1998 Farmer donated more than £5,000 to the Scottish Tories and in recent years he has given smaller donations to individual politicians, including Margo MacDonald the independent nationalist MSP, in the run-up to the Scottish parliament election of 2003.

Farmer said the future of the Scottish Conservatives was uncertain.

“You are still going to have the Labour party, the SNP, the Greens and the Liberals, but I don’t think you’ll have a party called the Tories because that name doesn’t seem to fit any more up here.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2764-2405019,00.html

Aventinian

This view that devolution is some sort of 'halfway house' to independence is ridiculous. It is something new and yes, I am the first to admit that its powers and style have not yet been settled. We may indeed see more tax-raising powers etc. But why it is suggested it has anything to do with Scottish independence is beyond me.

I don't know any country in the world that doesn't devolve power within itself and consider the limitations of the Act of Union in giving us a separate legal system etc, it does not make sense not to have some form of devolution. We were 'devolved' before 1999 in an administrative sense (ie, via the Scottish Office) - yet nobody cited that as anything to do with nationalism, yet when we attempt to make it more moral by giving it an elected organ it suddenly becomes a field day for the separatists...

SLG

Because the main reason many people backed devolution was as a stepping stone. When we had the referendum for devolution, there was no question on full independence. We don't know how popular devolution is, just that it's prefereable to a fully centralised UK.

Avatar

I concur with SLG and I cant imagine anyone who voted for devoloution did so in order to preserve the union - if they did then they were incredibly naive.

Aventinian

Afraid I can't agree there, Avatar - as a Yes, No voter (I noticed the flaws in the economic powers of the body even then). I don't think you can claim 75% of Scots are Nats.

Avatar

Im not claiming they were all hardcore nationalist's but certainly a majority must have seen the benefits of devolving power to Scotland. I tend to think the majority of people are cautious by nature and I have no doubt that if a further devoloution referendum was held which proposed to devolve all power except perhaps foreign affairs you would get a stronger yes vote than if for example it proposed full independence.

Maol.Chaluim

Opinion polls at the time suggested that 67% who voted for devolution did so as they saw it as a steeping-stone to independence.

Maol.Chaluim · Tom Farmer in the Times

If Scotland opts for independence it will bring out the best in us

Tom Farmer

WHEN I was a child growing up in Leith, I once came home from school to find that I barely recognised my bedroom. While I was out, my mother had moved all my sisters’ furniture into the boys’ bedroom, and vice versa.

It was a simple attempt to inspire a new perspective — and it worked. It gave a lift to the whole house. Suddenly all seven children saw life a bit differently and put our clothes and toys away neatly for a while . . . and when things started to slip she’d change the furniture again.

I have been wondering recently if it is time to shift the furniture of our country. Devolution has brought many benefits and improvements, and some very good politicians across all parties, but there are still many areas needing drastic attention. I wonder if people — myself included — really understood what devolution was going to mean back at the time of the referendum?

We’ve come to the Rubicon. Over the past 12 months I’ve picked it up among friends — people I respect, talking about the possibility of independence: do we want it or not? The whole question is in the front of people’s minds more than ever.

What it comes back to is a general feeling of not being in control of our own destiny. We don’t seem to like this half-way house. If we had never gone to this stage that would be one thing — but it’s happened now, and we can’t go back. So do we want our country as we are, or do we want the whole deal?

I wonder how many people in any of the political parties would be pro-independence if they didn’t have to toe the party line? If independence comes to Scotland it’s not going to be a one-party state. You’re still going to have the Labour party, the SNP, the Greens, the liberals. I don’t think you’ll have a party called the Tory party because that name doesn’t seem to fit any more up here. But it will be whatever the Tories are called by then.

The biggest benefit I ever had was support — from my childhood years in Leith right through to today. I sat down to grow the business, but I wouldn’t have achieved what I did without other people. Maybe being part of a small independent country we’d realise that government can’t do everything for us — that we need each other. Maybe people will feel their involvement is worth more in a small country than in a big one. Maybe there’s an opportunity here that we should be reaching out and grasping.

At the moment it comes down to this: one side claims that if we become independent we can’t afford to keep ourselves, while the other side says we can.

It’s like saying to a young person, ‘You can’t go and live in your own flat independently because you don’t have enough money’. But the young person says, ‘Well, I’ll work for it then. We’ll make sure we do have enough money’.

I’m not saying independence can be a question of suck it and see. People must be in a position to have made the decision having really understood what the facts are.

My advice to those contemplating voting for independence would be the same I’d give to anyone setting up a business. Make sure you know what you’re getting into . . . and if you believe in it, go for it.

wisnaeme

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One word comment on the above by Tom Farmer. Excellent.

Independence inevitable - Tom Farmer

Tom Farmer in the Times