In 2014, Scotland stood at a crossroads. The independence referendum offered a chance to break free from Westminster’s grip and chart a sovereign path. Yet, a majority voted ‘No’, swayed by promises of stability within the United Kingdom. Over a decade later, the consequences of that decision are starkly evident in the lives of ordinary Scots. Dependence on UK policies has imposed austerity, compromised public health, and prioritised corporate interests over wellbeing. This article explores these costs, arguing that independence remains the key to prioritising people over profit – and overcoming a pervasive sense of despair and learned helplessness.
Fiscal policies not of Scottish choice
The 2014 referendum campaign was intense, with passionate debates where the ‘Better Together’ campaign emphasised economic security. But the lived reality has been far from secure. One of the most profound consequences has been the entrenchment of austerity. Post-2014, Scotland has been subjected to Westminster’s choice of fiscal policies, which have imposed severe cuts following the global financial crisis and Brexit.
It is not as though the UK Government, since the independence referendum, have taken a step back and contemplated why millions of Scots feel compelled to vote to leave the union. There has been no olive branch offered to the vanquished masses in an effort to understand and mend whatever ills Scots perceive have been imposed on them by Westminster.
Clinging on to the status quo
Instead, there seemed to be a willingness to ignore and a propensity to sweep all possibilities of a new referendum under the national carpet. The status quo must be preserved and business as usual should continue unabated and unaltered. This is the legacy built and invested in by every ‘No’ vote in 2014. For decades, the UK had prioritised business over people and GBP over humanity and life; a series of governments who did not care.
Political carelessness, conditioned by influential business and elite wealth, makes the justification of austerity much simpler. The handmaidens of the system are the complicit academics and media platforms. They are the useful idiots blinding the public with formulae and statistics based on speculation and assumption which leads to, the aforementioned ‘learned helplessness’, of a public that has forgotten the power it wields.
Austerity is lethal
UK-wide austerity and overall reduced public spending are hitting health and social services hard. A report from The Royal Society of Medicine in 2022 stated that “The introduction of austerity measures in 2010, with a real-term freeze on health spending, appears to have reversed the gains with waiting times increasing for all patients and the pre-2002 pattern of inequality returning”. Studies show that austerity reversed gains in reducing waiting time inequalities particularly harmed deprived communities. Overburdened hospitals with corridors jammed with waiting patients and burnt out staff illustrate the human toll. Ordinary Scots now often wait months, or years, for essential treatments.
Austerity’s roots lie in a flawed understanding of public finance. UK Governments treat the economy as if they were a household or business, imposing unnecessary cuts despite being a currency issuer. Heterodox economists, following a chartalist framework, attempt to make clear that sovereign currency issuers like the UK can fund policy leading to higher living standards without ‘running out of money’. Inflation, not solvency, is the real constraint. Yet, Westminster’s adherence to austerity ideology has prioritised deficit reduction over investment in people.
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Building a legacy for future generations
An independent Scotland, with its own currency, could embrace a different reality and invest in its greatest resource – its people. As a currency issuer, it would spend to meet needs – building hospitals, invest in education and training – funding prevention without self-imposed scarcity. Austerity would not be the government’s ‘fix-all’ policy. Improved living standards would be the priority. Everything decided today, the government non-spending, is a legacy for future generations. Short-term financial ‘savings’ today burden grandchildren with poorer health and infrastructure tomorrow.
Health consequences extend beyond budgets to food policy. Post-Brexit, the UK pursued trade deals risking lower standards. While chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef remain banned for now, pressures mount. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) – high in salts, sugars, and additives – dominate diets, driving obesity and chronic diseases. Shelves of junk food reflect a system prioritising corporate profits. UPFs cost the UK economy billions annually, with NHS burdened by diet-related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. Scotland’s NHS bears this strain; exacerbated by dependence on UK trade policies favouring big business.
The power of sovereign choices
Independence offers an escape. A sovereign Scotland could negotiate trade agreements rejecting Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses, which allow corporations to sue governments over public-interest regulations. The Scottish Government has long opposed ISDS, viewing it as business centric.
Independence means choosing deals that protect health – banning chemically altered foods designed for profit, not nutrition. Prioritising the public’s health over corporate growth would ease future NHS pressures. Scotland should sideline the powerful pharma-lobby by introducing a publicly funded global open-source network for research and development of medicines and procedures. This would reduce the cost of treatment to those in need, wherever they are in the world.
Learned helplessness breeds resignation
This ties into a deeper psychological cost: learned helplessness. In deprived communities, decades of Westminster policies have normalised poverty and poor health. People feel powerless, accepting decline as inevitable. The independence debate highlighted this – yet, still enough voters saw ‘No’ as the safer option, fearing change and more comfortable with the devil they knew. Yet dependence perpetuates the cycle. Limited control over trade, finance, and welfare breeds resignation.
Scots have forgotten what sovereignty means. The ability to reject and replace the crown head of state or government remains. Scottish voters have the ability to start the process of building the nation we desire, immediately, if we vote for it. The union is, to all intents and purposes, a trade agreement. Westminster, the English Parliament, controls Scotland’s resources through military power, blanket media-coverage and control of the currency. It is like any other colonial system.
These are the weapons deployed through austerity carelessly killing Scots every day since 2014 when too many voted ‘No’. For what? Falling living standards, rising unemployment, wages that do not keep pace with the cost of living and a perpetual house-affordability crisis. Everyday Scots endure this dependence, from welfare cuts to health strains.
The human face of dependence
Independence would break this spiral. With fiscal sovereignty and a chartalist playbook, Scotland could invest boldly ending austerity, funding healthy food initiatives, and build resilient services. No more saving pennies today at our grandchildren’s expense. Currency sovereignty means unlimited potential for a Scottish Government which understands and implements a more human fiscal agenda.
The cost of dependence is measured in strained hospitals, rising obesity, and diminished hope. Ordinary Scots pay everyday dearly: longer waits, poorer diets and unfulfilled potential. Independence is not a risk, it is the remedy. It empowers choices for wellbeing over profit, rejecting learned helplessness for self-determination.
As we reflect on legacies, the question lingers: how much longer can Scotland survive dependence? The path to a healthier, fairer future lies in sovereignty. It is time to choose independence and reclaim our future.
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