It’s a basic principle of democracy that you do not disenfranchise your fellow citizens by framing the vote.
In a general election, this means allowing the widest array of different candidates and parties to stand; and, if a group of citizens do not have a party that represents their views, allowing them to form one.
In a referendum, by contrast, it means posing the question such that everyone can, in line with their convictions, respond either in the affirmative or negative to a narrowly-focused question.
By stating that a vote for Scotland to become an independent country would be a vote for Scotland to join the EU, Angus Robertson appears intent on robbing large numbers of his fellow Scots of their voice and vote.
His ruse would have Scotland join the antidemocratic European Union by antidemocratic means.
We believe it belies a fear that a majority of Scots – across the left, right and centre of Scottish politics – would be loathe to surrender their newly-regained independence to the bureaucratic, dictatorial corridors of the EU leviathan.
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