Joan McAlpine: Be careful what you wish for – you might just get it

It’s only fair to have every option on the referendum ballot paper – but let’s not sell ourselves short as a nation

The speeches and literature are inspirational. But when the SNP’s independence campaign director Angus Robertson produced the wristband, we knew he meant business. If the purpose of a T-shirt is to say “Been there, done that” a wristband encourages you to “Go there, do that”. Or in this case: “Scotland, It’s starting…”

Expect to see the “I Generation” wearing it soon. All those Ryans, Megans, Jamies and Laurens, born in the mid-1990s, somehow “get” independence. Being young is about achieving success on your own terms. It’s about striving towards personal independence and self-respect.

I asked a teenager who will be eligible to vote in any referendum from 2013 onwards what the I word meant: “Nobody telling you what to do!” was the first heartfelt answer. Then came “excitement” and “being part of a team”.

I doubt “devo-max” would have incited quite such a clear response. But a substantial number of people in Scotland say they favour this less visionary constitutional option, so it is only right that the SNP government considers putting it on the ballot paper alongside full sovereignty.

But what does it mean and will it deliver what 74 per cent of people in Scotland say they want: all or most power exercised by the Scottish Parliament?

Could devo-max sort out fuel costs? Getting hold of Scotland’s £13.4 billion annual oil revenues would help. But we could not cut VAT on fuel in Scotland because EU rules prevent the variation of that particular tax inside nation states.

Would devo-max transfer regulation, the key to consumer protection? Ofgem modifies, enforces and revokes licences for energy companies and sets price controls. They answer to Westminster…

Energy is a reserved matter. The Department of Energy and Climate Change, as a result of Treasury pressure, pulled the plug on the carbon capture and storage plan for Longannet power station, which would also have put Scotland further ahead in world leading technology, creating skilled jobs.

Scotland sets its own climate change priorities. But energy strategy is distorted by London control. The Treasury will use Scotland’s oil revenues instead to subsidise English nuclear plants – an option rejected by our Scottish Government as too dangerous and expensive.

Regulation is not a subject that encourages flocks of Facebook protest groups. But it should. When I travelled north by train this weekend, I had no mobile phone signal between Stirling and Inverness. Regulation from London has left large stretches of Scotland in the telecom equivalent of the black hole – the not spot. The most basic service – 2G – covers only 64 per cent of Scotland’s land mass compared to 91 per cent of the UK as a whole (higher in England). Only 41 per cent of Scotland gets 3G geographical coverage compared to 76 per cent for the whole UK (again, higher in England, as Northern Ireland and Wales suffer too).

So standing on one leg on the car bonnet trying to get a signal, doesn’t just look stupid – it shows how we’ve all been taken for mugs. It illustrates the importance of where political power lies and the consequences that has for our everyday lives.

When 3G licences were auctioned off in 2000 by the Labour UK government, the Scottish Government, also then led by Labour, asked that the mobile operators be obliged to cover 90 per cent of each nation in the UK. This was ignored by London and just 80 per cent coverage was demanded. The figure suited England’s more concentrated population – but many other governments insist on universal coverage before awarding lucrative contracts.

When 4G licences are auctioned in a year’s time, London will once again take charge. Ofcom has proved as useful a defender of Scottish interests as Ofgem. It has left the south of Scotland with no commercial television coverage of their nation, broadband funding also ignores our geographical needs and plans for local television bypass our rural areas.

I could go on. Winter resilience? We do our best with the powers we have, but only the Department of Transport in London can force lorries to use winter tyres. We would like to regulate financial institutions too after the failure of the UK to control the banks. Instead of a UK Supreme Court which interferes with Scots Law, we could have our own higher court to oversee cases.

For devo-max to meet the aspirations of Scotland’s people, we need simple legislation that gives Scotland’s parliament full power with certain limited exceptions. Even so, that would still leave foreign policy, defence and European representation in London’s hands. As the First Minister said on Saturday, we could be dragged into illegal wars such as Iraq, Trident would remain on the Clyde and we’d have to pay towards the £100bn cost of replacing it.

There are models for this arrangement. The Basque country has full fiscal autonomy inside Spain. The Basques raise their own taxes and hand back a proportion to Madrid, to fund the military and embassies.

The arrangement has brought economic prosperity – the Basque country has a more favourable credit rating than Spain as a whole. It also eliminates the confusing duplication that the UK coalition proposes in the Scotland Bill – adding more layers of tax collection for Scotland on top of the hopeless HMRC.

The Basque settlement might be described as “Independence in Iberia” in much the same way that Donald Dewar once spoke of “Independence in the UK” (he was presumably looking to the future rather than the highly centralised UK state of today).

But the Basques do not enjoy independence. There is also some evidence that full fiscal autonomy has put the breaks on independence.

Scotland, however, is a once sovereign country in an unequal, unfair Union negotiated before democracy and enlightenment.