Stay in the family

Although I sat in the House of Commons for 40 years as a member for a Staffordshire seat, my family came from Eyemouth in the mid-19th century.

“Dear Katie,

“When I was your age even 18-year-olds did not have the vote, but although I have voted in every election since 1964 (and been a candidate in 12 of them) and in both UK referendums, I have never had to make as important a choice as you will have to make on 18 September – two months before your 17th birthday.

“For on that day you will have to decide on your nationality. Your identity is Scottish and will always be so but you are also British, part of a British family.

“You must now choose whether you remain British like your granny, who was born in Aberdeen, and me, who was born into a family with deep Scottish roots, or whether you become a foreigner, separated by nationality from us and from your cousins.

“Much of the noisy and ill-tempered debate of recent weeks seems to have obscured rather than illuminated a stark and simple fact. Do families like ours remain British or do those family members who live north of the Border become citizens of a small country that is no longer a vital part of a great nation?

“No sensible person can possibly deny that Scotland could become a successful small country. The question for you is whether, if it does, your life will be richer and fuller, and your prospects and opportunities greater and more exciting, than if you remain British.

“When you visit us in Lincoln, as you recently did for your work experience, you travel to another part of your country, not to a foreign land.

“As you enter your final school year, all the benefits and opportunities that come with being a citizen of a major power, to which Scotland and its people have contributed so much, lie before you.

“On 18 September you must decide whether you wish to make your contribution to developing the rich legacy and heritage which is ours, or whether you want to cut yourself off from what has helped make our family what it is – in common with countless numbers of other families throughout the present UK.

“I don’t know whether you ever watch that TV programme, Who Do You Think You Are? In a sense that is that is the question you will have to answer when you put your cross on your very first ballot paper.

“I do hope you will think it sensible that we stay together.

“Your loving grandfather, Patrick.”

Patrick,  Lord Cormack

House of Lords