With almost seven months left until the independence referendum on 18th September the debate is starting to intensify. The choice being presented to Scots is a simple Yes or No to independence. The positions being taken by both sides in the debate has hardly shifted over the last twelve months, the Yes campaign portrays a positive vision of Scotland in the future whilst the No supporters still run an increasingly aggressive and negative scaremongering campaign. 

As the referendum approaches there is no indication that the supporters of the Union are prepared to offer any positive alternative to independence. They only offer the status quo, the no change option. The most that the No campaign appears to grudgingly offer is some vague hint at minor tinkering to the existing devolution agreement. In fact, the No campaign appears to be clinging on to the notion that they will win the debate by simply scaring Scots out of the idea of independence. Are Scots really going to be scared into submission? We really hope not!

A Union of Equals has always argued that a radical change needs to take place in the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. We have always argued that the current Union is not fit for purpose. Scotland requires this radical change if it is to have any chance of breaking out of the downward spiral of decline it has been in for the last fifty years. A Yes vote offers the opportunity for the radical change that is required, a No vote will continue to take Scotland down the road to ruin. Yes presents the only way forward.

If the No campaign really wants to win the debate then it will have to make Scots an offer they cannot refuse. This offer will have to start with the treaty of 1707 being torn up and a new agreement being created. It will have to be an agreement between two equal nations and it will have to be an agreement fit for the 21^st Century and beyond. It is becoming obvious that this is what many Scots are waiting for and failure to deliver will result in these Scots opting for independence. We believe that time is running out for the No campaign!

With the likelihood of such an offer looking unlikely A Union of Equals has to support the only option that can deliver the radical change that Scotland requires. Yes and Independence.