Tom Farmer's comments about Independence being inevitable in the Sunday Times today are not exactly surprising after his £100,000 donation to the SNP last week. Anyone who believe he has donated this huge sum of money purely to balance the argument must believe that pigs can fly.
However, Farmer is not alone in beginning to push the independence message into the mainstream. Interestingly, this push is not just being made by the SNP. I think Farmer is right when he says that many in the business community feel that Independence might be a better solution than the mess that is devolution in its current form. Sadly, I don't think Farmer or people like Michael Fry have really thought through the consequences of full on independence.
There is an argument for the Parliament having more tax powers (fiscal freedom or whatever you want to call it), but the reality is that the UK is about much more than just finance. One of the biggest thing that binds us is our culture and national institutions that we share a love-hate relationship with.
What Farmer and the business community should be looking at is not constitutional change, but a change of direction and attitude by the Parliament. For too long the Parliament has focused on social and community issues. These are important, but most MSPs and certainly the Executive have failed to pay any more than lip-service to the Scottish economy and what we can do to grow it. When they focus on that as well, then devolution might begin to work.
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