Why Not?: Scotland, Labour and Independence

Is Scottish independence incompatible with ‘Labour values’?
Are ‘Labour values’ being realised within the Union?
How much really divides Yes campaigners from Labour voters?

Why Not? Scotland, Labour and Independence is a passionate and often personal appeal to Labour voters (and other progressive Scots) to consider the social, economic and political gains that could be won with Scottish self-government. Bringing together a range of diverse voices – some from within the Labour Party, some from within the SNP, some from the non-aligned Left – it presents the social justice case for a Yes vote and argues that independence offers the clearest route forward for socialist and centre-left Scotland.

Urgent, original and provocative, Why Not? is a vital contribution to the independence debate – and essential reading for all Scots.

JAMIE MAXWELL is an Edinburgh-based political journalist. He writes regularly for the New Statesman and Bella Caledonia, and has contributed to the Sunday Herald, the Scottish Review of Books, the Scotsman and the Sunday Mail. Last year he edited The Case for Left Wing Nationalism, a collection of his late father Stephen Maxwell’s essays. He is the co-author (with David Torrance) of Scotland’s Referendum: A Guide for Voters and is currently co-editing, with Pete Ramand, Old Nations, Auld Enemies, New Times, the selected essays of Tom Nairn.

OWEN DUDLEY EDWARDS FRSE is Hon. Fellow of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, at the University of Edinburgh where he taught History from 1968, having been born in Ireland and studied in the USA. His wife Bonnie is American and his three children are Scots. His most recent major monograph is British Children’s Fiction in the Second World War, his most recent collaboration Tartan Pimps, and he has edited several books including A Claim of Right for Scotland.

DUNCAN MacLAREN is an Adjunct Professor of the Australian Catholic University where he lectured in international development studies and ethics. He was Executive Director of SCIAF, the aid agency of the Scottish Catholic Church, and Secretary General of Caritas, one of the largest aid and development networks in the world. He is a lay Dominican.

JEANE FREEMAN OBE is a political analyst, chair of the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and a member if the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. Having served as senior political advisor to First Minister Jack McConnell in 2002 to 2005, she is now a leading figure in Women for Independence. 

JAMES FOLEY is the author of Yes: The Radical Case for Scottish Independence. He is finishing his PhD on the Scottish economy at the University of Edinburgh and he lectures at Napier University.

ROBIN McALPINE is the director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation, a member of the Common Weal and the editor of the Scottish Left Review. Having graduated from Glasgow University, he became Press Officer to George Robertson, then Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Returning to Scotland to work in policy development, Robin was also Public Affairs Manager for Universities Scotland for eight years. He is now one of the most well-known and influential voices for independence and social renewal in Scotland.

CAT BOYD is a leading Scottish trade union activist. She is co-founder of and campaigns for the Radical Independence Campaign and People’s Assembly Scotland. She is also a founder and Chair of Coalition of Resistance Scotland, and has previously held the position of PCS Young Members Officer. She has appeared as a speaker at the Radical Independence Conference 2013. Recently, she collaborated with Jenny Morrison on a manifesto entitled Women and Scottish Independence: A Feminist Response.

BOB THOMSON worked as engineering draughtsman, then as trade union official, retiring as Associate Scottish Secretary, UNISON. He is a former member of the General Council of the STUC. A Labour Party member for over 50 years and a past Chairman and Treasurer of the Scottish Labour Party, he served as a lay member of employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Active in human rights organisations in the UK and Scotland including Scottish Human Rights Trust, he is currently Convener of the Jimmy Reid Foundation, a think tank and advocacy group, who have commissioned the Common Weal Papers which detail a blueprint for a fairer, more equal, more productive society in an independent or devolved Scotland.