WE MUST UNITE AND VOTE FOR SCOTLAND

Apr 29 2007

SCOTTISH Labour know their biggest enemy as voters go to the polls on Thursday.

And it's not Alex Salmond. Tony Blair - in office but no longer in power - has been a burden on the party's campaign.

Blair's disastrous decisions in Iraq ake him an electoral liability.

The big fear is that May 3 becomes a protest vote against Blair's New Labour.

A vote is too vital to squander in a pointless protest when Blair will be gone soon to be succeeded by a rejuvenated Gordon Brown.

If Blair cared about Labour's chances, he would have gone already. His insistence that Scots would be fools to consider independence was only counterproductive.

Most of us do not just suspect that Scotland has the talent and initiative to become a successful independent nation. We know it.

But according to polls, most Scots do not believe the real benefits of being equal partners in a United Kingdom should be jeopardised for a gamble on our future. Why sever such deep cultural and economic ties with our neighbours?

Despite a slick campaign, Alex Salmond has failed to demonstrate that his anonymous colleagues could run Scotland.

He also failed to explain how thousands of jobs founded on a United Kingdom can be protected in an independent Scotland.

Some voters seem ready to back the SNP knowing a referendum will not take place until 2010. But a lot of damage can be done in three years of flux and conflict.

Two out of every five Scots voters have still to decide - and they hold the keys to Bute House.

Jack McConnell has had a good campaign. He shares the patriotism of most Scots and has a passion to build a better future.

He deserves the chance to lead another Executive - one solely focussed on creating a smarter, healthier and wealthier Scotland.

A Scotland that is as proud of its past as it is confident about its future.

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