A Customs officer at an immobile Customs Station, in an open-borders 21st Century European community, has very little impact and demonstrates how Unionists miss the point, whilst further; successfully confusing our electorate by claiming “hard borders” are a show-stopper when in fact they are very largely irrelevant.
options for how we organise our customs services and borders. This is important not just for our security, but also to tackle smuggling, counterfeit goods and for revenue collection.38 It is also important to control illegal exports, such as arms and military style arrest equipment to pariah regimes across the world. What matters is whether we control our tax system to benefit our priorities, whilst preventing corporations running wild. We need to explain to Scotland’s electorate, but particularly No voters, the consequences to their day-to-day lives of the catastrophic Brexit fraud concurrent with demonstrable evidence of how to protect our society through Independence within the EU – arguably through EFTA membership.
Scotland’s Communities and society need to trust that our nascent revenue regime is fair for all - which it won’t be in post-Brexit UK. Clearly, that trust has to be earned with encouragement and education towards tax compliance.
In summary, we have a golden opportunity on the horizon for our society and economy to be a happier, fairer place to live and work which can be demonstrated through real distribution of wealth by robust revenues reform. Scotland must seize the hour. But there will be very little point in bringing about independence if all we do is swap a London elite for an Edinburgh one.
Scottish Independence Commission Transition papers, no.1