Good morning, Scotland.
The decision you make today is yours and yours alone. But we wanted to offer some words of encouragement.
They say your future will be uncertain. We want to let you know it mostly turns out well. Even those of us who are struggling would not soon rejoin the Union.
They say you don’t have it in you to govern yourselves. They said that about most of us, too.
They say you’ll be isolating yourself. We know you want to be part of the international community (more so than England does), and we will welcome you on your own terms.
They promise you new powers if you stay. By becoming independent, you gain the opportunity to forge a state as different from Westminster as you want it to be, with leaders you want to have. You gain whatever powers you see fit, on the timetable of your choosing.
They say you have had many wonderful years together, and in this they are right. Independence gave us the right to celebrate our shared history with Britain as much or as little as we each want, and the same will be true for you. Many of us remain close, and you can do the same.
We know this is not an easy choice. So many of us struggled for this same thing, for the right to self determination.
They often say you can’t go it alone. We know you can, Scotland. After all, we did.
Your siblings, the former British,
Antigua and Barbuda,
Australia,
The Bahamas,
Bahrain,
Barbados,
Belize,
Botswana,
Brunei,
Canada,
Cyprus,
Dominica ,
Egypt,
Fiji,
The Gambia,
Ghana,
Grenada,
Guyana,
India,
Israel,
Iraq,
The Republic of Ireland,
Jamaica,
Jordan,
Kenya,
Kiribati,
Kuwait,
Lesotho,
Malawi,
Malaysia,
Maldives,
Malta,
Mauritius,
Myanmar,
New Zealand,
Nigeria,
Pakistan,
Qatar,
Saint Lucia,
Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Seychelles,
Sierra Leone,
Solomon Islands,
South Africa,
Sri Lanka ,
Sudan,
Swaziland,
Tanzania,
Trinidad and Tobago,
Tuvalu,
Uganda,
The United Arab Emirates,
The United States of America,
Vanuatu,
Yemen,
Zambia,
and Zimbabwe.