Voters Believe Scottish Parliament Should Have Control of Immigration Policy

In its white paper, "Scotland's Future", the current Scottish Government undertakes to use the powers of independence to conduct an urgent review of the system for assessing disability benefits, and envisages that the whole system of delivering benefits in the future - including health assessments - will be in the public sector.

A new academic study by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford has found that a clear majority - 60% of people - believe that the Scottish Government should determine Scotland's immigration policy, reinforcing the Yes campaign's case that Scotland's future should be in Scotland's hands.

As the report's authors note, "the basic facts about immigration are quite different in Scotland". Which is why people believe immigration should be designed by Scotland's Parliament and Government to meet the needs of Scotland's economy and society.

Only a Yes vote will deliver real powers for Holyrood

Only a Yes vote can deliver any real new powers to Scotland, including over immigration.

The Tories seem certain to stick as closely as possible to Ruth Davidson's "line in the sand" of no more powers. And now the Labour party at Holyrood and Westminster appears to be at loggerheads about whether to propose any real new powers for the Scottish Parliament.

As the Sunday Post reported "MPs and MSPs are close to open warfare on what should go in the party's Devolution Commission report when it is published next month".

The three UK parties previously cooperated on the Calman Commission and Scotland Act 2012 - and it delivered absolutely nothing that can provide real protection against Tory austerity and cuts.

Cooperation and collaboration with our Nordic neighbours on the cards

An interesting article in the Herald explores the possibility of closer links between Scotland and our Scandinavian neighbours after a Yes vote. Whether that would ever go as far as membership of the Nordic Council is open to debate, but the report looks at the potential for cooperation in a number of areas such as defence, with Professor Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen from Copenhagen University quoted as saying "the need for Scotland to build a national defence would be a golden opportunity for realising true defence co-operation among the Nordic countries to create joint taskforces and economies of scale in procurement, etc. On these and other areas, Scotland could contribute to create a new Norden".

The Scotland on Sunday also reported on relations with the Nordic countries yesterday, highlighting areas of cooperation including social enterprise and childcare.

Yes is a must if we are to end "work capability assessment" nightmare

The Daily Record today reports on the scandal that almost 10,000 people in Scotland have been wrongly told they are fit to work thanks to the UK governments "work capability assessments" carried out by ATOS.

Disability campaigner Henry Sherlock explains "There are people living on the breadline who have lost the will to live. It is as though we are the scum of the earth because we have the audacity to claim a benefit. We may as well be out in the street with a begging bowl because it is no more demoralising than this system we have to go through."

In its white paper, "Scotland's Future", the current Scottish Government undertakes to use the powers of independence to conduct an urgent review of the system for assessing disability benefits, and envisages that the whole system of delivering benefits in the future - including health assessments - will be in the public sector.

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