After consultation and discussion with our members, the ISP has decided the following policies for a Westminster GE.
ISP will run candidates in a UK election. We will discuss with other independence parties about which constituencies, but for the moment we intend to run simply as ISP, rather than unity candidates.
If we win a Westminster seat, we will not sit. We feel that any MPs talents are better spent in the constituency helping people and building the cause of independence, rather than sitting purposeless in a system that we cannot influence. The answers to Scotland’s problems are not to be found in Westminster, but here in Scotland and it is from here we will push the cause of independence, with or without Westminster’s permission.
Neither will we take the oath to King Charles. ISP believe that a head of state should be elected and should have no part in government legislation. The undue influence of the monarch through the Privy Council and the Crown estate, particularly with regard to Scotland’s oil and gas resources is something we cannot countenance.
With regard to the Scottish Crown, Scotland’s natural resources are not the property of the monarch, but of the people, who are sovereign. The claims made on oil and gas have been done through the auspices of the English Crown, which does not operate in Scotland. This is a further reason that we will not accept Charles’ authority.
We understand that some may be wary of the policy of not taking seats in Westminster. To those people we would say; look at those who did take their seats and ask yourselves how far they have advanced the cause of Scotland. By contrast, parties like Sinn Fein have played a major role in influencing the cause of independence in Ireland and now stand far nearer to achieving a break from Westminster than Scotland does.
ISP believes that this is the way forward for Scotland; rather than attempting to engage with a system loaded against Scotland, that we should pursue the cause of independence and challenge Westminster to engage with us. Only when we fight on our own terms on our own ground, will we win independence.