Below is a selection of comments made by some of the signatories who have signed the declaration.
For the first the first time in a generation the opportunity exists for Scotland to embrace the discipline of proper accountability. We must seize it.
Conservative Councillor Cameron Rose, Edinburgh
I am a former Director of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) in Scotland (2002-2007) -the trade association representing companies in the UK who research, manufacture and supply prescription medicines to the NHS. I currently run my own consulting business which provides services to a range of clients in the corporate and voluntary sectors including companies within the pharmaceutical sector. My experience is that global companies are used to operating in different countries with different tax regimes. Therefore the argument advanced that companies would fear fiscal responsibility is a fallacious one. When the ABPI asked its members in Scotland what they wished to see from the then Scottish Executive in 2005, one of the key messages was that they wished to see a lower level of corporatoin tax, despite that being reserved to Westminster. They did not want the levels of personal taxation to increase, and they wished policies which would increase Scotland’s ability to compete globally. In Scotland’s case, while they told us that labour and energy costs are cheaper elsewhere in the world, the research and skill base allows Scotland to be competitive on grounds of quality. They also wished to see direct flights from Scotland to North America (the biggest market for sales of medicines) and better transport connectivity within Scotland. My personal belief is that having the fiscal levers would only allow Scotland to enhance its attractiveness for companies operating within the life sciences sector.
Jim Eadie, Edinburgh
We need a lasting solution to our constitutional questions. There is no point in tinkering round the edges only to face the same challenges in a few tears time.We need to get it right this time rather than spend years inching closer to the inevitable – fiscal autonomy.
Lynda Williamson, Torrance
At last – a cause that can get to the underlying causes of the country’s mediocre performance and tap into it enormous potential.
Alan Gibson, Durham
Earn our own money. Spend our own money. Pay for things we share. This works at all levels – individual, family, community, and would work at a national level for Scotland within the UK. It’s time for us to grow up and be responsible for our own affairs.
Tom Duffin, X-sail.com
There is no reason why devolution with fiscal responsibility is not totally within the capacity of the Scottish people to administer wisely and confidently, but the objective must be to raise the standard of living in a way which pulls people out of social entrapment and creates opportunity, rather than using increased fiscal powers to redistribute wealth on the basis of the lowest common denominator. If I have a concern, it is that across Scotland, there may be significantly different views on how to use this new found authority.
Stuart Gibson, MD Funded Solutions
I cannot agree more with the statements made by the CFFR’s comments on this issue. The counter claim that the risks outweigh the benefits have the dual effect of both making Scotland appear weak and of reinforcing a dependency culture at national level that we as a nation are trying to break at an individual level. Corporations across the globe are continuing to abandon the old idea of fixed or incremental budgeting due to waste and over spending, remove this funding medium from Scotland and it can only be expected that the parliament will also be forced to spend more efficiently and to take greater care in how public more is redistributed.
John Wilson, Roswell
With the best will in the world, and with a benign disposition towards Scotland, a Westminster Chancellor has to set policy on the basis of what’s right for the UK as a whole, not on the basis of what’s right for one part of the UK comprising circa 8% of the population. In an increasingly global economic environment, western European regions or countries will only prosper by finding specialist niches: Scotland has more chance of finding its niche if it controls its own fiscal policy, than it would if that policy is set for the UK as a whole. In this case, small is beautiful, because it allows us to be more nimble.
John Cooke, former chair of the Financial Services Implementation Group
An allowance from Westminster for Scotland just doesn’t encourage good fiscal responsibility and certainly doesn’t make the politicians in Edinburgh accountable to the tax payers of Scotland.
Angela Miller, Dalry
The Calman proposals are a recipe for conflict.
Arthur Robertson, Methil
It’s time to end the bickering over who raises and cuts the money that the Scottish Parliament is responsible for spending, and ensure that the parliament and government have the powers to ensure that they are able to act fiscally responsibly, taking into consideration the money needed for their plans, instead of simply producing wish lists.
Marco Florence, by email
Fully support the campaign.
Professor Alan Wilson, Strathclyde University Business School
We welcome this initiative and we hope it will lead to better governance in Scotland
John Drummond, Communication Works Ltd
I would like to see greater responsibility applied to Scotland’s parliament to make not only the politicians, but also the public, responsible for Scotish issues and policies.
Andrew Cuthbert Jnr, Abertay University
No self-respecting country can survive on a block grant from another country forever. Scotland requires the choice of fiscal action to be taken in any given economic circumstance it finds itself in, without having to produce a begging bowl.
Robert Gill, Galashiels