Reclaiming the referendum

George Osborne's decision to cut corporation tax in his Budget a few weeks ago was condemned by many, not least the Unison union.

Osborne's blatant handout to the wealthiest corporations was however welcomed by Alex Salmond's government.

In these circumstances people should ask themselves if the choice in an independence referendum between David Cameron's tax-avoidance Britain and Alex Salmond's Rupert Murdoch-friendly Scotland is any choice at all.

When discussing the "national question" we would do well to ignore the appeals of nationalists, both Scottish and British, and concentrate on the fact that our concern is not with flags or anthems but with advancing the cause of working people.

The nationalists on either side of the debate wish to reduce this to a question of identity, whether people should think of themselves as "Scottish" or "British."

But for trade unionists it's not people's perceived identities that matter, it's their actual lives as working people.

We need to recognise the "Scottish or British?" debate as the blind alley it is. Instead we should be articulating the Scotland we want to see.

That Scotland is a vision which is radically different from the privatised Britain of David Cameron - but is equally different from Scotland the corporate tax haven that Alex Salmond is trying to create.

We should not be seeking constitutional change for its own sake, as something self-evidently good in itself (because it isn't).

Neither should we adopt the blinkered Unionist "this far and no further" approach of the Tories and Lib Dems.

Instead we should be looking to use the upcoming debates and referendum to put our issues on the agenda.

Arguing for more powers for the Scottish Parliament not as some sort of abstract principle, but tied to plans to use them to create a Scotland more in line with our priorities.

That's not to say that there are no issues of principle that we as Unison members should hold to in this debate.

It is argued that breaking up Britain won't mean divisions among working people across the UK - that it is solidarity between working people that matters and that won't be impacted upon by independence. This stands up to no scrutiny at all.

Thousands of Unison members travelled to London to demonstrate and show solidarity with hundreds of thousands from across England and Wales at the brutal cuts being imposed in the name of "austerity" and fiscal responsibility.

A similar process, indeed worse has been imposed in Ireland. How many of us have made the shorter journey across the Irish Sea to stand with our Irish colleagues?

The answer is very few. Can anyone doubt it's because Ireland is a different country - can anyone doubt a similar erosion of common ties and solidarity would happen if Scotland is a separate country?

It should go without saying that anything that puts barriers between workers should be anathema to trade unionists, but it is a principle often ignored by those who are promising a land of Milk and MacHoney.

If only we grasp the thistle and decide that our concern is with Dundee and that Durham is as foreign as Dubai - all will be well, so the rhetoric goes.

Looking after ourselves and saying to hell with the rest isn't the principle that built the trade union movement and in the long run it will damage us all, north and south of the border.

We can do better than any of this. We can, and should, argue for a third option in the referendum that isn't one based on watching videos of Braveheart or Last Night of the Proms.

Instead we should be arguing for a better form of devolution than we have now, more powers over raising and spending money - but without neglecting the need to redistribute resources across Britain.

But we should argue for these things not as a matter of geographical chance but as a practical necessity to create a more equal and fairer society.

Gordon Mckay is on Unison Scotland's national executive council