A third off energy bills? The SNP’s independence fantasies reveal how unfit they are to run Scotland

Give it another few years and the SNP will promise us a tenner every time we turn on the microwave after independence. Just do not ask them whether that ‘tenner’ is in pounds, euros or something else entirely.

Amongst the easily made jokes about the SNP’s ‘jam tomorrow’ approach to independence offerings, there is a serious point – in both the political principle and the practical reality. The SNP’s fantastical promises over energy bills in the future show just how completely they’ve given up on governing for Scotland in the present.

READ MORE: John Swinney vows SNP will cut energy bills by one third with independence

Time to demand better

Apparently nothing can be done by the SNP now – but everything will definitely be done later after another referendum. Back in the real world, however, families across Scotland are really struggling.

Our education system, once the pride of the world, has now slipped behind our neighbours. Our health service is riven with backlogs and broken SNP promises on waiting times – and you can ask islanders about their record on transport.

That should that give us pause for thought when the SNP promise the world from the areas, like energy, that they do not currently control. It should also be cause for us to demand better – starting at next year’s Holyrood elections.

READ MORE: John Swinney keeping election focus on independence and energy will be fatal for Anas Sarwar

There’s also the question of principle. Scotland’s self-proclaimed ‘progressive’ party of government has decided once more to embrace the self-absorbed mantra of “It’s Scotland’s energy”.

The SNP talk a good game on progressive values when it’s convenient for them. Their compassion comes to a screeching stop, however, when it comes to people outwith their nationalist vision of our country.

They defend their selfishness by denying any shared political community with others – by claiming that “we” in Scotland are different from “them” in the rest of the UK, and that we deserve more because of it.

We need to work together

If John Swinney and co want to claim all the wondrous benefits of North Sea oil, gas and renewables capacity based on geography, however, why could my constituents in Orkney and Shetland not do the same in turn?

The vast majority of ‘Scottish’ North Sea oil and gas sits off our coastlines. Some of the biggest renewables developments in Scotland are in Orkney and Shetland – and yet we go conveniently un-mentioned in the SNP’s policy proposals.

The principled answer is that when we focus solely on individual self-interest, everyone loses. It is only through pooling, sharing and cooperating that we can grow together. That is true across Scotland and the UK.

That’s why I cannot accept that the SNP’s selfish parody of progressive politics is the best we can do. Promises about how we can get rich by beggaring our friends and family south of the Border are morally bankrupt – but they also do nothing to help people in Scotland who are struggling today.

The fantasy promises from the SNP may continue to inflate – but at some point, reality is going to burst their bubble.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland