Alves,
Elgin
IV30 8UP
The Editor, Inside Moray
25/09/14
Dear Sir,
Through your pages, and on behalf of Moray Greens, I want to thank the 64,205 people in Moray who voted in the referendum. I am proud to be born and raised in an area where over 85% of people showed that they cared enough to make their voice heard. I passionately hope that all your readers who have been motivated for the very first time, or the first time in years, by the debate will stay motivated and will consider joining me, and thousands of others, in the Scottish Greens, striving for a better Scotland.
Of course, I acknowledge that more people in Moray voted no than yes, but I want to thank everyone for giving spirited debate and taking part. Over the last few months we may all have had a different view on how best to reach a greener and fairer Scotland, but I know many thousands share my sense of urgency in getting to the same destination.
I would also like to thank insideMoray for the clear and unbiased coverage provided during the campaign period. This can be a particularly difficult task when passions run high and people find their views challenged, but there is a crucial role for media outlets, big and small, national and local, in print and online, in providing a neutral platform for all of us have the chance to express our views – long may it continue!
As I write this our local membership has more than quadrupled in days, and we’ll be going into the next election as a much bigger party than we could have imagined, with the clear potential for a dramatic change of Scotland’s political landscape.
There are many ideas being debated about what that change will result in, but the Greens have never been the kind of party where a handful of people in leadership roles impose their own decisions on the rest. Moray Greens and other local branches are currently debating the next steps, and our members, new and old, will meet at our biggest conference ever on the 11th of October to start making those decisions together.
One thing is incredibly clear to me. As well as the huge numbers of Yes voters who sought the kind of radical change that Westminster is unlikely to deliver, there are also many who voted No but who share our commitment to a sustainable economy, a fair and equal society, and further devolution in a renewed democratic culture.
Making all that happen will mean finding ways to work together. We have always been a party that seeks to work with others where common ground exists, while still offering a robust challenge where we must on our core principles. I’m very excited to know that we’ll be doing so as a far bigger party in future.
Scotland, and the UK, has changed forever, and a return to the apathy of the past would be a sickening waste. So whatever your beliefs are, I hope absolutely everyone will seize this opportunity to talk, challenge, and debate, so we build a better nation, because at heart, that’s what makes democracy work.
Yours faithfully,
James MacKessack-Leitch
Moray Greens Convenor