Senior Liberal Democrats make the move to Yes

Two senior politicians from a No campaign party have announced their support for a Yes vote next month.
 
Declaring his backing in today’s (thu) Edinburgh Evening News, John Barrett, who held the Edinburgh West parliamentary seat for the Lib Dems from 2001 to 2010, said he believed there were others in the party who shared his views.
 
Earlier this year, the former MP announced that he would vote for the side that could best ‘spell out their vision’ for the kind of country his ‘grandchildren will want to grow up in’.
 
Joining Mr Barrett is his Liberal Democrat colleague, Dr Michael Foxley, the former Highland Council leader who has worked closely with Charles Kennedy and Chief Secretary to the UK Treausury, Danny Alexander.
 
Mr Barrett said that independence offered Scotland an opportunity for change which would be 'forever lost with a No vote'. And that while activists are uneasy about the official Lib Dem support for a No vote and had largely stayed quiet, he added: 'There will be others in the party who will have the same view as me.'

He is the first serving or former parliamentarian among the Scottish Lib Dems to break ranks on the issue. He insisted he was not going to become the leader of a ­faction in the party, but said he believed there were other Lib Dems who shared his views.

Mr Barrett said: 'The Lib Dem line has always been we support a federal UK, but that’s not on the ballot paper. The leadership decided to join up with Better Together. But I have decided the next best option is to vote Yes on September 18.'

Mr Barrett has served on both the Scottish and UK executive committees of the party and he is still president of Edinburgh West Lib Dems and the ­Scottish Liberal Club.

He said he had been undecided for some time on how to vote in the referendum, but had made up his mind over the past few weeks.

Writing in the Evening News today, he asked: 'How often do we get the chance to start afresh?’

And he said: ‘I am now less concerned with the future electoral prospects of my own party and more concerned about the country I would like to see future generations grow up in. I want to see a fairer country at home, with access to a high-quality health and education system for all, a compassionate and considerate country which cares for those less able; a greener country and an internationalist country.

‘I now see the only chance of that Scotland being delivered if the people of Scotland are prepared to work together to deliver it. I am.

A former GP, Dr Michael Foxley explained that his backing for Yes is based on his concern for the ‘consequences’ a No vote could have on Scotland’s NHS.
 
Dr Foxley said: ‘I worked in the NHS for 40 years and I am convinced that, in an independent Scotland, there is a better chance to ensure it is strong, resilient and provides free care as required.
 
‘Although fully devolved, the NHS in Scotland is at risk from a No vote due to the potential consequences of very different standards of Health care and funding processes which will reduce our Scottish Barnet formula funding.’
 
Mr Barrett and Dr Foxley are among a number of senior Liberal Democrat figures who have joined the campaign for an independent Scotland, including former party chief executive Andy Myles, former treasurer Denis Robertson Sullivan and parliamentary candidate Alan MacRae.
 
Blair Jenkins, Chief Executive of Yes Scotland, welcomed the public declarations of both Mr Barrett and Dr Foxley to support Yes.
 
‘They have both made significant contributions to Scottish life in their political careers over many years and, we understand, are just two in their party to feel that independence is the only way to go, the one opportunity for Scotland to be a more just and fairer nation,’ he said.