THE new independence prospectus succinctly sets out the ideological chasm between the Scottish and Westminster governments.
We aren’t due to see the contents of the next white paper until around the time the Scottish Parliament resumes on September 5 - the same day we will find out who the next prime minister is - but the blueprints released so far have given a taster of what to expect.
The independence campaign is going to be fought on the economy, the border, rejoining the EU, and the possibilities we have as an independent nation.
This is of course partially covered in the Renewing Democracy paper, but its real goal is to show the damning impact Westminster's decisions have had on Scotland, and that it did.
It couldn’t be more timely - as we watch a few hundred thousand Tory party members pick the next Prime Minister, one Scotland did not vote for, and won’t have the opportunity to.
It was a moment the First Minister was right to seize, as the Westminster chaos is proving the point more and more.
The absence of a sovereign wealth fund, like Norway, from oil and gas profits was another key point in the document, showing the financial impact of Westminster’s decisions to hand over our country’s wealth to billionaire fossil fuel firms.
Scotland has no control over licensing its own assets, or taking a different approach than the doomed maximum economic recovery policy of the UK.
The threat to human rights is looming - with the Tories set to rip up the Human Rights Act post-Brexit - entrenching these in a Scottish constitution and guaranteeing rights for future citizens is more important than ever.
The First Minister was correct when she said that the current Tory leadership contenders will drag the party further to the right, we’ve seen plenty of evidence of them hitting out at “woke culture” and no sign of scrapping the atrocious plan to fly refugees to Rwanda for “processing” within days of Johnson’s resignation.
It’s no coincidence that failed contenders Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt ruled out indyref2 for a decade - they were playing to their membership, not concerned about democracy for the rest of the UK.
The Westminster government of 2014 was not the same as it is now. Boris Johnson has ensured that by overseeing an erosion of public trust and demonstrating a complete disregard for the rules.
From quietly infringing on devolved areas like transport through the levelling up fund to ignoring the Scottish Parliament’s decision to refuse consent to numerous pieces of post-Brexit legislation, it’s crucial that the Scottish Government gets the case across - independence is the only way for Scots to make their voice truly heard, and we have to seize it.
