Do you feel £1,400 better off every year since 2014?

In the 2014 independence referendum Westminster politicians said “every Scot will be £1,400 better off every year” if people voted ‘No’.

It’s therefore painfully ironic that, just a decade later, people in Scotland see headlines saying “UK families to be ‘£1,400-a-year poorer by 2030’.”

New analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) – using forecast models from the Bank of England – shows that the austerity policies of Keir Starmer’s government will leave people worse off in the next five years.

The JRF also said that if living standards haven’t improved by 2030, Labour will not only have failed to meet their own election pledge but will have become the first government in nearly 75 years to have seen a fall in living standards across a full parliament.

They concluded that the worse effects of these policies will fall on the poorest third of the population.

The pledge that “every Scot will be £1,400 better off every year” is not only looking threadbare, it’s been ripped into rags by the very people who promised it.

And, this is no joke, the same Westminster politicians seriously argued that this £1,400 meant people would be able to enjoy ‘scoffing 280 hot dogs’ or drinking ’636 cappuccinos’. Instead we’ve seen food banks rise year on year.

But those aren’t the only promises Westminster politicians made to persuade people to vote ‘No’.

In the run-up to the 2014 referendum people were also promised “lower shopping bills” and that Westminster would “keep energy costs down for families in Scotland“.

They highlighted Gordon Brown urging people in Scotland to vote ‘No’ “to create a more socially just country“; and that a Westminster-run social security system “offers better protection for pensioners, disabled and the unemployed“.

With Scots facing yet more energy bill increases – despite Labour promises to cut them by £300 – and Keir Starmer’s government cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners and support for the disabled.

This situation not only makes a bad joke of the Westminster politicians’ promises in the 2014 independence referendum, but it also exposes the duplicity of Labour’s promise of “Change”.

Even before the 2024 election the signs of the direction of the UK were obvious.

Reports revealed that UK workers were missing out on over £10,000 a year, with living standards falling behind other G7 nations, as well as Australia and the Netherlands.

Other analysis showed that, compared to neighbouring countries in north west Europe, the UK in the 21st century has had the least wealth per person, the most poverty, and the greatest gap between rich and poor. It also shows that countries similar in size or smaller than Scotland are wealthier and more equal than the north west European average.

But it could be so much different, and better, for Scotland.

With a huge offshore energy potential, a food and drink sector worth billions and one of the best educated populations in Europe and can even be asked: Why is Scotland in a UK trailing its neighbours so badly?

The reason is that those countries don’t have government from Westminster obsessed with cutting public spending again and again.

Those other countries get government’s they voted for with policies they want, and the results can be seen in how they are wealthier, fairer and happier than the UK.

Despite the ‘No’ campaigns 2014 promises, Westminster isn’t working for Scotland, but independence works for those countries.

So why shouldn’t it work for Scotland too?