I should first remind you that several years ago I was in favour of us being a member of the EU.  It just seemed right that we should be a member of a larger organisation.  What changed that was reading the paper from Dr. James Wilkie, "Scotland in Europe".  You can read that paper at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/scotlandineurope.htm

Frankly I was astonished to read about the loss of some 100,000 jobs in the Fishing industry and the destruction of many of our rural communities and a loss of some 2 billion in annual income all in Scotland. How did I not know about this?

I then thought who is this Dr James Wilkie and how much credibility did he have.  You can read a bit about him at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/wilkie.htm

I discovered that he had worked right in the heart of Europe and had worked in the diplomatic field for Austria for some 30 odd years despite him being a Scot (although he is married to an Austrian).  So in my mind he did have credibility. He really knew the workings of the EU and had also been a member of the Scotland-UN committee.  He also received a high award from the Austrian government for his work for them on the diplomatic front. It was actually the work of the Scotland-UN committee that got us a devolved government. See: http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/scotlandun.htm  So here was someone that was obviously passionate about getting an Independent Scotland but also against Scotland being a member of the EU.

I then discovered that another Scot, David Thomson, was the source of much of this Scottish Fishing industry information.  So I then did some research on him and as a result I discovered that this Lossiemouth fishing boat captain was probably the most experienced person on fishing matters on the planet. He has worked in some 60 countries in the world for the UN on fishing matters both at sea and on inward waterways. Read his books at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/thomson/

Why both of these persons have not received knighthoods is beyond my comprehension.

I got an email from Nicola Sturgeon's people saying that the EU was our largest export market.  This was at the time of the Independence referendum and so I wanted to check this statement and it proved to be correct. What I discovered however was that 70% of those exports were to England alone.  So I decided that you can be given facts that while correct were perhaps not the whole picture if you didn't decided to check on them.

I then learned that she and many SNP MSP's were also members of Euromove which I then learned was founded and funded by the USA.  Now mind that for many years I ran the web site for Ian Hudgeston, the then SNP MEP.  In all that time I never learned anything about our Fishing Industry.

So perhaps you can see that I was not only supportive of our membership of the EU but actually did some work to support that membership.

It was while we were discussing Scottish Independence that I was persuaded to read the papers coming from the then think talk, the SDA, that I first came across that "Scotland in Europe" paper.  The think talk wanted Scottish Independence and were publishing papers on what an Independent Scotland could look like and how it could be run. 

As a result of these papers and my own research I believed that Scotland could succeed as an Independent country and I thus voted YES in that referendum. However, I was equally convinced that the SNP was not the party I wanted to run an Independent Scotland.

I had become convinced that Scotland would lose a great deal of its Independence if we were to remain in the EU. When I discovered that Nicola Sturgeon was so much in favour of being a member of the EU as not only the right thing for Scotland, in her view, but also totally against any referendum about being a member that was the final nail in the coffin for the SNP in my view. I mean if you are going to give up a chunk of the hard won battle for Independence then how can you then give that away without first giving the Scottish people a say in that decision?

So that's when I decided that a Brexit vote to leave was the right decision.

I am very concerned at the misinformation given out on both sides of this referendum. In a recent article on Brexit in the Scotsman it was claimed all the world leaders and bright people in the world all say that we should remain.  Of course they would say that as it's better for them that we do remain as they benefit.

However is it in Britain's best interest and Scotland's best interest that we remain? Of course it isn't and for many reasons and here are some of them...

First we should look at Globalisation as the world has moved on and increasingly it is the Global institutions that make up our laws such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  The EU is represented at the top table of that organisation and represents all EU countries.  None of the EU countries are represented individually. However, if Germany and France decide that a particular law should be enacted that is what will be represented to them.  Scotland and Britain don't have a say in that.  Whereas Norway do have a say as they are at that top table while being a member of EFTA and not in the EU.

Second we should look at where the EU is in the pecking order of world governance.  It is down the pecking order and is only a sub-regional organisation so much of the legislation that is passed by the global players has to be passed on to EU countries and the EU can do nothing about it other than spin it to look like it came from them.

Third, have you considered that Germany caused two world wars and were defeated with massive casualties and harm.  Now they lead the EU but to my mind they still want to dominate Europe and so the EU is a great way to do that economically. 

Fourth, we should look at all the rubbish that is being put out by our own Scottish Parliament.  Nicola Sturgeon is fixated on the EU.  However most of our parliamentarians are members of Euromove an organisation created and funded by the USA.  Nicola Sturgeon stated that in the event of an Independent Scotland she would have no truck with having a referendum on whether we should be an EU member or not. However being a member of the EU means Scotland would have to give up some sovereignty to be a member.  How can you not have a referendum on that?  Should the SNP not be held to account for giving up part of our hard won fight for independence to Brussels?

And then looking at the talk that Nicola Sturgeon gave in Scotland. She said: "The EU is not perfect, but our membership brings significant benefits, such as the protection of employment rights; the right to paid maternity, the right to paid holidays and not working more than 48 hours a week, and the right to not be discriminated against. "All of these are protected by the EU."

That is an outright lie!

The SNP, under pressure from the US-created and US financially backed Euromove organisation, has fallen foul of “the EU, right or wrong” ideology, which simply won’t wash in the light of the new and developing system of worldwide interdependence and global governance.

The sub-regional EU did not invent the standards of working conditions that it is by implication claiming. Like so much else in its “legislation” is simply repeating established international norms that have been handed down to every individual state by institutions higher up the global scale, and are binding on every national government irrespective of the EU. The principal such institution is the United Nations International Labour Organisation, which has been setting the global standards for industrial working conditions since WW1, long before there ever was a European Union. Nowadays a whole list of other institutions at global level are also contributing to these norms.

Furthermore, UK legislation governing working conditions has been in force since 1802, the Factory Inspectorate was set up by the 1833 Factories Act, and this was followed by dozens of acts of parliament that pushed standards up still further, right to the present day. It is pure charlatanry to claim that only the EU stands between workers and oppressive working conditions, for even worse to claim that the EU invented the relevant modern standards. God help us if this is the sort of argument that is going to determine the future of Scotland.

Then look at the Leaked Information on Negotiations between EU and USA to set up a Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP). Scotland has no say in this treaty negotiation. Read the leaked report at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/TTIPLeaks.pdf and be prepared to be shocked by the revelations.

This act if passed would cause immense harm to the Scottish people and our NHS. Leaked documents from EU / USA negotiations on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) confirm the dangers threatened to health, environment and safety standards. The documents are from the twelfth round of negotiations in February 2016 (the thirteenth round concluded in New York on 29 April). The EU Commission had slapped a thirty year ban on public access to the negotiating texts at the beginning of the talks in 2013, in the full knowledge that they would not be able to survive the outcry if people were given sight of the deal.

The purpose of the two proposed “partnerships,” TTIP and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which were drafted by global corporations, is to make corporations immune to the laws of sovereign countries in which they do business. Any country’s sovereign law or regulations—whether social, environmental, food safety, or labour protection—that might adversely affect a corporation’s profits is labelled a “restraint on trade.” The “partnerships” would permit corporations to take legal action to overturn the law or regulation, and. would also award damages to the corporation—paid by the taxpayers of the country that tried to protect its environment or the safety of its food or its workers. These “trade agreements” originate in the United States, because American global corporations and the American mega-banks are the largest players in the world economy. The agreements that the corporations push through this process give these companies economic hegemony over the countries that sign the agreements. The Trans-Atlantic and TransPacific “partnerships” are tools of American financial imperialism. The highly controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism—and its successor, the Investment Court system—has proved particularly thorny. The United States wants to keep the arbitration system that allows corporations to sue governments for perceived loss of profits. The case is not heard in the courts of the country, or in any court: it is heard in a corporate tribunal in which corporations act as prosecutor, judge, and jury.

And that is why Euromove is totally against Scotland's interest and yet most SNP MSP's are members of this movement. Something fishy here don't you think?

Immigration is another aspect that is being discussed in depth in this referendum.  Frankly Britain already has a robust system to regulate immigration and an opt out on many aspects of immigration legislation of the EU.  It is in Germany's interest to allow large scale immigration as it has a declining working population whereas Britain does not. 

I could go on and on but I hope you will see from this that much of what you view on your TV news, and newspapers do not by any means tell the whole story.  And of course there are no discussions on how Britain, as a founding member of EFTA, could benefit from that membership and also that of the EEA outside the EU. 

I might add that it is possible that we will suffer a bit financially in the short term but I think in the longer term we'll be better off.  There is a very good financial review from Kevin Hugue on his well respected blog at: http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2016/06/thoughts-on-eu-referendum.html

As you are reading this it's likely the results will start to become available for the outcome of the referendum so we'll just have to see how this all plays out. I just wanted you to know that I have spent many weeks researching all this and I believe a leave vote is in the best interests of Scotland.

It is foolish of countries to identify their future with the EU. By 2050 there will be some 9 billion people in the world. The EU will then account for only 6 per cent of the world’s population, as against 20 per cent before 1950. Its share of the world’s gross product will have shrunk to some 10 per cent by 2050, as against 30 per cent in 1950.

In the coming decades most growth in GDP, market size and investment returns will tend to occur outside continental Europe. Most EU countries will have a shrinking and ageing population. The EU in general is likely to decline economically, politically and culturally relative to the rest of the world, and in particular Asia, where the bulk of humanity lives.