Today's Greenock Telegraph column Inverclyde SNP wanted to block...

It is now just three months to the historic Scottish independence referendum and the political campaigns are really starting to ramp up.

Today my own party’s ‘Referendum Express’ bus was due in Inverclyde as part of our campaign to persuade Labour supporters to vote NO to separation on 18 September.

Labour believes that Scotland is better off within a strong and prosperous United Kingdom.

Remaining part of the UK is best for jobs with one in five Scots employed by UK-wide companies.

It is best for schools and hospitals as a bigger and stronger economy provides more money to spend on the public services we value.

It is best for business as two thirds of Scottish goods and services are sold within the UK.

It is also best for pensioners as our pensions will retain the backing of all UK taxpayers.

Labour believes that by remaining within the UK we can have the best of both worlds: a strengthened Scottish Parliament making decisions on a wide range of key matters but at the same time keeping the pound and the strength and security of our United Kingdom.

In the past week or so a number of world leaders have entered the debate over Scotland’s future. Both President Obama and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have expressed the view that Scotland and the rest of the UK are better together.  

It is unsurprising that the US Government is concerned about the potential break-up of the United Kingdom. As its closest political ally it realises that during a messy divorce there is a very real prospect that the UK will be distracted from playing a full and constructive role in world affairs at a time when the world is becoming a more dangerous place. We only have to look at the unfolding events in the Middle East and Ukraine to realise this.

There must also be a concern on the part of the US that the break-up of the UK could weaken NATO. While the SNP leadership have said that an independent Scotland would join NATO there are many within their party and the wider Yes movement who remain resolutely opposed to membership of this nuclear defence alliance.

At the end of the day however, as both President Obama and Mrs Clinton have acknowledged, irrespective of the consequences for the rest of the UK, Europe and NATO, the decision as to whether the UK breaks up is one for those of us aged 16 and over living in Scotland alone to make.

It is an enormous responsibility that we must shoulder. The decision that we make will have consequences far beyond the shores of these islands and we should be aware of that before we cast our vote.

The eyes of the world are upon us.