Scottish independence - vote now!

[Kickstart]

Hi

I don't really view England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as separate countries as they are pretty well intertwined.

Financially I suspect that a Yes vote will be worse for both Scotland and the rest of the UK, but by duplicating loads of government functions and by loss of confidence in the pound. Short term it is easy to fudge the economy either way so possible the SNP could screw up the long term economy to make things seem better for a decade or so.

All the best

Keith

 

[John Marwood]

If Barack really was concerned about the Scottish referendum he'd change his surname to upon-Tweed

 

[Ecker]

My No vote was totally selfish. A yes vote in the referendum would result in our seeing
a tory government in power for a VERY long time and no matter what your political
alliance is, that surely can not be a healthy situation.

 

[tek-monkey]

True, but at least we could move to Scotland and be free of the bastards forever

 

[Mikinton]

My No vote was totally selfish. A yes vote in the referendum would result in our seeing
a tory government in power for a VERY long time and no matter what your political
alliance is, that surely can not be a healthy situation.

Not necessarily.

Who knows? The Labour Party may modify its policies such that they become sufficiently attractive to voters in England to win them enough seats.

(I was going to include Welsh voters, but I don't think there's much support for the Tories in Wales.)

 

[Laurie61]

Just seen on the BBC that Scotland could be one of the richest countries in the world? I really don't know how they have come to that conclusion?

I think the important word in that sentence is COULD, the fact is he does not no for sure and this is the problem. When Salmond talks about wealth its per head of population not total amount of cash to spend. A small country will always be at a bigger risk dealing with unforeseen problems, parts of the UK were battered by storms and flooding last winter costing around £1 billion, the cost of this was effectively spread over 65 million people, Scotland has about 5.5 million occupants, if it were presented with a similar bill the cost per head would be 10 times per head of population. This would wipe out any money they might have to spend on roads and hospitals ect.

 

[Withnail]

A yes vote in the referendum would result in our seeing
a tory government in power for a VERY long time ...

I think this idea has been quite comprehensively shown not to be the case.

See here - http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/ind...otland-be-independant.8265/page-2#post-234831

A few boundary changes here and there might change that though...

 

[Mikinton]

Just seen on the BBC that Scotland could be one of the richest countries in the world? I really don't know how they have come to that conclusion?

Do we know who'll get Rockall?

 

[Mikinton]

I think this idea [of the referendum resulting in our seeing a tory government in power for a VERY long time] has been quite comprehensively shown not to be the case.

I'm sure Ed Miliband isn't losing any sleep over it LOL.

With Labour not exactly doing well in opposition, the LibDems in some disarray, and the rise of UKIP, it's all up for grabs in the next few General Elections, and the loss of Scottish MPs may make all the difference.

Some guy on SKY has just said a 1% swing to Labour would negate the effect of the loss of their Scottish MPs.

 

[Johnny Mustang]

It's a YES from me, Alex.

They blame Westminster and the Tories for everything, so let them do what they do best - get back to fighting each other!

 

[Noah]

It will be very interesting to see which areas go for Yes & which No. Highlands & Islands v Lowlands?

 

[Kickstart]

Hi

The irony is that in the 2010 general election the tories had 16.7% of the Scottish votes and received 1 seat. SNP had 19.9% of the votes (hardly much higher) and got 6 seats.

So it would seem that it is the SNP rather than 'Westminster' that has power in Scotland without a real mandate.

All the best

Keith

 

[Gadget]

I say yes, they were a country in their own right until we conquered them. Sure things might be a bit of a mess for a decade or so but then things will get sorted. Heck I wouldn't mind independence from Westminster and the South, they think the country revolves around them anyway.
It tickles me why all of these celebrities thing they a, get a say and b, think they will actually influence people. The majority of them aren't even Scottish.
So good luck Scotland, if the Yes win and things carry on or get worse here I might consider emigrating up there.

 

[Laurie61]

I noticed yesterday that the message of the day from the yes campaign was 'how marvellous it was to see democracy in action' I wonder how happy they will be when, Orkney,Shetland and the western isles try to exercise their democracy. I would imagine Salmond could find all sorts of reasons why it would be a bad idea ?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/mar/17/scottish-independence-islands-home-rule

 

[Roland]

We (the English)never conquered Scotland they joined the rest of the UK in 1706 because they were bankrupt and we bailed them out just as we will have to in the future if they become independent!

If they stay they should lose their parliament and separate law system, we need less bureaucracy not more!

 

[tek-monkey]

If that was the offer on the table then Yes would be guaranteed!

I still don't get why our government is so keen to keep them when letting them go means an almost certain tory win at the next election. Plus if they really do cost us more than they give then they are a drain on resources, another reason to let them go.

 

[Roland]

If you used the logic of letting go all the areas that cost more than they contribute then I suspect that there would only be the South East left in the UK!

 

[Laurie61]

 

[John Marwood]

The Bookmakers are rarely very wrong

 

[Prawn cocktail]

If Scotland do vote Yes who gets to keep Andy Murray??