Scottish Independence

Ok , well the vote is coming this year...
What do you lot think and why?
Personally I am quite happy to remain part of the United Kingdom/ Great Britain.
We are better together, what do we do with the Armed forces,currency,business ventures?
If the yes votes go through I see a huge mess and major poverty for the average scottish family..huge taxes and a headless government. I don't buy into the whole North Sea oil windfall as it's already cheaper to get easier oil/gas extraction in many other place around the globe...I got Inside info on that so I know what I'm talking about..

Please keep the debate sensible and not Anti English/Anti Scottish..
What's your thoughts?.

Ah, those south of the border get a chance to vote   
Sticking my neck out being the first to comment, I'd like to see things remain as they are - a United Kingdom.
My bank is part Scottish, part City, part Westminster, my energy supplier is part Scottish part Spanish, not really sure what that means in a separated country - an awful lot for voters to think about.

I see a long term benefit that I might not even live to see, and Independence isn't some 'get rich quick' scheme.

Would independence affect Scotland's relations with the rest of the UK?
I doubt we'll see much of a difference on a practical level, we'll just get on like we always have, and we'll always have rUK's back.
We'll take on our share of the national debt, and in return we'd expect the same share of national assets.

I think that's it in a nutshell.


Politicians like to shout about stuff in order to justify their positions, but they're not essential to the process.
The London based press is not to be trusted one iota (you'd notice it if you were subject to it)
Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland have most of their employees (through takeovers) and assets in England, so they're only nominally 'Scottish'. (That's globalisation for you, it's like saying Amazon.com is based in Brazil)
The Labour Party will decry independence due to the loss of seats in Westminster.
The Unions will decry independence for the same reason (given they buy labour MP's and stand to lose influence)
The Tories ... they're popular here.  (They used to be when they were the Unionists and just a bit different from the Tories)

Faslane/Trident won't move, but I doubt we'll pay for a replacement.
Jose Manuel Barroso keeps decrying Scotland's membership in Europe, but he has a vested interest in this, since Catalonia is also pushing for independence.
Border controls will be non existent, as they are when you travel to the Republic of Ireland

..and so on.
All we are trying to do is take control of how we go forward as a nation.

We are outnumbered 10/1 in population and almost constantly at odds with the policies coming out of Westminster.

Given a choice in that situation, what would you do?

Don't mind what Scotland decides, won't affect our Scottish mates on this site!

Seems a bit of a backward step to me but what do I know?

Tried Haggis for the first time this year and loved it.

i think some one wants the title of being the person who took scotland out of the uk not naming any names but it sounds fishy to me
if you think it will change nothing then why leave
& just think if you do leave i think they will move ship building back down saff as for the sub base we are now not a big power in the world so why have them they are a waste of money
Oil gas some day it will run out & what will take its place
don,t let a person who whats to make a name for imself cloud your judgement its your childrens future your talking about
don,t let a man who wh

ps could some one tell me if its true that if your a scot but live in england you can,t vote ?

It is true Pete.

so a if your a scot but live in england because that is where your work is you can not decide the future of your place of birth that smacks of because they live in england they might vote against it

Was a piece on the one show last week that ran with this issue. You cant vote if you don't live there but you automatically become a citizen if they vote yes and you were born in Scotland.

Heart says yes. Brain says....haven't got the right (or enough) info to make my mind up yet.

You can listen to arguments from either side and they sound reasonable.
Both sides appear to have 'statistics' that show their choice is right....Who'd have thought.
There are still lots of important unknowns.....hopefully there will be less and not more before September.

Can we do any worse than Westminster has done for Scotland (or all of the UK)?

Better the devil you know or don't know.........but at the moment I just don't know.....yet.

I just think it will be a bit sad that we won't be United anymore.

We are better together and, on a more practical note I am not sure a population 8 million can provide the income to run a nation like Scotland and keep things like the NHS, no tuition fee Uni's etc. They you get onto currency, national debt etc, etc
Also I just don't like Alex Salmond as his agenda is about feeding his ego and has little to do with what is better for Scotland.
I can see why the imposition of rules from a Tory dominated Westminster would grate, and the pride in nation hood is a strong draw for a country with a long and glorious past like Scotland.  
The best option, which isn't part of the vote would be an expanded devolution with more powers going to Holyrood

Oil wealth will decline and I struggle to see what will come in to replace it.

So I would go for staying part of the UK

You can only please some of the people some of the time.... Or something like that, it won't affect me in the slightest I can't imagine, If the scots want independence from one of the most powerful countries in the world, let them have it.

It won't improve your sporting chances or football teams tho lol.

I'm gonna plead the fifth, and stick to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

my view is that this is salmond's last stand, this is his moment in politics if the vote goes yes he's made Scotland independent if the vote is no he'll become nothing and fade away.

I personally think the uk should stay united as others have said, I've never had anything bad to say against the scots all the guys and girls on here are lovely and great and you are all friends. Again as others have said oil and gas will eventually run out and there are other places where its easier to get. Plus from my understanding a lot of North Sea Oil and Gas goes into Newcastle area thus surely biapassing scotland to an extent by the raw product not going directly into the country.

if Scotland does go independent there's surely now got to be big worries over the currency and the EU there's no guarantee Scotland would get into the EU and if it did get in how long it would take for it too be finalised, thus surely putting jobs/careers and thus families and livelihoods on the line.

Now by no means is current UK Government again good, probably never will be but I feel it would be better to stick together as a United Kingdom rather than go it alone with a lot of risk attached to it. yeah we've been shitty neighbours at times but we always work it out    

and as ellie says about sport sadly we'll probably still win the Calcutta cup next year..   but that's a whole other conversation about an aussie not knowing his best players from his worst...

I think it is a dangerous move. If Scotland get independence and become a truly independent oil rich nation with a populous of about 6 million people it is only a matter of time before America decides that Scotland is an 'axis of evil' and invades to protect its homeland!

 

I very much doubt we'll become rich if we decide on a yes vote (that has boat sailed) and if there ever is a surplus, every penny of it should be invested in planning for a post-oil economy.

If you think back over the last thirty odd years, what have consecutive UK governments done with the revenue the UK oil industry has generated?
It took us back from the brink of bankruptcy in the 70's, which is fair enough, but then it was used to fund the decimation of manufacturing in the 80's and subsequently pissed up against the wall in fits and starts by the chinless wonders in the financial services sector.
Essentially they spent everyone's savings on scratchcards, with a few keeping the winning tickets, and leaving the rest of us chumps with the duffers.   

I hope it doesn't happen as I intend to send my daughter to university in Scotland  

I would be careful Scotland. If you do separate from the U.K, and then quickly
join the E.U, the E.U would then control what goes into Scotland's new constitution.
Possibly taking away a lot of your liberties. It was tried in Australia in 1999, but failed.

Having said that though, the E.U controls the U.K, even with it's old constitution still intact,
because the knobs in Westminster are constantly hoodwinked into signing treaties, which
bypass the constitution.

This is true.
I've often thought of that putting the issue of Scotland 'giving up' some of it's sovereignty in a fiscal union into perspective.

Something worth reading on the on-again off-again 'debate' regarding fiscal union post independence, and why the Yes campaign doggedly maintain the line of sharing the debt.
To move from that position could screw us all.
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Absolute madness if u ask me been a english rangers fan (mothers side of the family are in Glasgow and no comments please it was leeds or rangers when I was a kid) nothing will change for the average man only a very select few would gain from this move naming no names but the rest of the world are trying to unite and this prat wants Scotland to go backwards I think you should all chuck him in the north sea and stop wasting money on daft campaigns then work together for a better uk