To think Scotland becoming independent wouldn't have any impact on the rest of the UK?

[lesley33]

Some in Scotland want it to become independent. I don't really understand why the coalition government is fighting against this happening. Will it really matter in the rest of the UK if scotland does become independent?

I think generally people just prefer the welsh /Norns irish tbh.

I think it is because Wales and NI don't go on about England stealing their oil or being a drain on them.

She said not well connected airport, not that there wasn't one at all!

And for Edinburgh airport that is true.

I think it's fairly well connected, and Glasgow International is an hour's drive away, you'd be looking at an hour long airport transfer in London/Paris etc.

There's not a very high opinion of Scottish folk on this thread. We don't all walk about banging on about England. FFS

Alex salmOnd is a fucking toad anyway

I digress though.

I actually think Alex Salmond is a very good politician, although I don't agree with a lot of the propoganda around scottish oil and tax.

and to be fair I've heard a fair few Welsha nd NI people going on about England in a similar vein to the one us Scots apparently use about England

I know Edinburgh has an airport - I once spent four not very exciting hours in it. But, London has

• Heathrow
• Gatwick
• Luton
• Stansted and
• City

There are hourly flights to NYC (at least), as well as thousands of other daily flights, the Eurostar etc. etc.

That's one of the main attractions of London for business, including finance - it's the gateway to Europe. Edinburgh, as lovely as it is, can't compete with that without HUGE amounts of investment.

I think nationalistic mudslinging is clouding the issues around independence

I'm not nationalistically mudslinging. I'm neither English nor Scottish, though have lived in both.

If you want to fly anywhere outside of the usual big holiday destinations, you have to travel to London.

Yes, Abs, im not saying it's as well connected as London, but we dont need it to be. We only have 6 million people to support. Edinburgh (and Scotland, generally) is pretty well connected for it's size.

The coalition government is against Scotland becoming independent because they know they would lose out financially. Of course, it can't be admitted.

as it would be a bit undemocratic to allow one country to decide another country's future

If you are going to break up the union - then the four countries in the union should be allowed to vote on the break-up of that union and not just one country in the union and the other three countries don't get a choice.

I wasnt accusing you, just speaking generally about the issue. you never mentioned nationality that i noticed.

Yes Edinburgh is well connected for its size. The responses about connections is in response to the suggestion the banks would move their head offices from London to Edinburgh. The connections are not good enough for that.

So, supposing Scotland voted for outright independence and the other countries voted for the union?
What would the position be then?

Annakin, I'm afraid it's totally, utterly wrong to say that non-English people would be accurate in saying Westminster IS England's government. It isn't, it's the UK's. If it wasn't, there'd be no non-English MPs getting to vote on issues which affect the English but which are dealt with by devolved legislatures for their own constituents. While you are right about media coverage, that has nothing to do with whether Westminster is an English parliament or not. You confuse the two issues.

Whoever said about NI and Wales being independent as well, not going to happen. Neither would be viable as sole units (as distinct from NI being part of a united Ireland). It's not arrogance, it's fact. Scotland is the only one of the three that could be viable- although they'd best hope the Shetlands don't decide to go independent after that or the oil revenues might vanish rather quickly!

There are a lot of key issues that need to be thrashed out before the referendum though, so Scots can make an informed decision. I hope they have clear answers to the following before voting:

• Whether the currency would have to change
• How long the oil is likely to last, and what the plans are for income afterwards
• What percentage/repayment Westminster would take, given that the investment in order to drill the oil came from the UK coffers, which of course included and continues to include Scotland

A lot of the other stuff like level of European involvement can be thrashed out later, but I think if I were voting, I'd want concrete answers on all these before making my decision. Obviously some people will vote on the grounds that they're a principled unionist/independence advocate, which is fine. But I think a lot of people, like me, would be pragmatic, so they should be informed.

Where is Scotland again?

"The referendum is a good idea - if Scotland go their own way, then they will no longer be able to blame a government which happens to be situated in England (even though it's a British government) for whatever goes wrong. It will sink or swim according to its own management.

Likewise, if Scotland chooses to remain as part of a union, then they've had their choice and will know that they are where they are through their own free will and not because of a domineering England."

Agreed.

I still haven't seen a good explanation of why English people should be against Scottish independence. Does anyone know? Except perhaps MrsMicawber's suggestion about politicians' egos, which may have some truth to it.

if they did, would there need to be passport controls? Visas if you wanted to move to Scotlad or vice versa?

This thread makes me feel quite sad - I am proud to be british but comments such as "people prefer the welsh and Irish" are quite embarrassing for us all.

empirebiscuit - I don't think it is actually true