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?

if there's a yes/no vote i think it theres a strong chance it would go to Yes, not least as a fuck you to Cameron for pressing the issue. If not, then i think most folk would go DevoMax.

I'm not really sure if more young people would vote for independence or not. I hadnt really considered it before.

Oh, do they think? i thought you asked if i thought. I dont know, apparently they've been going to reduce the age in scotland anyway and this will be the first opportunity since they've had a majority government.

Jenny, polls seem to imply it would go to No. DevoMax in there because Alex Salmond wants to keep the chatter going rather than actually running the Government he's got.

Lemon not much point (and somewhat defeating the object) in being a member of the SNP in London.

i know what the polls say, but they also said SNP wouldnt get a majority government. And they said the tories would. You can't trust them entirely.

See I don't think the tories are actually fighting against this!

It's the votes in Scotland that keep the Tories out of power when Labour wins, isn't it?

If Scotland goes, then there will be a significant power shift towards the tories in England and Wales and we'll be stuck with them for bloody ages

And why do they want to keep Scotland anyway? We've had all the oil money now.

I reckon the tories have to be seen to be fighting against it on the surface, but they're deliberately doing in such an incompetent and arrogant way, that's bound to get the Scots' backs up, and bolster the campaign for independence. Remember the tories are hated in Scotland (with good reason!)

Or perhaps I'm crediting the tories with too much ingenuity! Perhaps the Tories do want to hold onto Scotland but are incapable of arguing for keeping the union in a way that doesn't seriously annoy the Scots!

Defence would be an issue surely? If the current military bases in Scotland were closed there would be a huge knock on effect for local economies. I can't see that a Scottish defence force would be large enough to inhabit the bases at current levels. Plus they'd need to invest in their own ships, subs, planes, etc.

I'm inclined to agree migratingsouth with your view of the bolloxarse rubbish coming out from the Govt about retaining Scotland. In my view the Tories could only gain from a voting perspective by Scotland leaving. I was nervous my cynicism was spiralling out of control though!

I'm not sure there is an upper limit for cynicism where this government's concerned!

Think they've already said the military would continue as it is, CaveMum.

To go back to the question of what would happen if there was a referendum in both England and Scotland, and the English voted no and the Scottish voted yes.

We would be voting on two different questions. The Scottish would be voting on whether or not they wanted to be a separate state. If they voted yes, the English cannot force them to stay part of the UK.

The English would then be voting on if they want to be part of a new arrangement in which we are in a union with only Wales and Northern Ireland. It shouldn't be assumed that the English want to be part of that new arrangement. If the English vote no, then they have to come to a decision about what they do want, in the absence of Scotland.

To me, it would seem ridiculous for England to be part of governing Northern Ireland in the absence of Scotland. A large part of the culture, politics and family heritage of Northern Ireland is closely linked to Scotland. It would very problematic for England to be dealing with Northern Ireland without Scotland. So I would vote no to England remaining in a union with Northern Ireland if Scotland goes.

In some ways I wish they would carry out a referendum in England first, so that we could go first before Scotland does so. I resent being left with the massive ethical problems associated with governing Northern Ireland. I think Scotland should be thinking a lot more about what the impact will be on Northern Ireland if they break away from it, rather than the Scottish general public expecting England to sort it out.

Because ultimately, whatever happens in Scotland, England and Wales, there isn't a great likelihood of people killing each other just because of a bit of political change. But that remains an issue in Northern Ireland, and I think that should be the priority of both the Scottish and the English when considering their independence.

I support Independence for Scotland! That's ScotLAND not the watery bit around it - that's the UK's and we should all benefit from it not just the non-dairy product eating attack simians.

Don't kid yourselves that it wouldn't impact England, if that was the case, governments past and present wouldn't fight so hard to keep the United Kingdom. I figure that if the oil was a little further south then it would be, "bye bye Scotland."

Not had chance to read this thread due to being at work but will hazard a guess there will have been a fair few obnoxious posts, some arrogant ones, some patronising ones and some interesting ones?

stopped posting on these threads after the last one when arseholes posters were saying Scotland should be in a different time zone as you cross the border so we didn't inconvenience them

on the button Fanjo!

'Lemon not much point (and somewhat defeating the object) in being a member of the SNP in London.'

But I thought you wanted Alex Salmond to be judged against London politicians, though? He doesn't really look great taken against Westminster politicians, some of whom are rubbish, some fantastic and so on but Salmond definitely nothing special. He looks better in Scotland.

It's great getting free stuff, isn't it Fan?

Isn't the different time zone thing more because the south of England is pretty much an hour ahead of the north of Scotland, in terms of sunlight?

compared to Cameron, Clegg and Milliband - are you serious?

just read the "people prefer the Welsh and Northern Irish" post.

Well, I do, to some English people

I think its an intereting discussion, how would Scotland have got on alone in the financial crisis? Another point is that I don't see how a scottish person can be Prime Minister because at the end of the day, Gordon Brown was responsible as PM for many english only issues whilst being a Scottish MP and so not affected by any of said policies. How can that be right?