To wonder how you're voting in the Scottish Referendum and why?

[deeedeee]

a month away from the vote thought it would be interesting to ask

( no bunfighting , derision or soundbites please. just yes or no and why. feel free to post more than once with different reasons. No links unless independent fact or opinion, nothing from the official campaigns)

I'm a YES

because Westminster's failed to protect the vunerable and the UK's me first politics have taken us down a particularly nasty path. An independent Scotland leans towards to left and can potentially choose a better route. And if a change happens in scotland then I think that that could inspire a change in the direction of politics in the rest of the UK.

Under the EU regulations on renewables, every country must generate its own proportion of renewables. Imports don't count towards the quota.

You misunderstood me. Scotland has a surfeit of electricity generation. It needs no more, the only reason it is expanding at the moment it to meet rUKs targets, therefore loss of subsidies = less renewables expansion = no problem for iScotland.?

This is another reason why the rUK will benefit from Scottish independence - we won't have to pay subsidies for foreign wind energy, or pay more than the market price for it. Our energy bills should actually go down.

But yet the proposed cuts will still go ahead, while spending on nuclear weapons is increased. I don't see how anyone in the UK can justify that? Not as an argument for independence, but is it a move that really has the best interests of British citizens at heart?

But without nuclear weapons Britain cannot sit at the top table/punch beyond its weight....

This is another reason why the rUK will benefit from Scottish independence - we won't have to pay subsidies for foreign wind energy, or pay more than the market price for it. Our energy bills should actually go down

Have you seen how much the power from the new nuclear power stations is going to cost

anyway, this thread has now turned into the kinda thread I wanted to avoid, but realistically knew it would turn into. Still a helpful debate though I think! Thanks everyone for your opinions and ideas. exciting times!

I will vote no.

I don't think the fact that most of the Scottish electorate who voted, didn't vote conservative yet we have a conservative government at the moment is a reason to vote yes. I voted lib dem anyway . The population of Scotland is only 8% of the UK so we can expect to have 8% influence on the UK.

The island of Britain makes more sense as one political body than arbitrarily split up - we speak the same language and have no significantly different religious beliefs. It's sensible and mature to have administration of the whole island. It seems a pointless waste of money and time setting up new administrations just for the sake of it. However small the governing body some people will still feel unfairly treated - eg, my local authority is criticised for spending disproportionate sums on one of its towns (the least well off town in the area)

If people aspire to a fairer and more equal society then they surely want that for everyone in Britain - not just in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon says she wants a people "more confident in themselves as a nation" - what does that even mean? And what is "responsible" about breaking away from an established democracy necessitating complicated, time-consuming negotiations to grab as much as Scotland can get for itself?

One anonymous bureaucrat gave his personal opinion. All the major political parties have said that currency union will be ruled out in their election manifestos - and they have had to do so because their supporters all insist on it. Who do you believe?

I agree with the stance that, if rUK is against a currency union, then iScotland can't be expected to take a fair share of UK debt. How could we be expected to pay our share with the unstable economy the No side is predicting?

The population of Scotland is only 8% of the UK so we can expect to have 8% influence on the UK.

So if we become independent, we will have 100% influence over our own future, and rUK will become smaller, giving its own citizens more say in how it is governed.

Dissatisfaction with the status quo is a reason to try to improve things for everyone rather than to claim unfair treatment and leave.

Renewables are 'intermittent' sources as they don't produce electricity if the wind isn't blowing. With the current structure of the electricity grid, high levels of renewables can affect the longer term stability of the grid as it is much harder to balance supplies as you can't predict ahead of time when the wind is going to blow and for how long. It's doable but not without costs. These costs are currently smeared across the bills paid by customers in the much larger GB market.

Sorry for the Government report link www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/301772/2901910__ScotlandAnalysis_Energy_acc.pdf

UK consumers (GB consumers) paid £560 million in subsidies via their energy bills to support the renewables sector in 2012-13 (via the renewables obligation). Scottish generators got 28% of that total sum.

Renewable electricity currently has a premium on it.

One option for iScotland would be to introduce a different, less generous, subsidy regime for the sector going forwards. Suspect the renewables industry would howl so don't know if that is a goer.

Abra1d I don't expect more from an independent Scotland for me. I expect more for those in need. I'm a socialist.

What a great walk outdoors. Hilarious that someone like Lady actually presumes her patronising stereotypes cause upset in anyone.

Hahaha.

Just seen this.

I'm a yes.

Always been a yes.

It's just democracy 101 for a nation to run it's own affairs.

The current set up is undemocratic on both sides. Scots get right wing governments they don't vote for. England (&W & NI) get the west Lothian question (Scots labour MPs voting on devolved issues).

There are no positive reasons to vote no. It's all scaremongering. The only people I know who are voting no are the top 5% income/wealth bracket who have an 'I'm alright jack' attitude. They've never visited a scheme let alone ever lived there.

I'm scared of a no vote where we move deeper into a plutocracy where the 95% get thrown to the dogs.

therefore loss of subsidies = less renewables expansion = no problem for iScotland
I didn't say it was a problem for Scotland, I said it would be a benefit for rUK not to have to pay for it any more.

Have you seen how much the power from the new nuclear power stations is going to cost
Yes they will be expensive, but the investment will be in England and Wales, not in a foreign country. And it will not be dependent on the weather or diminishing oil reserves.

I do agree the nuclear deal is beyond terrible value for money.

I didn't say it was a problem for Scotland, I said it would be a benefit for rUK not to have to pay for it any more.

I'm glad we agree :-)

Yes they will be expensive, but the investment will be in England and Wales, not in a foreign country. And it will not be dependent on the weather or diminishing oil reserves.

I don't argue with those things. I just argue with your assertion that leccy bills would come down if Scotland leaves. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24604218
"The two sides have now agreed the "strike price" of £92.50 for every megawatt hour of energy Hinkley C generates. This is almost twice the current wholesale cost of electricity."

diminishing oil reserves isn't a problem though. The myth that iScotland's prosperity will depend on oil revenue has been debunked already.

Pretty thanks, I will read it shortly,my laptop is about to run out of charge and my children had taken all the chargers!

Sally, 'All the major political parties have said that currency union will be ruled out in their election manifestos' and 'they have had to do so because their supporters all insist on it'. The term 'major political parties' does not convey intelligence and as OldLady says their supporters consist of Brittanica, the Orange Order and VoteNoBorders.

Choc, voting LibDems was a great result, wasn't it?

I was a no....then undecided....now I'm a yes.

My DH was a no until this very morning when a leaflet was sent to him from the company he works for, basically scaring their workforce into voting no (threatening undercurrent of job losses if the yes vote goes through) so he's voting yes now.

A previous poster summed it up for me....

ItsAllGoingToBeFine Sat 23-Aug-14 11:28:35
I'm Yes because I would rather face an uncertain future, with hope, decided by those who live in Scotland, than an uncertain future, with fear, decided by those who live in the SE of England.

It's a hell yes from me! If Dave and Gideon believe we are 'better together' then doing the opposite is the right thing to do.

Choc, just mentioning before I run out of charge that Irish people speak the same language - English - because the English invaded Ireland and made it illegal to speak Irish with the penalty being death, prison or sent to Australia. Being able to speak the same language as your invaders is not something I would hail as a success story.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/08/citizens-income-71-week-person-would-make-britain-fairer

This is something I'd welcome in an independent Scotland.

No. No. No. No thanks. Not al all.

I am one of the very many economically productive and hard-working citizens who will be voting No because....

1. We don't want to live in a tiny, poor, unimportant country run by champagne socialists who talk the talk about poverty while spending our money on helicopters and 5* hotels.

1. GB punches well above its weight internationally for historic reasons. No way will the President of Scotland (or the King or whatever Salmond calls himself) be at the table with China, Japan, USA etc.

1. I love living here at the moment, as a British citizen, but will move under independence because I am British, not Scottish first and foremost and my family is a tangled mess of different UK nationalities. I do not want to live abroad.

1. I disagree with huge amounts of the things done by the Scottish Parliament. The recent legislation to take parents away from being a child's person of responsibility pissed me off. Armed police....Money squandered on things like free prescriptions which, while very nice, only actually save the well off any money (the poor, elderly and children do not pay anyway)

1. The lies.. oh the lies. The NHS is being privatised. Please. It is fully devolved and many aspects of it are already run privately: IT systems (Fujitsu) and so forth. Some operations are even being contracted out. As long as it is free AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY I don't care how the money is carved up.

1. The lack of straight answers. The SNP and their cronies are asking people to make an huge, irrevocable decision and yet are providing no details and just empty promises and dreams. It is like asking you to vote for better weather. Yes, it would be lovely but they can't deliver it, nor shoudk they be primping they can.

1. I find the attitude of the Yes campaign racist and unpleasant. So they have started substituting "Westminster" for "the English" and hidden some of their more rabid nutters away. But they are still there. A parent, rather than talking to me about his son at a parents' meeting, tried to campaign. Our neighbour, in spite of being asked not to, has taken to putting leaflets through our door in the dead of night. Facebook is a bloody minefield at the moment. My children (teens, but not yet voting age) were pitched to on a summer camp where they arrived to find their accommodation and classrooms festooned with "Yes" propaganda.

Finally, the notion that a "No" is not the end of it and they will keep at us means we will probably move anyway soon.

I think a lot of No voters are keeping quiet because they are intimidated. I think it will be 60+ / 40 - on the day but, oh god, that Labour had been stronger and we hadn't ended up in this mess.