Livingzuid thank you. I have been watching the two campaigns with my chin getting further towards the floor at every broadcast! The rUK seem to have been forgotten or the assumption is we are just going to sit around tut tutting and handing over the pound, more powers or whatever with a shrug and a smile.We are not.
I am English. Born, bred and living in England. I am married to a Scot, a Highlander. They don't get much prouder of being a Scot but he has made his home down south for various reasons. He, if he had a vote, is a staunch no voter. He has worked abroad for about half his life in various countries and, in his words, has seen the benefits of being in the UK.
As Livingzuid said there are 60million people in the rUK. 40million are eligible to vote in elections in England alone. And what our politicians seem to have forgotten (until Friday morning of course) is that they have a general election booked for next May. Why the referendum was booked for this precise time I do not know but there isn't going to be a lot of negotiating going on in the next seven months. All of the MPs will be trying to placate their constituency. Especially those of us who found the sight of 100 plus MPs trekking up to Scotland to try to give Big Hugs very nauseating and extremely patronising. So who an Independent Scotland will sit around the table with is a bit puzzling. Of course there will be negotiations but why would DC, NC and EM drop everything to talk to AS when they can stall and get on with getting their seats in May? It suits rUK to stall the process. We have to find a home for Trident for a start.
The yes campaign have also glossed over the point that, whilst they can have the pound - they can use pink monopoly money if they want - they need the BofE to back it. And 45million voters (England, Wales and N Ireland) may send their own mandate saying we don't feel safe in that situation. In that case iScotland need to find a bank of last resort. If BoE don't back them who will? AS has threatened that in that scenario he will not sign up to debt repayment. Fine, but you try getting a loan if you have defaulted on a debt. Scotland will end up with a Wonga rate of interest from a European bank instead of a high street bank rate (to use the domestic analogy). And it will need to put aside a huge amount of money as security for its savers just as Hong Kong do.Last I read that estimate was £130billion. That cannot be used, ever, for other things like education, NHS, etc. So iScotland will have to find vast amounts of cash from the start just to put to one side... No use to any man, woman or child in the country...just sitting there. Of course, give us a cut of the oil revenue and we can make a deal. Or keep Trident for us...you can hear the negotiations almost as you vote...The point is, and this seems to have been missed or glossed over, that iScotland keeping the pound and have the BofE back you is a bad thing in rUK voters eyes. IScotland walking away from the debt will just get a very bad name on the international markets. Which to be frank I and many others in rUK don't care about. You'll be independent. You won't be the UK. So what will you do? It is called a rock and a hard place. It hasn't, apparently, even been thought about by AS and co and the rUK voters can make it happen if our politicians don't start 'manning' up and taking notice of our views in this. Because we vote them out of office...
And as for Devo semi Max (as DH is now calling it) for the no vote? Again if it appears to be costing money for rUK the MPs will be cautious. Their seat depends on OUR vote not the voters in Scotland who don't generally deliver a lot of Tory or Labour seats. If they give away too much they lose the election...
And a lost election brings changes. Promises by one Government count for a bag of beans when a different face moves into no 10.And negotiations can change if the face sitting round the table changes.
Scotland have their vote on Thursday. The rUK will be voting in May and we will just watch what happens in these next few months. Then put our cross.