Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP made me so uncomfortable that when the economy started to struggle in Aberdeen, like many others, I moved to England, and have felt glad I did so ever since. Where do I start?
- the Scottish Constitution - no proper checks and balances on abuse of power because it is a unicameral set up. In other words, they check themselves! No plans to improve it. The SNP talked about a "Scottish version of the ECHR" - why not just adopt the EU one? Perhaps because a lot of legislation is non-compliant with the ECHR if properly scrutinised.
-Corruption in the way that only a small country which likes to protect certain interests gets away with. City of Edinburgh Council is mired in scandal that the Scottish Government didn't even bother to debate - statutory notices fraud (forcing large numbers of property owners to pay for expensive and shoddily done work by the Council's favourite compulsorily appointed tradesmen), PPIs projects done so incompetently that schoolchildren died due to collapsing new buildings, crematorium scandals, etc.
- higher taxes and tax creep and for what?
- the roads are truly dreadful. Its not all about the slow failure of the A9, the SNP are incapable of building motorways between the cities. The M8 has only 2 lanes and a traffic jam its entire length every day. The Edinburgh Bypass is the same. You can't drive between Edinburgh and Dundee on a motorway, no you have to drive all the way round Dundee and stop at traffic lights and navigate several roundabouts.
- the country has just become depressing. Aberdeen, where I used to live, has lost so many talented workers that Scotland really needed to retain due to job losses. Not a word from the SNP about that. There are so many empty offices with for rent signs, so many boarded up former shops in the city centre.
- new build housing estates going up in vast numbers everywhere and why? Everyone wants to move to Edinburgh because its the least depressing part if you need a salaried job, but that does mean the central belt has turned into an unplanned conurbation with quite appalling transport infrastructure. The new housing estates are to try and stimulate the failing economy.
I dread having to go into Scotland for work now, because I know that I will be stuck in numerous traffic jams and it will take me much longer to travel the same distance as elsewhere.
- Education - university numbers from Scotland have reduced under the SNP and if you have ever had to try and teach them at university, you will know that most university lecturers agree that the debating skills of Scottish students are sorely lacking - the schools fail to equip them with that for some reason. Admittedly this is nothing new.
- Control. The Scottish Government loves to pass legislation controlling peoples' lives and banning things. It is quite often told that this is illegal by the European Court of Justice!! It also likes to use legislation to create protected little industries that people are forced to pay for when they aren't in other parts of the country - see statutory notices above, licenses that aren't required elsewhere, sellers' surveys retained, etc..
England is not perfect. But its a huge relief living here and not being subjected to the scary SNP policies. Living under constant threat of vast constitutional upheaval gets you down! Its hard to plan your life. The NHS is better here. I can see a specialist sent to my small town to consult whereas in Aberdeen, you often would have to travel to Glasgow to see a specialist. Theres a big recruitment problem. I wonder why? See above.
I don't actually believe the SNP's commitment to joining the EU on independence. Its so non-compliant, from its budget deficit to its legislation. All those jobs created by legislation in the property sector would have to go, because they don't comply with EU competition law. The UK as a whole has always been given an easy ride by the EU compliance authorities, but a new entrant country would be much more heavily scrutinised. Even its government structure is not compliant as it is not bicameral and doesn't provided the checks and balances required elsewhere.
So an independent Scotland would be instantly a high tax country with a failing economy and deteriorating infrastructure, outwith the EU and with no prospect in sight of its joining. They can talk all they like about joining the EU - it would likely take at least 12 years but that's if the EU bent the goalposts and ignored the requirements that other new countries are subject to, such as changing their legislation and constitutions to comply with EU rules. That seems about as likely as Scotland's economy improving enough to join in that timescale.
So you end up in a tiny country on its own, with an inadequate constitution, severe economic problems, outwith the EU and the ECHR and a government structure that permits both abuse of power and legislation controlling peoples' lives.
That's why I got out!