AIBU to move home to Scotland?

[thiscouldbethehill]

I’m Scottish, my DH is English and we have two young Welsh DC. We are currently in a position to think about moving and I really want to move home but my DH is worried about how it will be in Scotland over the next few years. We met at Uni in Scotland so he has lived there before and he loves the country but is worried about bad feeling towards the English now that Scotland will be ramping up towards another referendum.

Politically we are left wing and are gutted by the result today. It has certainly made me even more likely to want to move.
My hometown where I would like to move back to is near a big city and has a pretty mixed population so I don’t think it would be much of a problem. What do you think?

Thanks

Scotland is very appealing to me. I have zero reason to move there as my family and I are settled here.
But if I or dh were from Scotland or had family there I'd move there pronto.

My DH is English and has had no bother at all, has lived in Scotland for maybe 6 years so yours will be fine, the kids too seeing as they are welsh.

Yanbu in wanting to move to Scotland, it's lovely up here!

I am Scottish and live with my English husband and half English children in Scotland. We don't experience any problems.

Most Scots are anti independence and Boris has ruled out another indyref. So whilst the uber Nats will continue to froth at the mouth most of us will just get on with it.

There are loads of English people in Scotland. If you watch programmes like Countryfile or Grand Tours of Scottish Lochs, a disproportionate number of the "locals" they interview have English accents.

I really like Scotland and the people and would be very happy living there but DH says he won't move there because of the weather. I have argued that it's not like the difference between Iceland and Sicily but he's not having any of it.

I think it’s a lot better than it was twenty or thirty years ago.
I have gone back and forth over a time period. At my children’s primary school there was a mother who once exclaimed about ‘all these English parents who talk at school meetings’ . She didn’t like it and didn’t think that English parents should be expressing opinions!
An English friend who moved from Devon had kids who were bullied badly.
However, on the whole it is fine. On the surface. I do think a lot of Scots inwardly grimace when they hear an English accent though. They have just got skilled at not showing it.

Yes come home :)

Nicola Sturgeon is under the misapprehension that everyone who votes for the SNP must be pro independence. Not so at all. Many people voted for them because they could see no other viable option, but would not back the SNP in a second independence referendum.
I think she will go at it again until she gets her way, but will be defeated again. That will be the end of her because it’s all she cares about.

I also find cheering for England in sporting events is also slightly antagonistic.
That's completely ridiculous! So is it antagonistic for all my non English born friends and family to cheer for their home nations in sport when they live in England?
It's ONLY in Scotland that I have ever seen a whole nations media celebrating when an England team loses btw, whether Scotland won anything or not..
I think that if you are Scottish in Scotland you are unlikely to notice anti English sentiment because it's not directed at you.
I'm not really buying the total denial that it exists.

Come on up! There will always be a small minded minority of anti-anything in any section of society but in my experience Scotland isn't anti-English just anti-Westminster.

I think you'll be surprised Sunset. After the omnishambles of an election campaign, Brexit and now the very real threat that a Tory government poses to our health service, I reckon more Scots than ever are looking for independence.

I lived in Scotland for seven years and we want to go back next year because we loved it. I never experienced anti English sentiment, but it might be easier because I'm a woman. My husband is quite lucky because he's a kiwi and his dad was born in Arbroath so he's quite readily accepted.

Please make sure you do your own research into how a new currency (and costs involved setting it up) , no Barnet formula and a border with their main trading partner will affect Scotland
Scotland could certainly thrive and be a successful country in the longer term - but in the short term it could be very very rocky
I personally will be going to live over the border in England if it happens- as I am self employed and trade mainly with rest of the UK-

I've been trying to sort a move to Scotland for a while. Now definitely a priority!

My husband is English and runs our local Independence group- Scottish independence is not about being anti English- it’s anti Westminster- anti capitalism- anti privatisation of our NHS! In fact the SNP are far more tolerant than the bigoted conservatives who are anti immigrants, anti disabled, anti poor! In Scotland we don’t care what your nationality is, if you want to make Scotland your home then you are welcome! We NEED immigration- we NEED our European and all of our neighbours for our workforce!

Everyone confuses SNP for being a racist Nazi party- it’s not! We are the left- the conservatives are the right wingers and quite frankly they are bordering on fascism!

I don’t want to be associated with the bigoted muppet in charge of the United Kingdom- England voted conservative- they get the government they have chosen. But we didn’t vote conservative- we want to distance ourselves from the embarrassment that is Westminster. We want our votes to actually count! When every single Scot could vote SNP and STILL end up with a conservative government- that’s not a democracy! That’s just pretence of democracy for Scots in the United Kingdom!

In an Independent Scotland our votes would actually decide who governs Scotland! At the moment even if we were not allowed to vote in Scotland- the results would be the same. It is very discouraging and it is why a lot of people don’t bother turning up- they think there is no point!

If your husband experienced racism I am very sorry/ it is the few not the many! We are not anti England/ we are pro Scottish independence- pro tolerance - pro NHS- pro European and pro democracy!

Please make sure you do your own research into how a new currency (and costs involved setting it up) , no Barnet formula

Honestly, where do you think the block grant comes from? The block grant is just over half of the money sent down from Scotland. It is our money being returned. Just under half is kept by U.K. gov and spend on Scotland’s behalf. For things like some welfare benefits, pensions, defence, national infrastructure like Westminster refurbishment, HS2, even the London Olympic Games, and paying towards a massive U.K. gov debt.

You will no doubt be aware that unlike the English, who automatically support Scottish sports teams as a home nation if they’re playing foreign teams, the Scots will support “anyone but England”

Not true. Not all Scots will support “ anyone but England”.
My family are Scottish born and bred and will support England in sporting events whether it’s football,rugby or cricket as do our friends.
Please don’t tar everyone in Scotland with the same brush.

Nicola Sturgeon is under the misapprehension that everyone who votes for the SNP must be pro independence

She really isn't. The first words.out of her mouth on an interview I saw today was stating that she knew that not everyone who voted SNP was in favour of independence!

The Anyone But England issue - do you believe that Man City fans cheer on Man United if they have been knocked out or not qualified? Cmon folks it's exactly the same thing for Scotland fans.

And I find it very condescending that English people would cheer Scotland on - why do they do it? Because we share an island? Because we can be the plucky underdogs?

@thiscouldbethehill

Knock yourself out!

Move.

I reckon more Scots than ever are looking for independence.

Indeed. I know quite a few no voters from 2014 who are now very much YES. Some of them are English at that.

@Amortentia do you believe that Scotland does not have any national debt?

The Scottish gov has only recently got limited borrowing powers and doesn't use them. Funding through block grant means they must balance the books.

The deficit attributed to Scotland comes from UK gov overspending. Have a look at GERS, the don't add up.

All countries have some level of debt but We get governments in Westminster we didn't vote for but have no choice to contribute to whatever they chose to do or any debt they build up.

Scotland does not have any national debt because it does not have the legal right to borrow money. It is legally required to balance its budget.

The way Scotland's fiscal policy works is Scotland sends it's income to Westminster and receives some it back as a 'grant' (the Barnett Formula). It spends that money on the areas it is legally allowed to - free tertiary education for all (Uni or FE college); free prescriptions; free care for the elderly; mitigating the impact of Tory austerity (e.g the Rape Clause/Bedroom Tax etc).

The balance of the spend is controlled by Westminster and allocated as Scotland expenditure. This includes Armed Forces, Trident, HS2, Cross Rail, Heathrow runway 5 and various other UK level services. Scotland has no say in these projects and their economic impact at all. In fact, Westminster deliberately withheld the economic controls and decision making powers needed to manage Scotland's economy and then points at the notional deficit as evidence that Scotland is 'too poor' to go it alone.

The real question is; if we've been in the Union for 300 years but are running an 8% deficit, even though 40 billion barrels of oil (40,000,000,000!) have been extracted from the North Sea, then is the Union working for Scotland?

Edit to my last: Amortentia is right re borrowing powers being limited but not used. Even if used, they would still be required to balance the budget