I don't know one single reason why Scotland would want to quit the UK

[ClementineKelandra]

I'm genuinely interested in the reasons why Scotland want to break away from the UK. I'm sure there must be many good ones but I jyst can't see any atm.

I will admit to having a negative thing about English sports broadcasting and their compulsion to bring England into the discussion no matter which countries are playing and to bring up the fact that England won the World Cup in 1966

But that is not a reason to vote yes or no to independence much as I would like it to be

I like Andy Murray.

Would I have to stop supporting him?

That could be the clincher. Not that I've got a vote.

SunsetSongster, love the name! Am guessing which part of rural Scotland you come from.

Votes from anyone are significant. That's the point. You're vote still counts no matter who you are.

Typically pro-unionist headline from the Scotsman "Scottish independence: RBS could move HQ after independence, warns bank chief" - but in the meat of the article, what he actually says is "?We have no intention or plan to relocate from Scotland,? he told peers. However, he added: ?If as a result of independence we found extra difficulties or cost pressures or whatever arising from that, then we would have to think about other alternatives.?"

There's a big jump from that to "The RBS is planning on moving"

Banks and other large institutions are always threatening to move if they don't like the particular conditions of where they are located. That has been one of Westminster's arguments for not bringing in greater controls over the banks "because there would be an exodus from London".

"Votes from anyone are significant. That's the point. You're vote still counts no matter who you are."
Which neatly brings us back to the point that independence is desired because of the perception that your vote counts not one whit, because the nation next door outnumbers you ten to one.

I remember when we had the referendum about the Scottish Parliament, and the number of people (including my English ex) said, in a group of four of us that they (that's the Scots BTW) were not ready to make our own decisions.
He was backed up by the English girl while me and the other Scot just looked like this .
History repeating itself.

should have said 'statistically significant', i fear.

There are many things I don't like about Scotland:

The "I kent your faither" attitude (ie don't get too big for your boots)
The West of Scotland sectarianism
The whole Celtic-Rangers rivalry (and The Rangers hasn't changed that)
Separate State schools for Catholics
The blinkered Labour voting (as they say, you could put up a monkey in a red rosette and they'd still vote for them) because of an even more blinkered hatred of the Tories (and I say that as someone who was brought up as a Labour voter but who was thoroughly disillusioned by the New Tory Labour party who sold their soul to get the Middle England vote :()
The parochialism and cronyism of some of the councils

But none of those are actual reasons against independence or for the Union. They are things that need to be worked on and challenged.

There are catholic state schools which catholics can go to. They aren't all forced into one!
And did you see the gubbing labour took last year?

Not enough of a gubbing where I am I still have a Labour MP

The separate Catholic schools just seems crazy - where I am, the "Catholic" school is almost exclusively Muslim and Sikh . It's also half full, while the non-denom school just along the road is bursting at the seams.

I also think that the separate schooling encourages sectarianism - but I know that there are many that disagree. I personally don't think that religion (as opposed to RME) has any place in any state school.

But that's a whole different can of worms and probably should be kept out of the pro/anti Independence discussions

Meant to include that in the local elections, my representation didn't change (and not did control of the Council): my ward is represented by one Labour, one SNP and one Tory councillor. Go figure those demographics!

I'm Scottish living in Scotland .

There is a huge support for independence among my family and friends. I am probably going to vote yes however what holds me back is that twat Alex Salmond --l am not sure he is fit to lead us as an independent nation, Nicola Sturgeon now there is a good leader for us.

if it comes in, it should be so interesting to see what happens to the tories in scotland. i quite like a rural Scottish tory, tbh, or men like Teddy Taylor who we had for many years in Glasgow. Thatcher and what came after ruined those people, really, but they'll be able to come back and actually stand for scottish conservatism now, if we were separate.

So does the rest of the U.K. not have catholic schools? Aren't there state CofE schools though?

We live in interesting times! Or we might do.

As I understand it (via the wisdom of MN, never having had kids in England), the CofE and Catholic schools in England are grant aided, so although "free", are not 100% state in the way that the Catholic school are in Scotland (as well as, iirc, the one Jewish school and the Church of Scotland school). There are defined catchments just as with the non-denom schools.

That's why councils have to consult when proposing closing Catholic schools.

But as I say, it's a separate issue to the one of independence.

But Doha, if Salmond is "not fit to lead us", then he'll be voted out 2 years after the referendum. It's the rest of eternity we're talking about here :-D... having Salmond for the odd extra year or two after independence really isn't a reason to vote no! (I do see you are swaying toward a yes vote, though; good stuff! :-))

Ah I see thank you pretty!!

Ach, forgot the proper way to do smilies on my phone ... I'm definitely not bright enough to cope with independence

I'm really worried about independence. Don't know anyone locally who want it, but hear enough from friends of friends to worry. Agree that it does seem a bit fixed with respect to dates - hoping to push it through on a waft of Scottish patriotism following the Glasgow commonwealth games. Just wish it had been this year - I've never seen o many union jacks around - its as if its been reclaimed for the people rather than just rangers fans.

And tourism may well not be such a big economic factor if we continue to get wind farms and massive power lines being built in all the glorious areas, and identikit housing estates that spread fo miles.

Didn't snp get in as partly as a protest vote against labour?

I fear for the education as well. I have no faith in the curriculum for excellence, I worry about there being sufficient university places for Scots - will they soon be favouring the paying English??

Rant over.

My 14 year old is planning to vote yes and he hasn't even seen Braveheart. I think the yes vote from teenagers is likely to be quite high.

I am a bit put off by Alex Salmond cozying up to anyone with a fat wallet I must admit.

I'll be voting Yes based on the fact it will be better for Scotland for decisions affecting us to be made here.

Westminster's own GERS figures show that if tax and spending stayed exactly the same we'd have an extra £500 for every man, woman and child in Scotland. We could then use that to improve services based on our needs and wants, such as protecting the NHS and universal benefits. That figure does take into account paying our share of national debt. It also takes into account paying for our share of Trident, which would be £250 million a year (running costs, that doesn't include the planned multi-billion-pound renewal) more to invest in growing our economy to create more jobs.

Speaking of Trident, an independent Scotland would also be able to remove these barbaric weapons of mass destruction from our soil/waters. We don't have a choice under Westminster but to have them housed 30miles from our largest city.

Aside from the economic argument, it is about our ability to choose: to choose a government that represents us; to choose to put looking after the most vulnerable before paying for nuclear weapons; to choose not to be involved in illegal wars; to choose to have our voice heard internationally.

If someone 'feels British' then I cannot tell them otherwise, it's an emotional argument and a personal thing. However, going on all evidence-based logic, what's best for Scotland is undoubtedly a Yes vote for independence.

Oh, and I'm Scottish though was born in England and have an English husband (who is also voting yes) and I've never seen Braveheart.

Twooter, the current SNP government in the Scottish Parliament won by a fucking landslide, within a system specifically set up to avoid such a situation.

(The Scottish Parliament as envisaged by the late, and much missed, Donald Dewar was always supposed to be more collaborative than antagonistic, more about the value of a particular policy than party politics. The list system was supposed to balance things out a bit, so that no political party should ever hold an overwhelming majority.)

How can you possibly describe that as a "protest vote against Labour"?