Is England not shitting itself Scotland becomes independent cos then they will have the tories FOREVER

[ssd]

Its a thought isnt it....

DC must be rubbing his hands, get rid of those bloody labour voters in Scotland and we;ll be in gov forever!!!!

I'm all for it, exciting times. Mt Scots family members are sure that it is something they want for their country, and that a continued alliance is not, so I think that all residents should get the chance to make decisions for their own country. Like adults.
It may be rough, and there will be negatives to overcome, but that is the nature of change.
England gets blamed for the legacy of colonialism all the time, so it will be just one more name on the list.

Exciting times?? I'm Scottish living in Scotland and shiting ma breeks in case of a yes vote!
I know it's not about Salmond (although I think it's about time someone told him that) but to be this close to the referendum and not sorted out such basics as currency is ridiculous

Colette yes I am worried that England somehow will be blamed but perhaps that is due to it happening for the last three hundred years and I can't quite believe it will stop if we part company and if we don't part company and a no vote is reached will the Scots really be happy to stay?

ivykaty44 - not sure about the last 300 years ! But if they are independent and it is not working out well for Scotland don't see how they can blame England.. and don't think they will.

Colette possibly if they keep the pound and this makes there costs high, at the moment there is no news on which currency they are going to use

If they have problems with the north sea oil, then again I can see this being a big concern as it is so complicated

There are a few other issues I can see being a problem

Its a love hate relationship

We will be using the pound sterling, there is no doubt about that, rUK can't afford for us not to. As for oil, there is massive investment going in to the new Kraken fields to the north, and, once shot of Trident, potentially huge reserves off the Ayrshire coast. It's not going to run out in my lifetime.

Threads like this always bring out anti Scottish or anti English comments, nasty and divisive, maybe that's the point
We pay for you
No we subsidise you 'cos of the oil
It's all the fault of the big bad English
Those Scots are always moaning and blaming us for everything
Pathetic tit for tat, na na na na na
I'm Scottish and British and hope to remain so btw

I'm English, and I can safely say I'm not shitting myself about the prospect of Scotland becoming in dependant. Not even a little bit.

The FT has been running a serious of articles about Independence. There are some good graphics:

www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5b5ec2ca-8a67-11e3-ba54-00144feab7de.html#slide0

"If its geographic share of UK oil and gas output is taken into account, Scotland’s GDP per head is bigger than that of France. Even excluding the North Sea’s hydrocarbon bounty, per capita GDP is higher than that of Italy. Oil, whisky and a broad range of manufactured goods mean an independent Scotland would be one of the world’s top 35 exporters.
An independent Scotland could also expect to start with healthier state finances than the rest of the UK. Although Scotland enjoys public spending well above the UK average – a source of resentment among some in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the cost to the Treasury is more than outweighed by oil and gas revenues from Scottish waters."

Oh ink the English (and welsh and Irish) should also get the vote, after all its a union, can't we decide who is in the union. Salmons missed a trick on that one!

Of course people aren't shitting themselves about it. They're hardly aware of it. Politics is too much like hard work when you've got more important things to do like watch Strictly and I'm a Jungle-something-or-other.

[sarcasm]

It will be good for both countries to get the leader they vote for.

Besides if the vote is 'no', perhaps Cameron intends to offer England, Wales and NI a referendum to ask if we want to divorce Scotland.

oldladyknows nothing has the issue of independent Scotland's membership of the EU been clarified? I'm not very up to date with this and I was under the impression that it would have to reapply (and Spain might object etc).

Talking of misunderstandings, what does Salmond or anyone elses approval rating to do with anything?

Brown running the UK had New Labour majorities of over 100 seats each election, but he still screwed up - and if Cameron sorting out has minus ratings, what does that objectively tell you exactly?

I think the Scots should go back to the Groat or whatever else they had as a currency - independence means exactly that, yes or no, no cherry picking.

We cannot be certain re EU because UK Gvt refuse to ask the question. However, it is likely that we'll stay in the EU because we are already members, fully compliant re H&S, employment laws etc, and an expansionist state won't want to lose 5 million members, when our country is a net contributor. Spain is grumbling because of the Catalan situation, but they won't want to lose access to our fishing grounds.

I mentioned approval ratings because a pp said he's not liked or trusted.

i don't really understand why Scotland want independence. What is it they feel constrained by, what do they want to do differently?

Salmond is likely to be an independent Scotland's first Prime Minister, in the event of a yes vote isn't he?

Tbh, most Scots don't want indy, we'd have preferred some form of DevoMax. But that's not on offer, so it's a yes from me. (And the way this campaign is being conducted by no, that just gets more fixed every day.)

How much Scottish history do you know, Visit?

I think it's likely to be an SNP Gvt after we vote yes, but rumour has it Eck wants to stand down and spend more time with his wife. She's a good bit older than him...

I must admit it had crossed my mind.

Scotland & the attitude and approach of the Scots & their govts has always meshed more closely with what seems to me a better, more caring yet still pragmatic society.

If I were a scot I'd be voting to leave.

It's Westminster withholding the option to have a debate over things like the use of the pound in a Independent Scotland. The recent speech given but the head of the Bank of England (a misnomer, it's really the bank of the UK and Scotland currently has a stake in it) suggested that a currency union isn't such a bad thing. What he said was welcomed by the yes and no. Campaigns.

The better together campaign is based of fuelling the fear. Most of their statements have been swiftly refuted by the Yes campaign.

Until DC and his cronies actually try to convince me with hard facts and proper debate, I am a yes, and will stay a yes.

And the previous poster who said it was exciting, it is exciting. We have a chance to be governed by a parliament that we actually vote for. Salmons is everyone's cup of tea, but he has only a few years of politics left. A yes vote is permanent. If we don't vote yes now, all we are doing is giving Westminster the go ahead to shaft us for the rest of history.

We can be an independent nation.

Devo max isn't on offer because that realistically needs a full UK referendum.

if your partner says they are leaving you, not much you can do. If they want to totally renegotiate the terms of your relationship, you both get a say.

I have no strong political opinions on independence, but I do on devo max being offered without a say being given to other countries of the union.

Most of their statements have been swiftly refuted by the Yes campaign.

As have most of the Yes campaign by the No!

I don't think it's independence. It's swapping Westminster for BoE and hopefully the EU.