Scotsnet does not represent Scotland

[kamalasshaman]

At a time when polls are showing unprecedented support for independence and even John Curtice agrees the polls are clear, why is Scotsnet such a bastion of unionist opinions? Is it just due to the demographic of Mumsnet? Why has this site become such a right wing enclave?

The growth commission indicates 25 years of turbo austerity just to get back to where we are now. How would pension ages get better in those conditions?

@nyx I will look for these but remember that we are a tiny country in all of this and yes tiny countries can be successful.

I am about to bow out of this thread as the same poster who told someone on another thread to go back to England is getting a bit nasty on here. I’ll probably get reported for even for mentioning this!

We know that any independent Scotland's government would have a small to medium sized country with good exports, industries, education and natural resources, a small population. It's a recipe for success anywhere else. It's only unionists who think that Scotland is uniquely incapable of being a successful independent country. Denmark, for example, would love a whisky industry like ours.

Oh and Kamala congrats on your bigly powerful job.

Nyx, the growth commission is the SNP's own report. If they're trying to persuade us with that then how bad will it actually be?

I’m very unhappy about the Tories, and Brexit. I’m really very much in my heart for fewer borders in the world, not more.

Brexit swayed me to think about voting for independence. But I can’t vote for a big unknown.

At least I know now I can do all the things I listed above, I know what the currency is. I can pop to Asda in Carlisle. I can get the train to London, and then one border to Europe on the tunnel. All the other stuff.

No massive constitutional uncertainty with no clear plan.

Same here wouldbegood. Im for pooling and sharing not putting up more borders.

Remember that in the last referendum a lot of the figures were based on the oil revenues and then the price of oil tanked....

Anyway, source of trade information: How much trade takes place across the UK’s internal borders?
There are no official statistics on trade within the UK because noexport declaration is required when goods cross between the nations of the UK. But the European Commission has published estimates of trade between different regions in the EU in 2010. While these are only estimates, they provide a fair indication of the volume of intra-UK trade [7].
Figure 1 shows that all countries of the UK trade a lot with the rest of the UK, but some countries are more reliant on intra-UK trade than others. England is the least reliant on intra-UK trade: it trades more with the EU than the rest of the UK. But Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each trade more with the rest of the UK than all other countries in the world combined. This is even true for Northern Ireland, which also has close trading links with the Republic of Ireland.
Even these numbers understate the reliance on intra-UK trade for the smaller countries. This is because smaller countries export and import a greater fraction of what they consume and produce respectively than larger countries. England exports 13% of everything it produces. The equivalent numbers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are 18%, 36% and 19%.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-uk-internal-market

I’m also not inspired by a movement who’s followers call me nasty, vindictive, unreasonable etc for asking for answers to fairly basic questions

I am unionist but am certainly not right wing.

I think the border issue is minor and also not something that can be answered by one country. We could have a common travel area like the UK and Ireland or we could have a hard border. It’s not really a big deal for people more for goods. But if Scotland is in the EU, rUK will have to deal with us on the same basis as the rest of the EU.

Also many people use Amsterdam as a hub rather than London for long haul. So no need to get our panties in a bunch about that as the Americans say.

I truly doubt that WM will ban trade with Scotland, really i can't even imagine them doing that. However, have you noticed that countries which have managed to gain their independence from the UK are generally doing pretty well really? And they were all told they'd never manage on their own.

@Graffitiqueen - you will be in favour of an independent Scotland in the EU then.

Border issues would be part of a post independence negotiation. Im more than happy with that. Currency ditto. So many countries have broken free from the UK and all are fine. It's a complete no brainer.

@CayrolBaaaskin where are you getting this from? There’s no common travel area now England has left the EU

@CayrolBaaaskin possibly. The costs of getting there though in terms of complying with the conditions of entry and having a hard border with our biggest trading partner outweighs any benefit for me though. I'd much rather brexit hadn't happened.

Ok. So the answers to my questions is that no one has any idea, but it will all be ok, honest.

Inane.

Not voting for that, then.

Lol @WouldBeGood. Why wouldn’t you be able to go to Asda in Carlisle after independence? Also if you’re going on the train to Paris, why does it really matter if you have to show your passport once or twice? These aren’t really big issues. No reason why this EU and non EU border should be a big issue any more than the Irish border if we don’t make it an issue.

It is unfortunate that this thread has gone this way as it had potential to be quite interesting and there wasn't the need for any insulting remarks from either side.

The generalization that those that are pro-Union are right wing or somehow less Scottish or patriotic is incorrect. But I do think the thread has proven the point that those in support of Indy and/or the SNP aren't really welcome here. And that is quite sad. And to echo a PP, I think those that want to discuss it from a pro stance eventually give up after being continually shouted down and having their intelligence questioned.

I really wouldn’t want to have to queue up at passport control and customs, twice, to go shopping.

Also, there would be rules on what I could “import” into the EU. Fresh food, plants, etc. As well as limits on alcohol.

Yes it's very sad that indyref has sown such division into Scottish society. Another reason for not going through it all again.

@florafoxtrot in fact it was I who had my intelligence questioned , as well as called names, for asking about the Indy plan

Pensions in the UK are terrifyingly low. Not much pooling and sharing there; WM's priorities are elsewhere, with their disaster capitalism. You can already see that priorities in Scotland are different. Free personal care for the elderly, free prescriptions, baby boxes and all the rest of it are paid for from our own budget, which we balance every year because we are unable to borrow. Yet people are led to believe this is paid for with money from English taxpayers. It's unbelievable that people don't know that the Barnett money is is getting (some) of our own tax take back.

And I could not buy meat or dairy as part of my Carlisle shop

Anyway I'm out. I'm not staying to be falsely accused of being vitriolic or shouting people down.