Moving to England

[Iwouldratherbesailing]

We are seriously contemplating moving to England due to the on going threat of Scotland gaining independence. We are not English, but both work in finance / economics and are well aware of the economic devastation that independence will wreak. We have worked hard for every penny we have earned but stand to lose the lot should we have a GBP mortgage to pay with devalued Scottish wages / overly inflated higher rate taxes. Has anyone else made active plans to move? My employer will be pulling out of Scotland should independence happen, but I would be allowed to work remotely here. It’s just the ongoing level of stress that I find hard to handle. If only I could be as naive to the damage as an SNP voter.

ok, well im sure noone will be stopping you

Well everyone has different priorities. I feel I belong here - nothing short of actual starvation would tempt me to leave (possibly not even then; there is always seaweed)!
I jest a bit, but my priorities are people and place - both these things are here. If independence lead to me losing economically, I would just put up with lower earnings, and reduce my expenses.

If your priorities are lots of money/maintaining your existing lifestyle, but you're less bothered about place and people/family, you may indeed want to move away if Scotland becomes independence. Not sure why you'd do it in advance of any actual referendum outcome though...

My DH and I have been discussing this for a while. He is retired although I am still working but could do so from any location.
I worry about house prices and pensions plummeting and what conditions England would put on us settling there. We have cousins in Cheshire but no other connections.

I was brought up in poverty so being financially stable means a lot to me, but the people / places perspective is helpful so thanks. I think after a yes vote, when the reality becomes clearer house prices could start to fall rapidly. If they called enough we could up in negative equity and then we would be unable to move at all.

You do realise that the chancellor of the exchequer stated in the HOC that they're anticipating the worst recession in 300 years?

Yes, but an independent Scotland will get their share of Covid and other debts, but will not be able to borrow at the low rates the rest of the UK can.

We can't borrow at all at the moment.

I also worked in finance during the last referendum and my employer had no plans to 'leave' (whatever that means). I'm interested to know, who's your employer?
By all means, move to England if you feel it will give you a better life for your family. I hope it works out well.

We may think of moving too (after living here for more than 20 years) but we are English and all our family live down south. My younger DC has two more years left at school so we would stay for this.

Don't know which area we would look at moving to though.....higher house prices may be a problem.

Please don’t go in advance, you lot! It would mean even less votes against the SNP and their ill thought out plan to make Scotland a bankrupt republic of wokery, so would increase the risk of it actually happening.
Stay here and help us unionists vote against them.
You can protect yourselves up to a point - transfer all your investments to England or offshore, for example.
Your mortgage is the biggest problem- repayments will be due in UK pounds sterling, to existing British building societies, but your wages would be paid in a devalued new Scottish currency, effectually doubling your monthly mortgage payment if the new groat (or whatever they call it) is only worth half a UK pound.

We will definitely stay to campaign against independence but in the event of a yes vote I am worried that it might not be possible to leave.

Yes, it’s the groats salary, GBP mortgage that is the concern. And the further down the line we go, the harder it gets to move children from the Scottish education / exams system. Tricky.

StarryEyeSurprise, RBS has already moved their company registration to London, to ensure they retain the Bank of England as lender of last resort. An independent Scotland, with no central bank, could not afford to underwrite their £14billion of assets. It is doubtful whether they would keep their head office in Edinburgh in the event of independence- they only do a tiny proportion of their business here.

www.thenational.scot/news/17822739.royal-bank-scotland-much-longer/

@Babdoc

StarryEyeSurprise, RBS has already moved their company registration to London, to ensure they retain the Bank of England as lender of last resort. An independent Scotland, with no central bank, could not afford to underwrite their £14billion of assets. It is doubtful whether they would keep their head office in Edinburgh in the event of independence- they only do a tiny proportion of their business here.

RBS is , of course, an International Bank ( Ulster Bank, Bank of Australia and others come under the RBS Group umbrella). I have family fairly high up in RBS and they're not aware of a planned closure in Edinburgh in an independent Scotland. When I worked in investments, my work would involve Cayman, San Francisco, New York, London registered assets. It doesn't really matter where the work's done. Could be the other side of the world.

Whereas I see some RBS jobs going to Uk due to FCA requirements I can also see many jobs staying as employees will be cheaper if the Scottish currency devalues against the GBP.

But there could also be a brain drain to the rUK as people struggle to pay GBP mortgages with groat wages, and Scotland tries piles its austerity on higher rate tax payers.

What do the yellow flowers people are posting mean?

I don’t know but they don’t seem to be making any relevant points so I have been ignoring them.

Thought it was a mn code for something. Oh well, at least they look nice. 😂

Indeed!. They are downplaying my stress which can only be a good thing!

The prospect of independence doesn’t feel real enough yet...but I have begun to ask myself how bad am I willing to let things get at Westminster before I leave the UK. :-(

Agreed the Tory’s are really really horrific. But if it’s that or bankruptcy. Oh to be Swedish.

I know a number of people who are seriously considering it
A lot of people will have their standard of living slashed
Also if you have family/friends/business interests in England,the threats of no travel to England put out during the pandemic is a worry