SNP lay their stall out - vote for them next May, they will start negotiating to separate.

[RandomGeocache]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgknlj3vr76o

Because they have learned nothing from Brexit. I mean, it's sort of their raison d'etre, banging on about independence and it does resonate with some of their fans who believe that should Scotland separate, we'd all be loads richer. They do appear somewhat confused though - a majority in parliament is a mandate, the biggest number of MSPs is a mandate, a vote for "pro-indy" parties is a mandate.... Anyone would think they were either making it up as they go along, or hedging their bets.

Are we supposed to forget all about the incompetence, the failing NHS and education, the scandals and all the other fuck ups?

So if you don't want to separate, don't vote SNP or Green in May.

I don’t see the slightest chance of an independent Scotland meeting the financial criteria for EU membership within my lifetime. I suspect that independence would see a massive exodus of higher rate taxpayers (other than those who work for the state so aren’t net contributors) down south.

The financials just don’t stack up. There are over 10m people in Greater London alone and only 5.5 m approx in the whole of Scotland. Less than half the Scottish population pay tax at all (age and disability) and the number of higher tax payers are tiny - 6-8 per cent last time I looked. Huge amounts of the UK’s tax revenues are generated from the City and businesses based in England.

There will be a huge deficit without the Barnett formula etc. Even if a Scottish government does a Celtic tiger job and manages to grow the economy fast (and that won’t be the SNP as they have zero business credentials or interest) that won’t help us in the short term. The alternatives will be swinging tax increases or massive cuts - probably both. No one with money will hang around to go down with the ship.

I might be wrong but I thought the EU had indicated that they wouldn’t be interested in Scotland joining, and they didn’t want to encourage countries splitting up, like Catalonia/Spain.

That's it though, isn't it? There are all sorts of rumours and so many different points of view and each country/body has its own interests which change over time which makes it impossible for the nats to say it's a shoo-in.

England aren’t talking about a pipeline from Scotland to England though. They’ve got their own water. Who told you that?

Spain would have to vote to allow Scotland in which chances are they won’t but as pp said Scotland haven’t a hope in hell of meeting the economic criteria so the whole EU question couldn’t be more irrelevant.

Where are the new ferries coming from?
How is the police computer?
What happened to the education system it used to be noticeably better than ours in England.
Please repair Scotland.

Grangemouth was outdated and financially uneconomic to run. It needed massive upgrading that just wasn’t worth the cost for the private company that owned it.

And if there was demand for a water pipeline, why on earth would you be against it? England is Scotland’s biggest trading partner and if water was a product they needed and we had excess, why wouldn’t you be happy to trade? We would definitely need the income!

Quite. If there were to be independence, the very last thing we would need would be any of the current SNP anywhere near setting it up.

Me too. Not for it, but agree with you.

You do realise we are not first past the post?

There are going to be Reform MSPs in Holyrood come May. Guaranteed, whether we like it or not.

Scotland has the best performing NHS in the United Kingdom, though 15 years of austerity has impacted all of the countries in the uk.

Who learned nothing from Brexit? Scottish people voted over 60% to stay in the E.U. and they were ignored. It begs the question, why were they were even given a vote if they were just getting ignored anyway?

Loads Richer? The Scottish people havent seen even one cent of their oil money in the last 50 years. All of it stays in Englands Treasury.
Scotland would be the wealthiest nation in western Europe if it wasnt for the Uk.

Scotland also produces 113% of its entire energy needs from renewable energy. Scotland has an enormous surplus of energy, oil, gas and water, unlike the rest of the UK.

Scotland's vast wealth underwrites Englands Pound Sterling, too.

The O.N.S. (Office for National Statistics) has revealed a (near) record number of people moving from England to Scotland right now.

If you dont want to 'separate' as you put it, you can always buck the trend and move to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, though moving south after Scotland exits the Uk might be a little more difficult.

British people used to be able to live anywhere they wanted in Europe, but since Brexit that option is gone. When the Scots leave there will most likely be a hard border between Scotland and the rest of the Uk as Scotland rejoins the EU.

I think you're talking nonsense. 😂

ROMANIA is in the EU, and they dont use the Euro either. I was in Romania over 20 years ago and they were experiencing hyper inflation. Theyre still in the EU.

The Scottish have high EU compliance as the whole UK was EU compliant when it left.

You either dont know what youre talking about, or you're just trying to put the 'boot' in for the Scots. The Scottish will rejoin the EU as a priority by all account.

Oh, and this 'Barnettt Formula' stuff you're talking about is Comedy Gold!

Scotland subsidises the entire UK. Barnett just decides what paltry amount of Scotlands own wealth is returned to it from London. Only about 20%. The other 80% stays with the Treasury in London.

Yes, that could be a possibility.

But from the polls I am reading this week the SNP could secure a majority like they did once before.

Not true.

As for economic criteria, Scotland will not have an issue on that front.

😂🤣😂🤣

And if we separate, then we will be a lot weaker, and could have Russia knocking on our door in a few years time, a much scarier prospect than Reform. I’m sure Putin loved the result of the Brexit referendum and would also love it if the SNP get their way and Scotland becomes fully independent from the UK.

Thats not what I've read. Spain you said?

They'll be happy to have Scotland.

The Lib Dems are mental on their ‘gender’ agenda, and don’t show any signs of packing it in. Poor old Ming must be turning in his grave.

Awwwww! Just you keep on posting laughing emojis. Bless! 🤣

Seriously, around one of the the most shocking policy failures of the SNP, in an area where powers are indeed fully devolved (so no Westminster excuses here!). (Which Sturgeon indeed stated she would want to be judged on).

What is the SNP supporters justification for SNP's track record on education & schools (including safety of all pupils and staff members in schools) please?

Why have the educational attainment scores declined significantly since 2006? Why has the declining trend not been acknowledged properly and why has it not been addressed?

Ladies, we have RobG to mansplain on here. He must be right. He’s angry afterall, and thinks the Barnett formula is nonsense and Scotland funds the rest of the UK.

Talk to an economist RobG love, you’re embarrassing yourself! Perhaps when you’ve educated yourself well let you join back in.

I used to think that it was only the paranoid or facetious who argued that the decline in Scottish educational standards was a deliberate SNP policy … as it’s the economically illiterate who vote SNP!

The sad thing of course is that it is the poor and sick who will suffer the most in a poorer country. The higher rate tax payers are amongst what the economists say are the most ‘economically mobile’ in the U.K. so will decamp leaving Scotland to its bloated - and ever increasing on independence as it has to reproduce all offices of state - public sector and the one in ten who has never worked and one in eight ( one in five in some areas) on invalidity benefit.

Im actually not politically opposed to an independent Scotland. I can see circumstances in which it could be successful - but it would take a century of good leadership - and I’m not that altruistic. In my lifetime I’d like to see the poor fed, the kids well educated and the sick healed at least as much as at present - not less!