referendum?

[Tom Cornwall]

I’ve just been watching Andrew Marr interviewing Alex Salmond on whether or not to give the Scottish people a referendum to vote for full independence from the rest of the UK.
Alex Salmond seems to think that Scotland needs to split fully from the rest, so that it can realise its full potential.
However, I was wondering , and no-one seems to ask the question of him, where will Scotland get the money to live on. I don’t remember Britain contributing to India, Australia, United States and even, Southern Ireland, when they split from the rest of us.
Mr Salmond says that millions of pounds went to the governments coffers from the Scottish sector of the North Sea in the last 25 years. But that money is in the past, and this is now, and probably the North Sea oil industry is not so profitable as what it was.
Where will he get the money to pay for the free University places, and the free care for the elderly, and any other things that the UK government grant pays for today?
How would the orgers vote if such a referendum took place?

[EDDIE]

i think every country in the world has the right to be independant if thats what the people want.Its all very well saying scotland gets grants from the uk government but the uk government gets there money from the scottish tax payers and scottish business taxes and vats as well.
And i dont think scotland needs england in order to survive scotland is quite capable of standing on its on feet and proggessing just the same as ireland,wales and england can do if thats what they choose.
I personally think that there should be a debate and vote on it and settle this argument once and for all one way or the other and the big question would be is the present uk government up for it or are they scared they might loose the debate in a vote

[Cliff Claven]

I agree with EDDIE. We should be allowed to decide the fate of our own country and it's high time we stopped being controlled by another country.

[golach]

I would take bets that if England held a referendum, to cast Scotland adrift, you would all be screaming blue murder [disgust]

[Shabbychic]

I would take bets that if England held a referendum, to cast Scotland adrift, you would all be screaming blue murder [disgust]


I wouldn't scream blue murder. I would say thank you very much.:D

[anneoctober]

I would take bets that if England held a referendum, to cast Scotland adrift, you would all be screaming blue murder [disgust]
I don't think so Golach, as England are free to chose whether they want to stay within the UK or not, as are Scotland.

[anneoctober]

I’ve just been watching Andrew Marr interviewing Alex Salmond on whether or not to give the Scottish people a referendum to vote for full independence from the rest of the UK.
Alex Salmond seems to think that Scotland needs to split fully from the rest, so that it can realise its full potential.
However, I was wondering , and no-one seems to ask the question of him, where will Scotland get the money to live on. I don’t remember Britain contributing to India, Australia, United States and even, Southern Ireland, when they split from the rest of us.
Mr Salmond says that millions of pounds went to the governments coffers from the Scottish sector of the North Sea in the last 25 years. But that money is in the past, and this is now, and probably the North Sea oil industry is not so profitable as what it was.
Where will he get the money to pay for the free University places, and the free care for the elderly, and any other things that the UK government grant pays for today?
How would the orgers vote if such a referendum took place?
Guess which was the ONE Andrew Marr programme, myself & hubby missed today? would have liked to have seen this interview :mad:

[northener]

Luvverly, here we go.

Scotland deserves the right to choose Independance or not.

But, as pointed out in this thread, where is the money going to come from that will give Scotland the prosperity and stability she will need? Unless, of course, we would be prepared to cap in hand to Europe every 5 minutes.

What price (literally) freedom?

The SNP themselves wouldn't dare go for a referendum tomorrow, because they know they'll lose.

Me? I'd vote against. Not because I believe that England should hold the reins, but because of monetary reality. Scotland can't afford it.

.

[EDDIE]

I would take bets that if England held a referendum, to cast Scotland adrift, you would all be screaming blue murder [disgust]
for as long as there is oil in the scottish waters there is no chance of that

[ywindythesecond]

Luvverly, here we go.

Scotland deserves the right to choose Independance or not.

But, as pointed out in this thread, where is the money going to come from that will give Scotland the prosperity and stability she will need? Unless, of course, we would be prepared to cap in hand to Europe every 5 minutes.

"What price (literally) freedom?"

The SNP themselves wouldn't dare go for a referendum tomorrow, because they know they'll lose.

Me? I'd vote against. Not because I believe that England should hold the reins, but because of monetary reality. Scotland can't afford it.

.
Freedom from what??? What is imposed on us???? You would think we were an embattled nation in subjection to a tyrant power to listen to Alex Salmond and his idiot party. Don't forget, Scotland took over England with Jamie the sax, or wan. Nobody invaded and subjected us to English rule and if you look a little more closely Scots play a disproportionately high part in the governance of the UK so where does "freedom" come from. Not that I am particularly partial to Gordon Brown.

[northener]

for as long as there is oil in the scottish waters there is no chance of that

Eddie, There's no such thing as 'Scottish Oil', it's one of the biggest myths in Scotland.

What we have is oil industries, based in Scotland, that are doing very well out of massive investment by British and foreign companies, along with British and foreign government. Not purely Scottish companies and Scottish government.
Up until fairly recently, a lot of natural gas came from the gas fields off Morecambe Bay and East Anglia. - Did anyone refer to that as 'English Gas'? No.

If you genuinely believe that the revenue from the Noth Sea oilfields belong to Scotland alone, then you are being fiscally short-sighted. There's a lot of investment off the West of Shetland at the moment. If you claim 'Scottish Oil' for Scotland alone, the first thing the Shetlanders will do is claim 'Shetland Oil' for Shetland alone.

And don't think for one minute you'd get away with standing in Captain Flint's or the Lounge Bar in Lerwick on a Saturday night and calling the Shetland Fields 'Scottish Oil'.:Razz

.

[northener]

Freedom from what??? What is imposed on us???? You would think we were an embattled nation in subjection to a tyrant power to listen to Alex Salmond and his idiot party. Don't forget, Scotland took over England with Jamie the sax, or wan. Nobody invaded and subjected us to English rule and if you look a little more closely Scots play a disproportionately high part in the governance of the UK so where does "freedom" come from. Not that I am particularly partial to Gordon Brown.

Windy, I agree with you 110%, in fact I could have written that myself!

I was trying to distance myself from the usual numb comments about 'Freedom!' as in paint yer face blue and pretend to be an Aussie actor;), by trying to get to grips with how Nationalists propose to fund this 'Freedom' from within Scotland.

Methinks there are some who would debase their Nation and grovel under the table of the EU for scraps, purely so they could strut around being 'free'.

I'd like to see the results of a referendum on this if it was held tomorrow.......

.

[TBH]

I think it is about time this great nation of ours let England loose and have a go at governing their country without having to rely on Scottish political leaders. It's only fair.

[Kevin Milkins]

I have never been interested in politics, but as a normadic person I wonder how borders should be broken down.I view the country as the British Isles and perhaps one goverment ought to rule from about Manchester.With communication and road links and air travell being what it is in the modern world I think it is an unneccerry exspence having so many goverments to argue and disagree all day long.If you get free prescriptions in Wales it should be the same for everybody under a central goverment .If Scotland has to give up smoking in pubs ,then it should be the same in England and Wales.Some people seem very tribal in there attitude and whilst we should not forget our past its time to move forward. HERE HERE,-HERE HERE

[TBH]

I have never been interested in politics, but as a normadic person I wonder how borders should be broken down.I view the country as the British Isles and perhaps one goverment ought to rule from about Manchester.With communication and road links and air travell being what it is in the modern world I think it is an unneccerry exspence having so many goverments to argue and disagree all day long.If you get free prescriptions in Wales it should be the same for everybody under a central goverment .If Scotland has to give up smoking in pubs ,then it should be the same in England and Wales.Some people seem very tribal in there attitude and whilst we should not forget our past its time to move forward. HERE HERE,-HERE HEREThank God for the Unionists trying to save us from ourselves and becoming a third world country.[lol]

[northener]

.........let England loose and have a go at governing their country without having to rely on Scottish political leaders. It's only fair.

Funnily enough, that's what a lot of people said in Engand when JamesVI/I took the throne and imported his own cronies into the Court.:D

Damned history, keeps repeating itself......

[ywindythesecond]

Windy, I agree with you 110%, in fact I could have written that myself!

I was trying to distance myself from the usual numb comments about 'Freedom!' as in paint yer face blue and pretend to be an Aussie actor;), by trying to get to grips with how Nationalists propose to fund this 'Freedom' from within Scotland.

Methinks there are some who would debase their Nation and grovel under the table of the EU for scraps, purely so they could strut around being 'free'.

I'd like to see the results of a referendum on this if it was held tomorrow.......

.

Last referendum we had, I was against devolution, but Scotland voted differently, and I accepted that. I was actually excited about the"concensus politics" we were promised. Almost immediately the libdems prostituted themselves to Labour for a small taste of power. That didn't work, so now we have the Scottish Trashitall Party in Government.
I wish I had an answer. I think I would like a return to reality before we had a referendum.

Why was I surprised about the LIBDEMS, they have been doing it for at least 30 years!

[TBH]

Last referendum we had, I was against devolution, but Scotland voted differently, and I accepted that. I was actually excited about the"concensus politics" we were promised. Almost immediately the libdems prostituted themselves to Labour for a small taste of power. That didn't work, so now we have the Scottish Trashitall Party in Government.
I wish I had an answer. I think I would like a return to reality before we had a referendum.

Why was I surprised about the LIBDEMS, they have been doing it for at least 30 years!Scotland voted differently, do you not assocciate yourself with Scotland? The trashitall party won the election legally, have you noticed a change to the detriment of yourself since the s.N/P were elected?

[ywindythesecond]

Scotland voted differently, do you not assocciate yourself with Scotland? The trashitall party won the election legally, have you noticed a change to the detriment of yourself since the s.N/P were elected?
TBH I think you need to read my post again. It started "Scotland voted differently, and I accepted that".

As regards the Trashitalls, I will reply later when I have time.

One aspect is that Jim Mather is currently looking at how to get round EU environmental protection legislation to build windfarms in Lewis to ruin peatland,disrupt the seabed to build giant pylons across Scotland to supply inefficient and unreliable electricity to England which has just decided enough is enough and is going to have a proper reliable energy policy.

I tried hard to keep off the subject, but it just won't go away.

[Tilter]

I'm with Wwindy and Northerner on this. Even if we had a referendum tomorrow to "free" Scotland, the chauvinistic Independence-at-any-Cost brigade would still find plenty to moan about. As things stand at the moment, Scotland has got its cake and is eating it too - it retains (unlike England) a strong national identity while having UK money, services, defence, etc., and is even over-represented in the Brit parliament. Thinking more globally, would the US, any Middle Eastern country, any of the top EU countries actually sit down with, pay attention to, or be influenced by the Scottish Ambassador or the Scottish President? I don't think so. We'd just be a quaint and colourful bonnet-wearing little country. Get real.