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One month to go: Scotland's referendum on independence from the UK; Yes vote gaining.
One month to go: Scots confident of keeping EU membershipWith one month to go until Scotland’s referendum on independence from the UK on 18 September, polls indicate the Yes side is gaining ground.
A new survey by ICM published on Monday (18 August) showed the pro-independence Yes campaign has closed the gap on the No side by two points over the past month, even though voters would still back continued UK membership by 55 percent to 45 percent.
The poll also found that 64 percent of Scots expect an independent Scotland to be re-admitted to the EU, while just 15 percent think it would be excluded.
At the same time, the proportion of Scots who think their country should be part of the EU is getting smaller: 50 percent said Scotland should stay in the club, while 31 percent said it should leave - a sharp rise in eurosceptic sentiment. The claim that Scotland would have to formally re-apply to join the EU, facing a drawn out and uncertain accession process, has been one of the main arguments used by the No campaign.
http://euobserver.com/news/125280
Weird that "one of the main arguments used by the No campaign" is that an independent Scotland would have to re-apply for EU membership. Since the UK will have its own referendum on continued EU membership (with the No vote leading), staying a part of the UK is no guarantee of Scots being members of the EU.
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The Chasm Tilting Scots Toward Independence
David Mundell, the only Conservative Party member among 59 British lawmakers elected from Scotland, would love to have a colleague or two to help out with appearances on morning TV and radio shows.
David Mundell, right, Scotland’s only Conservative M.P., and an aide distribute materials urging a “no” vote on independence.
If Scots vote “yes” in September in the independence referendum, it will be at least partly a rejection of the Conservative Party, which under Margaret Thatcher reshaped British politics in the 1980s and is now in a governing coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats. It will also reflect a desire for economic, social and diplomatic policies well to the left of anything on offer from the British government.
Even before the independence vote, Scotland is pursuing a very different course from the central government in London, thanks to earlier agreements that granted it considerable freedom to pursue its own policies. Scots enjoy several benefits that are more generous than those available in England, some of them free, in areas including home health care for the elderly, university tuition, medical prescriptions and bus travel for retirees.
The Scottish National Party, which controls the Scottish government and supports independence, wants to get rid of nuclear weapons, raise the minimum wage in line with inflation and begin a sweeping extension of child care. And it is more favorable toward immigration and the European Union than the British government is.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/world/europe/the-chasm-tilting-scots-toward-independence.html
I had now known that Scotland's politics was so liberal compared to the rest of the UK. While independence for Scotland might result in a very liberal new national government, removing that many liberals from the vote in the rest of the UK might make the Conservative Party quite happy in the long run.
David Mundell, the only Conservative Party member among 59 British lawmakers elected from Scotland, would love to have a colleague or two to help out with appearances on morning TV and radio shows.
David Mundell, right, Scotland’s only Conservative M.P., and an aide distribute materials urging a “no” vote on independence.
If Scots vote “yes” in September in the independence referendum, it will be at least partly a rejection of the Conservative Party, which under Margaret Thatcher reshaped British politics in the 1980s and is now in a governing coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats. It will also reflect a desire for economic, social and diplomatic policies well to the left of anything on offer from the British government.
Even before the independence vote, Scotland is pursuing a very different course from the central government in London, thanks to earlier agreements that granted it considerable freedom to pursue its own policies. Scots enjoy several benefits that are more generous than those available in England, some of them free, in areas including home health care for the elderly, university tuition, medical prescriptions and bus travel for retirees.
The Scottish National Party, which controls the Scottish government and supports independence, wants to get rid of nuclear weapons, raise the minimum wage in line with inflation and begin a sweeping extension of child care. And it is more favorable toward immigration and the European Union than the British government is.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/world/europe/the-chasm-tilting-scots-toward-independence.html
I had now known that Scotland's politics was so liberal compared to the rest of the UK. While independence for Scotland might result in a very liberal new national government, removing that many liberals from the vote in the rest of the UK might make the Conservative Party quite happy in the long run.
