General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Of the 59 Scottish members of the House of Commons, only one is a Tory. A favorite joke ..."
The process currently underway on the British archipelago is a unique one. Free of violence, amid an atmosphere of amicability, a referendum is to be held that could result in the end of a 307-year-old union with the United Kingdom. The Scottish move toward independence is also reflective of the ongoing erosion of the European nation-state. After years of crisis, many people no longer identify with their countries, preferring instead to be part of smaller, more manageable regions. Separatists across Europe are pushing for independence, including the Catalonians in Spain, the Flemish in Belgium and the South Tyroleans in Italy. But only in Scotland is a nationally recognized referendum in the works.
Of the 59 Scottish members of the House of Commons, only one is a Tory. A favorite joke has it that there are more pandas north of the English-Scottish border than there are Conservative parliamentarians. There are two pandas and they live in the Edinburgh zoo.
With just weeks to go before the referendum, Scotland seems like a land waking up from a winter slumber to celebrate the Caledonian version of the Arab Spring. Blue "Yes" stickers are plastered on lampposts while "Yes" signs are displayed in windows. If it weren't for the opinion polls, one would think that the result of the referendum was a foregone conclusion.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/scotland-divided-ahead-of-approaching-independence-referendum-a-988064.html
Thanks to unhappycamper who posted this link in foreign affairs.
Indeed, a "unique" independence movement. While it certainly sounds like an independent Scotland would be very liberal, the parliament in the remaining UK would become much more conservative.
Exposethefrauds
(531 posts)We would be better off as a people if we did dissolve the current arrangement.
Our current gov no longer works.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Who says the UK will let them keep the British Pound as a currency?
What about all the money the Scots have put into the british retirement fund?
pampango
(24,692 posts)I don't know what permission is needed to do that.
Countries using the US dollar exclusively
Countries using the US dollar alongside other currencies
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)Don't know if it's still true. When I was there many years ago many businesses and cabbies in England would not accept the Scottish pound even though it was backed by silver and the English pound was not.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,358 posts)They say the Rest of the UK would have to act in their own best interests, which would be to not give any control, in a currency union, over the pound (eg a say in interest rate setting, or backing of Scottish banks by the Bank of England). Scotland could use the pound without such things, but that's precarious. Now, the SNP is saying that if it didn't get a currency union, it would refuse to take its share of the national debt:
Finance Secretary John Swinney has confirmed Scotland will not pay its share of the UK debt if it does not get a currency union after independence.
The Scottish government minister told a BBC referendum debate if the UK seized all the assets of the currency it must also take all the liabilities.
Scotland's share of UK debt would be in the region of £100bn.
Former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said defaulting would hurt an independent Scotland from day one.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28943041
If they don't split the debt equitably, things would get nasty, I think.