Scottish referendum

[lob on]

If it is a 2 question choice of independence a yes or no, then should the scots make that choice on their own? However if they are asking a third question, a?devo max? option, then does the UK tax payer need to be involved? As an English tax payer, I would think yes.

Also,

The scots don't need to be messed around with sound bites from Salmond, it is time he showed some real leadership and laid out a clear plan as all we hear from Salmond is defence of questions and deflecting the problem as if the problem is down to Westminster or something.

I myself can't wait for this and I am betting the SNP are now backing themselves in a big corner by default!

[max_tranmere]

I remember years ago when Alex Salmond was a lot more hard-line he used to refer to the Scots who live in England as 'ex-patriots' - basically foreigners living elsewhere. He has backed down from seeing things this way in recent years. A referendum where 'the Scots decide', and Scottish people living in England are able to vote on it, even though they don't live in Scotland and have no desire to for the foreseeable future, should those Scots in England still have full democratic voting rights in the constituency they live in when a Westminster election comes up? It would hardly seem fair if they did. That would mean - if fair be fair - that English people living north of the border should be able to vote in the English region they originated from when a Westminster election happens. This is all a very complex issue. I do think though that if Salmond is defeated it will be the end of his political career.

[Gusset Sniffer]

RBS, Scotland?s bank was in serious trouble. If Scotland had been independent, it could not have bailed out by the British taxpayer. RBS's debts were big enough to take down the whole Scottish economy.

[max_tranmere]

If the issue of the RBS bailout was put to Salmond he would probably come back with "but our oil revenue goes straight to the UK Treasury, a figure which has totalled x-billions over recent years". I would point out in reply that the oil revenue is a finite resource and will run out, what will Scotland do then? Also, the oil is probably more Norway's than Britain's anyway, and the UK would unlikely have been able to secure and exploit the oil fields had it not have been for the existance of the United Kingdom anyway.

[tommy dickfingers]

some scottish people say that it is wrong that they have oil in the north sea which goes to westminster and then some of that money goes back to scotland.,but that oil has only been around for about 40 years what about the previous 240 years or so who has been providing the bulk of the income for the uk.nearly every part of the uk has been a supplier of wealth for the country as a whole over the term of the union whether through textiles,steel,coal or finance etc,maybe the rest of the uk should have a referendum on whether to keep scotland!

[max_tranmere]

I agree with what you say. Salmond has said tonight the Referendum will happen in late-2014, and I think a lot of English people will hope he gets it through. It will save England a lot of money in the long term. And all this business of how "Westminster is meddling in Scottish democracy" (as he and his deputy have been saying this week) - what does that mean? Scotland is part of the UK. No one accuses Westminster of "meddling in English democracy" do they?

[Gusset Sniffer]

Scots independence would be good news for the Tories so I'm a little surprised by Cameron.

Much of Labours support is north of the border and they would be become unelectable if Scotland left the Union.

[Peter]

is it actually scottish oil, or British oil?

And is an Independent Scotland going to pay back the bailout given to the "Scottish" banks before they leave?

[max_tranmere]

Because of the way Thatcher treated the Scots in the 1980's, support for the Tories there went down and down until it almost completely evaporated. I saw an interview on TV a few nights ago with a (rather 'the') Scottish Tory MP. The interviewer said to the camera at the start: "it was always said years ago that you could fit the Scottish Tory MP's into one taxi. Now you can fit them all into one seat - and here he is!".

They now have one person north of the border, although that is one more than during the early years of Tony Blair. When the Tory's were massacred in 1997, they lost every single seat north of the border, they have won back one seat since.

Here is an interesting interview with Alex Salmond, where it is pointed out to him how who runs England will change a lot if Scotland is out of the Union. I seem to recall that when Blair won his last election, the Tory's actually won in England, so we would have had a Tory government had it not have been for Scotland being in the Union (which returns a lot of Labour MP's to Westminster). If Scotland goes, then there could be a Tory Government in Westminster, running what is left of the United Kingdom, FOR EVER!

Interview:

[lob on]

"I'm a little surprised by Cameron."

That is because you are easily persuaded to believe something, like he just came out with it and then next thing we have a statement from Alex Salmond, come on, this a game plan somewhere and I notice sky hasn't talked about it much, a major event in the history of the UK, odd I think!