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"An independent Scotland, which perhaps for the foreseeable future would not be in the EU, will require a manned border with passport control and possibly visas to enter England, would it not? Cant see that helping the Scottish economy one bit."

Not sure if the Scottish voters are aware of the implications here. If a newly independent Scotland is not an EU member, then the remainder of the UK would be quite within its rights to introduce border controls as there are for non-EU members travelling to Britain now. Apparently Scotland have a more "open" plan to the need for increased immigration e.g. students, skilled workers etc. than is currently the case in the UK.

Within the EU, the Schengen agreement covers border controls. For Schengen signatories there are no mandatory border controls e.g. showing passport etc for other nationals from Schengen signatory countries. However Britain has opted out from the Schengen agreement so if you are travelling to the UK from the EU you have to show a passport or national id card etc.

New members of the EU and Barroso said that Scotland would be regarded as a new applicant to the EU, must agree to the principles of Schengen as part of their accession to the EU.

THe implications of this would be that people can go through border controls into Scotland without needing a passport etc but not the remainder of the UK. It seems to me that in that situation, the remainder of the UK would have to introduce border controls with Scotland. Otherwise, Scotland would be an entry point for a flow of illegal immigration into the remainder of the UK.

It would be a fucking bonus in my opinion!

I am really worried about the price of my fave biscuit. Will there be a shortage of Tunnock's caramel wafers.....which are made with ingredients from a factory in Cumbria btw.....? And the fact that me and my golfing mates have several trips a year over the border. Will we need to change currency, get a visa and wear a tam o'shanter?

Well given that you are half Scottish, you would obviously be an alien. I would expect you would be shipped north in a train with bars across the windows. Once back in Scotland you will be able to indulge yourself on Tunnocks biscuits and play golf on Salmond's best mate, Donald Trump's golf courses.

Like a lot of commentators, the ones you provide a link to, do not understand what they are talking about.

There are different types of currency union which the people in your link haven't grasped. You can have an informal currency union in which a country just decides off its own bat to use another currency and peg the value of their currency to the other country's. A formal currency union with a common monetary policy is another type of currency union.

The Scots are proposing a formal currency union. Which brings me to my second point - although a formal currency union is possible, it is not necessarily desirable. Who now wants to join the euro formal currency union? Not Scotland, not Britain.

As Mark Carney the chairman of the Bank of England pointed out talking about formal currency unions
"Those risks have been demonstrated clearly in the euro area over recent years, with sovereign debt crises, financial fragmentation and large divergences in economic performance. "The euro area is now beginning to rectify its institutional shortcomings, but further, very significant steps must be taken to expand the sharing of risks and pooling of fiscal resources. In short, a durable, successful currency union requires some ceding of national sovereignty."

I feel sorry for the Scottish people. If things do not change substantially, they will be going to the polls not knowing what currency the new Scotland will have or whether they will be allowed into the EU or not or how long that will take to join.

How anyone can vote sensibly in that situation where Salmond refuses to outline his Plan B for the currency and the EU is beyond me.

David Johnson wrote:


> IN the immortal words of Victor Meldrew "I just don't believe
> it" .

Quite. If you can believe three impossible things before breakfast, vote SNP and make it four.

This has been going on a lot in Ireland since the country was partitioned nearly
100 years ago. Fuel smuggling, livestock smuggling, and the smuggling of things
like cigarettes (lorry loads of them) has been making a lot of people rich over
there for many years. Because Northern Ireland and the Republic are separate
entities there is a difference in pricing and goods-taxation from one to another
and things are regularly moved across the border and many gangsters have lined
their pockets.

If and when England and Scotland separate, I personally think it unlikely as I
believe the 'yes' campaign will lose in September, then we will have that here.
The majority of Scottish and English people who live near the border will not
operate in this way, just like the majority of people along the border between
the two parts of Ireland don't, but there will be a small hardcore of people who
will and will makes fortunes out of it.

If Scotland breaks away, expect within a year or two to see a lot of large houses
near the border that people with "no provable means of income" have
bought and expect to see very nice cars on their large driveways bought for cash
too. There are many like within a few miles of the border in Ireland and the Criminal
Assets Bureau over there have had their work cut out for years investigating
such people. Expect that all to happen here if Scotland gets independence.

Won't happen on the English side....nearest town to the border is Longtown aka Dodge City. The most inuslar and inbred town in England. There are no luxury houses to buy and the locals would grass you in a second for "not being from round here....".

I don't know the border area between England and Scotland but there is bound to be the odd large country house here and there within a few miles of the border. I see no reason why there won't be cross-border smuggling if England and Scotland separate, just like there is between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

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