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Thread: Scottish Independence?

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    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Default Scottish Independence?

    Yesterday, was Election day in Scotland for the Scottish Parliament and from the results it appears that Scottish Nationalists have not only scored record victories across Scotland, but are on course to gain a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

    The voting system is actually biased against any one party being able to gain a majority, so for this to occur is quite a defeat for the main UK parties who saw their voting base pretty much collapse.

    However, now we come to the elephant in the room. As part of their campaign, the SNP pushed the idea of a referendum on scottish independence as a side issue. With a majority, that thought is not only out front, but has been suggested it will take place within the next 5 years. Now, previous polls suggested that Scotland was actually against devolution, but that may no longer be the case.

    So should Scotland seek to be its own country, or should it remain part of the United Kingdom. Is this going to lead to the break up of the UK into four parts, and what likely impact would it have on each area?
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Seems fairly foolish overall as smaller rarely means better. Outside of a strong claim to a lot of the North Sea oil what other major resources does Scotland have? I know they help feed a lot of England and have some sizable manufacturing but I doubt they are getting the short end of the stick by being part of the UK. Would England concede the North Sea oil rights?

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    I support it romantically but I have no notion whether it would materially benefit Scotland in anyway, if the example of the Republic of Ireland is looked at, it's possible that an independent Scotland would stymie its own economic development. Jim, with regard to smaller/better, there are several EU states in and around the population of Scotland that do rather well. The standard of living in the smaller populated states (in Western Europe) is nearly invariably higher than those in states with bigger populations.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Ireland's is smaller, the standard of living was only good for about 20 years. Lichenstein is an economic power house I do not understand and the Nordic nations have excellent resources vs. population levels. I'm trying to think of a Western European Nation on size with Scotland other then those.

    OK, I did some checking, Scotland's Pop is lower then I thought: mid-2010 estimate 5,222,100. Per capita $39,680
    Denmark is very close in size and the per capita is actually a little lower.
    Population 5,560,628[3] (110th)& Per capita $36,449

    Norway is the one big time earner with Sweden being around the same as Denmark and Finland around $44,000.

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Standard of living here is still remarkably high with all our problems. But my point about Ireland was that Scotland could be shooting themselves in the foot decoupling from the UK, however, the size of the country in and of itself shouldn't impinge upon its future development too much. If it's lucky, and well governed it could prosper like never before, but again it could go the other way.

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    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Anything that frays the bonds of union in a democracy is not a good thing. Scotland would be better off in the UK than out of it, and vice-versa.

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    I suspect Scots just want a way to lower the amount of taxes on alcohol.

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    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    I thought they want to be able to raise export duties on alcohol and keep the money for themselves.

    The one thing that is missed is that after all taxes are gathered in the UK, a large than proportional amount is gievn back to Scotland. There are several English people who would like to see Scottish independence on the grounds that it means we stop giving them any money.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by hobbler View post
    I suspect Scots just want a way to lower the amount of taxes on alcohol.
    Easy on the stereotyping there. Jaysus.

  10. #10
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Anything that frays the bonds of union in a democracy is not a good thing. Scotland would be better off in the UK than out of it, and vice-versa.
    That's a lovely turn of phrase you have there in the first sentence but why do you believe this to be true? It's not as if Scotland would suddenly become a tinpot dictatorship, or an enemy of the new smaller configuration United Kingdom. As it is, Scottish law and government already differs a lot from that of England and Wales.

    I suspect (for the reason CIAS has mentioned amongst others) that the independent Scotland would be poorer than Scotland is currently, but I support their right to choose their own destiny, even if their choice is ultimately a foolish one.

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    veronica hearst has also scotish origin.

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Right on!

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