Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Who cares what England thinks?
Lots of poor areas of Scotland did well out of EU subsidies (and weirdly Wales too, guess they didn't spend enough on education there..) so why did they vote to leave? These were mainly the left behind areas.

Strangely these were often the areas in northern England, Scotland and Wales who voted most fervently to leave when it was actually their own government who failed to give them the help they needed, not the EU.

62% of Scotland voted to stay in the EU.
Pure and simple that is why they are wanting another UK referendum. Staying in the EU was one of the principle reasons many people voted to stay in the UK. Now that that isn't happening then what the hell!

World trade rules vs world trade rules, what can be worse?

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Let them go i am sick to the back teeth of it all.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

From Scotland's point of view, I think the referendum is a good tactic to put pressure on Theresa May tp obtain a deal that works well for Scotland. But I think it's a bit bizarre wanting it midway through the negotiations as Scotland won't fully know what Brexit will look like.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

If they do get a second one, can we PLEASE let Wales England and Northern Ireland have a vote too?

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

She needs to capitalise on the uncertainty. She also hopes to convince people that voting for independence before the UK has actually left the EU will mean that Scotland will never actually leave (which is nonsense - the UK has favourable membership terms which the rest of the EU resents, there is no way they're going to allow continuity of membership under those terms).

Once the UK is out of the EU, then Scotland within a fully independent UK is a quantifiable thing. Scotland out of the UK and queueing to get into the EU is the great unknown. A referendum fought on those terms would be impossible for the Nats.

If May agrees to transfer powers, expect her to do so on condition that the thing isn't held before 2020 at the earliest. Alternatively, permission to do one, but only within the next 6 months, might be worth an each-way bet ...

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Positive signals from Spain about Scotland becoming an EU member. Still doesn't solve the currency issue, though.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ommission-says

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

First ... don't take anything any MEP says too seriously, even if they're a member of their domestic "ruling party". They have different priorities and different audiences to impress. You wouldn't, for example, take anything Dan Hannan says as being necessarily indicative of Tory policy.

Second ... I don't think anyone's saying Scotland can't join the EU. That would be an absurd argument, given the state of some of the other countries they've let in already. The argument is over whether there can be continuity of membership (there won't be) and the terms of membership (no pound, no rebate, that's for certain; the border mechanism will depend on the eventual treaty between the UK and the EU, but there will be a border of sorts, just as there's inevitably going to be one in Ireland).

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Why would there have to be a border in Ireland? The Common Travel Area isn't based on the EU iirc.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Scotland, Wales, and NI already benefit from the generous Barnett formula. A large proportion of the EU money they receive actually comes from the UK. Either by our net contribution or from the rebate being reduced. The amount of the rebate is connected to how much we get back from the EU. For each £1 that we get back, a proportion is taken off the rebate, ie we pay MORE.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

I've just had a total tin hat conspiracy theory idea that this is (yet another) Remain plot. As the UK is set to walk out the front door of the EU, Remain has conspired to open a back door through Scotland. Is there no end to their deviousness :D?

An EU trojan horse is a virus Scotland can do without. It would make Scotland very sick, very quickly.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

That just sounds like a total tin hat conspiracy theory idea.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Well, I did say so :D

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

If the UK exits the customs union then there will have to be border checks of some sort. The common travel area predates the EU but since its inception, until 1993 when customs checks between EU member states were abolished, there were legal provisions for customs checks on travellers crossing between the UK and Ireland. These were not always strictly enforced but they existed. The principle of the CTA is freedom to cross the border without a passport. It was never a common market or a customs union. Those things have only ever existed between the UK and Ireland due to us both being members of the EU.

If we have a situation where a separate Scotland and RoI are in the EU, and the customs union, and the UK is not, then there will be legal structures in place for customs checks on the borders, just as there were before 1993. That situation is not incompatible with a continuation of the Common Travel Area of the British Isles.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

I should imagine things in Ireland - N Ireland border control will revert to pre 1993 condition unless of course the EU wishes to punish us.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Indeed. There were customs posts on the border, though you were more likely to be pulled over and ID'd by the army or the police than by Customs and Excise. Nevertheless the legal provisions were there and could be enforced where officers on either side of the border believed it necessary.

If the England/Scotland border becomes the border of the customs union, then there will be customs posts at Gretna and Berwick, and if HMRC believes that smuggling is becoming a problem we would likely see them being brought into use, and possibly also see some minor border crossings being closed. It's as sad and as simple as that.