Chris

Ahem ... strawman. I never said Scotland would become a third world country. I said it would no longer be able to sustain welfare or a public sector of the size the U.K. is able to maintain. The concept of “third world” did not exist at the end of the 17th century but given that Scotland had none of the trappings of rich European nations of the time - principally, colonies, naval power and useful international alliances - and was bankrupted by the Darien scheme, it was impoverished.

“An economy run in the interests of Scotland” is a self-serving nationalist argument. It boils down to the claim that the economy is not run in Scotland’s interests because it is not run in Scotland by Scots. The counter argument is that forcing England to reckon with Scotland as part of the home territory is very much in Scotland’s interest, as is the ability of Scottish MPs to sit in the Westminster parliament and see the entire territory governed as one - even on matters pertaining only to England, because even those issues have a knock-on effect in Scotland.