Will Scotland Leave the UK?

[Mr Pharmacist]

Happy birthday to the Acts of Union, 307 years old today. May you live long and prosper.

Originally Posted by Chris

Happy birthday to the Acts of Union, 307 years old today. May you live long and prosper.

We should have a Act of the Union day

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by Chris

Happy birthday to the Acts of Union, 307 years old today. May you live long and prosper.

Passed off largely unnoticed, just like International Workers' Day.

[nashville]

Originally Posted by Chris

Happy birthday to the Acts of Union, 307 years old today. May you live long and prosper.

Excellent

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

Passed off largely unnoticed, just like International Workers' Day.

As it has for centuries. British nationalism and patriotism is typically quiet and understated. We are, for the most part, unsettled and a little uncomfortable when people shout about it too loudly. In the context of the referendum in Scotland, this translates into unionism and is why I firmly believe that the No vote is routinely being under-reported in opinion polls and that cometh the hour, most of the "don't knows" will turn out to have been "quiet noes" all along.

The Scotsman

THE campaign to keep Scotland in the UK appears to have gained support, with a new poll showing more than half of voters could reject independence.

The survey, for Channel 4 News, found that 51 per cent of people questioned are planning to vote No in the referendum.

That compares to 37 per cent of people who said they would be backing independence while 12 per cent said they did not know how they would vote, according to the research by YouGov.

When those who do not know how they will be voting were factored out, the poll found 58 per cent of people are in favour of staying in the UK while 42 per cent said they would be voting Yes.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Hugh

The Scotsman

Yeah but they didn't ask Jimi...

[Will21st]

Originally Posted by Hugh

The Scotsman

That Article amounts to bullying... no more,no less.

[RichardCoulter]

Just popped in to ask something that occured to me. If the vote is 'yes' to Independence, will the Union Jack flag have to be amended to reflect this?

The Union Jack was created on the instructions of James I/VI to fly on his naval vessels, leading to the creation of a common naval force for England and Scotland a century before the formal union of the parliaments.

As the union of the crowns was the reason for the flag, and the crowns would remain united under the version of independence being touted by the separatists, the union flag would have a continuing role and anyone who wished to show loyalty to the Crown could justifiably continue to fly the flag.

If you think that answer fails to give you any concrete idea of how things would actually play out in practical reality, consider yourself lucky that you don't live here in Scotland, where we are daily asked to swallow gravity-defying nationalist assertions with barely a thread of evidence or reason.

[RichardCoulter]

Thanks, that answers my question

[Mr Angry]

They're at it again.

"In a report submitted to the Holyrood parliament, Professor McCrone said Scotland “could manage perfectly well as an independent country”, adding that it was “even possible that it might eventually do better economically than remaining as a part of the UK”.

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

They're at it again.

"In a report submitted to the Holyrood parliament, Professor McCrone said Scotland “could manage perfectly well as an independent country”, adding that it was “even possible that it might eventually do better economically than remaining as a part of the UK”.

This is building on what he said last year....

Indy

“It is therefore to be expected that the price Scotland would have to pay for a sterling monetary union would be control by the rest of the UK over its fiscal policy.”

Prof McCrone said policies north and south of the Border would be expected to diverge after independence, with the SNP or Labour in power in Scotland and more of a Tory influence in England.

He said: “It might prove difficult (to keep the pound) in the long run. To gain freedom to pursue its own policies, it might be necessary for Scotland to have its own currency.”

He said oil revenues are volatile and “impossible to predict” and criticised an SNP claim that they would make an independent Scotland the world’s sixth wealthiest country.

This is not a good measure of wealth as the revenues go to oil company shareholders, many of whom are not resident in Scotland, he said.
While he praised Mr Salmond’s plan for squirrelling away some oil revenues in a special fund, he said this would have to be delayed as all the money was currently needed for public spending.

Prof McCrone also said an independent Scotland could not have coped with the losses incurred by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland during the economic crash and the country would have had to seek a bail-out.

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by Hugh

This is building on what he said last year....

Indy

I think it predates even that.