Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Scottish Independence?


It was St Andrew's Day yesterday and Alex Salmond grabbed the opportunity to publish his plans for Scotland's constitutional future including a proposal to put forward a referendum on independence. Although it is unlikely to happen as he does not have enough support in the Scottish Parliament, it is raising the issue of independence and putting more pressure on the government to give more powers to the Scots. Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, has in fact already tried to pre-empt this announcement with proposals that do give more powers to the Scots.
What do you think? Should the Scots go independent? Or would it mean the break up of the rest of the UK and a significant drop in European and World status? What might be the benefits and drawbacks? Here is the Economist's view on the issue and here is a comprehensive look at the issue from the BBC.

2 comments:

  1. I just can't see the point of Scottish independence, especially if they would keep the pound and not require a passport for swapping. Plus, wouldn't they need go join the eu separately and they'd have to or else they'll be left out in the cold. They might not accept them, Scotland could end up on their own with no money or polical significance of power.
    Scottish independence is a bit like communism, sweet idea but it would never really work.

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  2. haha "scottish independence is like communism, sweet idea but would never really work"

    thats so true... i mean seriously they can't just pick and choose which bits of the UK to keep, which is what they appear to be doing!

    on a more positive note though it would mean all of our scottish MPs would have to go back up there - so no more Gordon Brown.....

    ah the powers of wishful thinking...!

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