Scotland forever!

GiLLT57 Do you know that if the vote is for indepedence then you will become a Scottish citizen?

penguinpaperback It is a EU legality -

"For the Scottish government, free university tuition for Scottish students has been a mantra"

"Because of European law, the Scottish government also has to provide free tuition at Scottish universities for students from other EU countries - but not for those from other parts of the UK."

"It has been argued that if Scotland became independent after next year's referendum, then students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland would have to be offered free tuition too."

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23279868)

I suppose the money has to come from somewhere.

The maximum fees payable by UK and EU students at universities in England and Wales trebled last year to a maximum of £9,000.

The NHS in Scotland is already under the control of the Scottish Government as is Education. Donald Trump is in a huff because the courts have ruled against him in the matter of a windfarm which he says would spoil the view from his, as yet not constructed, monstrous hotel. Ironically, he has already spoilt the views of those residents affected by his constructions.
I'm born and bred a Scot, though I have lived in England for over 40 years. I am proud to be Scottish and British. I hope that my compatriots on the other side of the Border will feel the same and keep the two nations united. I would not wish to relinquish my British passport.

The point about the BBCis the licence fee. The fees paid by the scots would go to a new SBC or whatever and that would enable them to put on the programmes that people in Scotland really want. And buy East Enders etc from the BBC.
Yes Wales too, NHS and Education are not run from Westminster - the latest NHS reorganisation does not apply (although cuts do) and there are no academy schools or free schools.
Re the currency the 3 main Westminster parties all agreed publicly last week that it is not going to work. For a whole lot of technical reasons. The Governor of the Bank of England (a Canadian) agrees.
Had not thought to the passport issue!
I think that Alex S just tells it and sells it as he would like to think it would all be sorted - as if he would win every negotiation that would ensue, hands down. And there would be a few negotiations (could go on for years and years and fully occupy AS and all his cronies in the process. ). One of the issues that would have to be renegotiated is EU membership for Scotland and there are a number of very powerful figures in Europe who are very much against them getting it - because of the example it would set in other parts of EU. (think of Spain in particular)
Also I think the un-picking process would cost a fortune and taxpayers on both sides of "the border" would have to pay.

Re currency - it may not be something that Westminster recommends but they can't stop Scotland using the £. It just means that they wouldn't have a say in the currency they were using which doesn't sound very democratic to me.
With regard to Spain it is probably the Basque issue?

And the Catalonians.

Oh yes that is what I meant I think

That's what i thought, whitewave

What did you mean by "no on a chip", by the way? I'll be voting no because i think the yessers mainly want to vote yes because of massive anti-english chips on their shoulders, not because I have an anti-english chip. I am English as well as British. I live in Scotland and have done for half my adult life.

Got it the wrong way around!!! good grief it is time I retired

Here-here Bags.
I am an English/British resident of Scotland - 33 years, more than half my life. I shall be voting NO and so will most of my friends and neighbours, most of whom are Scots born, who wish to remain with the Union. I only know a handful of Yessers and yes, I believe most of them are carrying huge chips on their shoulders. I know a number of people operating small businesses. Should there be a Yes vote, it will have a huge impact on them and many of them will either move south of the border or, more likely, go out of business. As for Sean Connery, the great Scottish Nationalist, he does very well fighting for his Country from the safety of the W.I. or Switzerland or, Spain, or wherever he lives - nuff said .

Yorkshire has about the same population as Scotland (so do many other regions). I think Westminster has treated this region particularly badly, therefore I would like to propose independence for Yorkshire

Well I guess they could just pass a law that said the Euro and the GB pound were both legal tender in an independent Scotland. But that would leave them without a currency of their own wouldn't it, and although i am no economist, that would not work would it? The point about one's own currency is that it is backed by a promise "I promise to pay the bearer on demand" and all that.
Help! I kind of follow this kind of thing if Robert Peston explains. But I'm sure there are considerable disadvantages to not having your own currency.
If Scotland were to have a Scottish pound it would not be backed by the promise of the Bank of England.

Need a proper Northumbria, Joelsnan, i.e., North of the Humber.
I thought Yorkshire had a vote when Blair was in power and voted no. Might vote differently now.

I think the issue of EU membership will be a deciding factor in the results of the referendum.

If Scotland becomes independent, there will be considerable difficulties in joining the EU, I suspect. Will it have a 'bypass' (my word) accession to the EU or, which might be likely, a wait of 5 years before becoming eligible. There will be some strong opposition from other European members in allowing an 'easy-in'.

It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

I get so cross that we have MPs representing Scotland in Westminster and they have their own Parliament and as far as I can see we tax payers pay for the lot.

rosesarered In an earlier thread granny23 made some very extensive and detailed comments about Scottish independence, a subject about which she is very well informed. I think she made her voting intentions crystal clear a long while ago.

wow! what a memory you have absent Forgotten all about that, so granny23 was the first Scot to throw her hat in the ring.Sorry thatbags you are hereby relegated to being the second Scot to do so.

Stansgran I can see your point. It must be frustrating for people to accept Scots MPs having a say in English matters, but unfortunately Holyrood has devolved powers and while we get to make decisions in many areas i.e health and education there are still some areas that are controlled by Westminster. Scotland therefore must have a voice in these matters.

Having lived in Scotland all my life, it'll be a No for me and for most of my family and social circle. I have only seen one Yes flyer and that was in the window of a car in the Tesco car park! I have not spoken to one person who intends to vote Yes (Although I appreciate that this might say more about my friends and family than the mood of the country).

I think the currency issue will be a huge factor in how people vote and it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months. Unless Alex Salmond can convince the electorate that George Osborne was talking rubbish when he said there could be no currency union, I think he will be put on the back foot.

I think one of the issues is that the Nationalist have actually delivered quite a lot in their time in power; free prescriptions, free sight tests, free personal care and tuition fee reform. While this all looks positive I don't think enough scrutiny has been applied to how we can afford to sustain this in the long term.

I genuinely think that if the No vote prevails that the Nationalists will use the result as a bargaining tool to extract greater powers from Westminster.

I don't really like getting involved in politics (I don't know enough about it) but I don't think this is an issue that anyone in Scotland can hide from.

thats an interesting point whitewave if I got a Scottish passport by birth, would I have to apply to live in England? My children would be dual nationality, and I would be an economic migrant I suppose!

GillT57 Wouldn't that depend on whether Scotland were to become a member of the EU?

*GillT57Well that is also interesting because exactly as absent said if Scotland is no longer a member of the EU you will not presumably have freedom of movement to England if you live in Scotland??!! I am sure that they will get around this though. I wouldn't have thought that Scots living in England would get sent back - all these blimen' immigrants!. Just think you will add to the immigrant figures! But I guess you would have to have a Scottish passport as it won't be a member of the EU at least for the time being - at least 5 years apparently?

All seems a bit of a nonsense to me

I think if the majority in Scotland want to be independent then they should be.... however they cant pick and choose bits to keep,- independence means just that, own parliament, own currency own border controls etc etc etc All or nothing. Salmon is seemingly on a power trip and Cameron is a whinging hand wringer saying 'sorry please stay'

I was not sure wether to get involved with this discussion or not, I am a Scot living abroad so do not have a vote. I would probably be a no voter, until all the threats started coming from the English about what would happen in Scotland if they vote yes, no Eastenders, (so what) I can get it here,do not actually watch it, but I do not like soaps, Tesco and Morrisons would put up their prices they already do, anyone who has driven from the South of England to the North of Scotland can see the way the prices rise as you go further North. David Cameron patronisingly pontificating without actually sitting down and having a debate on anything!!
The passport issue is a worry for all of us here, I am on Invalidity Benefit and am concerned about my status. When I asked an SNP MEP recently he gave me a lecture on the benefits to Scots of independance, and no awnser to my question.
DD would be a yes voter but as she left Scotland at the age of 7 I don't really think she has much of a say!!!!!
There are too many open issues, and if England and the English government stopped threatening the Scots with unfounded dire consequences of voting yes Scots would be looking much harder at the main issues.

I know that this is a very important issue, not just for Scotland, but for the whole of the UK as a yes vote would invariably impact on all. I am surprised that the rest of the UK is getting little or no say in this potential breakdown of the union, and when anyone does raise a valid concern or desire are classed as interfering bullies.

However, the more I listen to this issue, the more it just sounds like a family where one of the children has chocolate it doesn't want to share, feels that Westminster as the parent is uniquely telling them what to do, with little acknowledgement of others in the family.

If the vote is yes, then so be it, I would be sad, but as the saying goes 'you make your bed, now lie in it'