Scottish independence, English me would like to understand

That’s what I would like AGA. To understand

Alegrias I’m glad you’re here. I tried to refer to your comments elsewhere without using your name. I wonder if it’s possible for you to copy your original post to show the gist of the conversation I was hoping to start here.

I am English but have lived in Wales for over 40 years. I would like Scotland to stay in the union, but I would like to hear more about why some people in Scotland want to leave. Will they fare better in the EU? Genuine question.

I was going to leave party politics aside and get a feel for feelings.
For example another poster who I hope will be along soon has said that she feels that we no longer share the same values politically or culturally. She also feels that she doesn’t want to be part of a larger more dominant country.
I feel that devolved government has given each nation power for some self government but the down side means the borders are stronger and more obvious so that we are no longer capable of acting as one country and therefore our values are diverging.
Here in Wales I am often embarrassed when visiting friends refer to the Queen of England, how is that inclusive? Or the England cricket team which is actually the England and all Wales cricket team. This makes other nations resentful, ignored, unimportant.
If we are ever to save our union we need to understand the deep feelings and ask what we can do to make it right.
Please let’s not slag off any nations First Minister.

......Scotland has a great amount of autonomy already though.
300 years of dissatisfaction? Time to put ancient grudges aside and live in the modern world surely.
We are such close neighbours that a split would be a great shame.

They feel disenfranchised!

It never occurred to me until my son, on returning back to the London area from university a few years ago said to me "you know your problem mum, you're London centric" "Heavens, maybe I am" thought I, such a concept never really occurred to me. I grew up in the suburbs close to London, worked there, lived there, took it all for granted. It's where the immigrant relatives in my family settled, because they saw it as a place of opportunity. Both my parents were raised in London. I can imagine, depending on one's geographical location, London is seen as a decision making hub that doesn't represent the regions.

Laura have you ever pondered why the people of Wales voted to leave the EU? This was a bit of a split!

I'm English, live in England not far from the Scottish border, have friends and relatives in Scotland and prefer going there for holidays.

I would very much regret it if Scotland insisted on independence, especially if travel and other contacts were made more difficult.

A lot of the arguments in the past have hinged e.g. on income from oil (which is declining and will continue to do so). I don't think things will turn out as rosy as they're painted.

On the other hand, I can understand that Westminster doesn't fully understand Scottish needs - they don't even understand those for this region. Greater autonomy without leaving the union might be sensible. But when you consider that Edinburgh is so far away from John O'Groats (let alone the Northern Isles) surely the same problems exist within Scotland.

Och I managed to stay off for all of five minutes...I'm trying to be nice.

Wanting independence does not equal voting SNP. Some people who vote labour want independence. The Green Party are for independence. And although this might not help my cause, the Scottish Socialist party are pro-independence.

Voting the SNP out won't erase 300 years of dissatisfaction amongst those of us who feel it, but once we're independent we can vote for who we like. A Scottish Conservative Party maybe? To think that the reason we want independence is about COVID misses the point entirely and kind of plays into the hands of those of us who want independence to build ourselves a proper country away from people who think they know what we want.

I would like to add, that NS devoting so much time to her independence project at this particular time is a disgrace.
The Covid pandemic needs to be truly over first.

To be fair, it’s only some ( not all) SNP voters who want to split from the rest of the UK.
They should really (if dissatisfied) with things, be voting the SNP out.I think that leaving the EU ( SNP voters seem to be happy with Brussels masters but not Westminster ones) and
Covid has made a lot of people in Scotland think that independence will change things.It won’t. It was meant to be once in a generation ( their referendum) and they voted to stay in the union.

I really hope Scotland stays in the UK. Having voted Brexit myself, I can fully appreciate the heart can rule the head in that perhaps Scotland being financially poorer for a while, during transition, won’t sway them to remain with us.

I'm English and live London.

I think it inevitable that Scotland will leave the Union, given Brexit - and I don't blame them.

If London could do the same that would please me! But that's not likely as London has not previously been an independent country, as Scotland once was.