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Ok chaps, lets get to it.

With the SNP storming to victory, the Scots may now be holding a referendum on an independent Scotland.

How will this work, your all educated people, so please lets not have any bitter whinging Scots making things up and deal with only facts.

Fact, the Scottish economy is not large enough to keep Scotland as it is, and they take a large sum north of the border. North sea oil accounts for about ten billion a year, but they take 30 billion from London.. correct?

So my question is, how would it work in actuality?

Would they need separate passports? Armed forces? The whole shebang?

And how would you feel about it?

Personally, I strongly dislike Scots and think that we should have another war.

But seriously, do you see it happening? What will the ramifications be? How will it work in practice?

Well, I'd imagine they'd join the EU. That'd certainly help out on the financial stakes, no small amount.

I would love to see them fall into a financial black hole - we could rebuild Hardian's Wall to keep starving Scots north of the border and preventing them from raiding our fish and chip shops

Plus we would stop getting their bloody stupid pretend money as change in the shops. Hurah!

Though I am with htj - they would probably join the EU and we would still end up paying for them.

Yup. They get you coming and going.

Would the EU accept another country that it would just have to bail out in a year?

Probably find that when push comes to shove the people of Scotland won't really want to break away, they are just hacked off. Most Scot's that I speak to don't think too highly of Mr Salmond and really have a strong desire to split away.

Adding to Matty's question though. The Scots have historically complained about Westminster being out of touch with them... how is that any different to some town / village in Cornwall, or Dorset or Yorkshire?

Yeah, im correct right? I mean, they really are not able to pay for their gak. They have an economy like fething Greece?

Im genuinelly curious, if they leave, we CAN stop giving them money right?!

Then build Hadrians wall again, and they can eat grass while I laugh.

My grandad on my dads side was a Scot, if he was still alive id fething deport him as well!

SilverMK2 wrote:I would love to see them fall into a financial black hole - we could rebuild Hardian's Wall to keep starving Scots north of the border and preventing them from raiding our fish and chip shops

Plus we would stop getting their bloody stupid pretend money as change in the shops. Hurah!

Though I am with htj - they would probably join the EU and we would still end up paying for them.

Careful what you wish for English. Without the Scots there is no Haggis. Without the Haggis its 1066 all over with some other Haggis free invader.

"Nelson shmelson. Who cares for that loser. We can't invade England because they'll hit us with the pomme de Haggis."
Emperor Napoleon, shivering at the thought of invading a Haggis armed England.

Wolfstan wrote:Probably find that when push comes to shove the people of Scotland won't really want to break away, they are just hacked off. Most Scot's that I speak to don't think too highly of Mr Salmond and really have a strong desire to split away.

Adding to Matty's question though. The Scots have historically complained about Westminster being out of touch with them... how is that any different to some town / village in Cornwall, or Dorset or Yorkshire?

I have to disagree as well Wolf, have you seen the results?! The SNP have WALKED it. And whats Mr Salmonds no1 point? Independance.

They want it alright, i just hope they dont get it, and then we still have to give them money for some bizarre reason. Historical guilt? I dunno, im just skeptical that Salmond doesnt have a plan, and i think that plan would involve getting all the money he needs off us.

Oh yeah, and would all my Scottish mates in the Royal Marines have to leave and go into some tiny Scottish army regiment that walk dogs and do nothing but pitch tents?!

I think they wont be happy about that.

mattyrm wrote:Yeah, im correct right? I mean, they really are not able to pay for their gak. They have an economy like fething Greece?

Im genuinelly curious, if they leave, we CAN stop giving them money right?!

Then build Hadrians wall again, and they can eat grass while I laugh.

My grandad on my dads side was a Scot, if he was still alive id fething deport him as well!

Probably not. You familiar with how the Commonwealth works? I'm thinking we'd see a similar thing happen, with us finiancially beholden to them until they get on their feet.

I think Wolfstan's right, though. Most Scots don't seriously want to break away, they just want Westminster to look out for their interests a bit more. Similar kind of situation in East and West Canada, I'm told.

Just think of the great ecconomic regeneration that all those labouring jobs will provide in the North if it comes to pass. Round up people at the Job Centre, pile them onto coaches and get them shifting stones, digging trenches etc and give them a wage at the end of the day

But in seriousness I don't think they will ever be suicidal enough to split. They just can't support themselves and no matter how much they complain they do get one hell of a lot from us.

If they do... well... I can imagine it to be much the same as boarder crossings in the rest of mainland Europe.

I just hope that we don't end up paying for their redesigned passports, crossing points or anything else that is involved in them upgrading themselves from a county.

You want to split, you foot the bill.

SilverMK2 wrote:Just think of the great ecconomic regeneration that all those labouring jobs will provide in the North if it comes to pass. Round up people at the Job Centre, pile them onto coaches and get them shifting stones, digging trenches etc and give them a wage at the end of the day

But in seriousness I don't think they will ever be suicidal enough to split. They just can't support themselves and no matter how much they complain they do get one hell of a lot from us.

If they do... well... I can imagine it to be much the same as boarder crossings in the rest of mainland Europe.

I just hope that we don't end up paying for their redesigned passports, crossing points or anything else that is involved in them upgrading themselves from a county.

You want to split, you foot the bill.

I think you underestimate the stupidity of the man in the street. The MPs know which side their bread is buttered, but not the average Joe.

They want it alright, and I hope they get it.

And then not one single penny gets sent over the border.

Things may be hard for them, but there are worse places that have made it. They may be able to build a tourist economy or something IDK. Scotts seem to be a tough hardy folk and I'm all for freedom. If they want to leave why stop them?

I'd be quite happy to let them have it.

Lived in Inverness for 7 years (went to school with Karen Gillan!), I think they'd do a pretty decent job of it... remember, the smaller the population, the more efficient the government.

Their economy isn't that bad. Tourism is pretty big, as is agriculture and there's a lot of exports of food and booze.

There's also the rather large amount of hydroelectricity and water they deliver south of the border too.

Of course, the really smart time to do this would have been *before* Thatcher nicked all their oil...

How did he steal their Oil? was he looking for terrorist or something?

I dont wanna stop them, I want them to feth off and leave me alone.

How did Thatcher steal their oil? Enlighten me please, im genuinelly curious as to your definition of stealing.

If by stealing you mean "paying it into the joint economy, but then tripling it and taking it back" then yes, Thatcher stole it.

sexiest_hero wrote:How did he steal their Oil? was he looking for terrorist or something?

She. Although admittedly, there were rumours...

Everyone needs an army, those are good jobs for those guys.

"Undefended borders," are not uncommon.

Gaa the first time I have ever missed a vote and the SNP storm to victory, bloody work distracting me.

An independence referendum is probably on the cards in the future, but I doubt we will see anything for this term. Just down to the economic situation at the moment it would be the death of the Scottish economy, with the withdrawal of English money and the expense of setting up Scotland own government institutions. Not to mention funding benefits, free prescriptions health care etc purely out of Scotland pocket.

Oil is no longer the magic get out of jail free card it was always touted as for independence with the North sea oil fields in there twilight years. The oil and gas fields straddle English, Danish and Norwegian territorial waters so how much Scotland gets remains to be seen.

An SNP run independent Scotland is a nightmare I dont want to become reality, all the SNP did in there last term was break there election promises and release the lockerbie bomber. Plus Alex Salmond got a face like a pie supper, cant stand the fat gurning ****

cpt_fishcakes wrote:Gaa the first time I have ever missed a vote and the SNP storm to victory, bloody work distracting me.

An independence referendum is probably on the cards in the future, but I doubt we will see anything for this term. Just down to the economic situation at the moment it would be the death of the Scottish economy, with the withdrawal of English money and the expense of setting up Scotland own government institutions. Not to mention funding benefits, free prescriptions health care etc purely out of Scotland pocket.

Oil is no longer the magic get out of jail free card it was always touted as for independence with the North sea oil fields in there twilight years. The oil and gas fields straddle English, Danish and Norwegian territorial waters so how much Scotland gets remains to be seen.

An SNP run independent Scotland is a nightmare I dont want to become reality, all the SNP did in there last term was break there election promises and release the lockerbie bomber. Plus Alex Salmond got a face like a pie supper, cant stand the fat gurning ****

Finally, a Scottish voice! The worst bit will come when you find out that one vote made the difference.

htj wrote:

Finally, a Scottish voice! The worst bit will come when you find out that one vote made the difference.

That would be hard to live with fortunately not the case.

The constituency I am went to the SNP last election and they increased there majority by a whopping 29% this time
Strange thing is when it comes to the British Parliament elections its a safe Labour seat, which illustrates the somewhat schizophrenic nature of voting in Scotland. A lot of people like the idea of Independence but are not convinced it would actually work in reality.

Devolution seems to be the best way to go. It means you get more general control of your region, but are still part of the bigger picture. People get to keep their national identity that way as well.

cpt_fishcakes wrote:

htj wrote:

Finally, a Scottish voice! The worst bit will come when you find out that one vote made the difference.

That would be hard to live with fortunately not the case.

The constituency I am went to the SNP last election and they increased there majority by a whopping 29% this time
Strange thing is when it comes to the British Parliament elections its a safe Labour seat, which illustrates the somewhat schizophrenic nature of voting in Scotland. A lot of people like the idea of Independence but are not convinced it would actually work in reality.

Still, you've a better chance than Cornwall.

Wolfstan wrote:Devolution seems to be the best way to go. It means you get more general control of your region, but are still part of the bigger picture. People get to keep their national identity that way as well.

Yet more layers of extra politicians? No thanks.

scotty land costs england a fortune and them being independent will be class , the oil and and gas field rights were signed to england years ago, and like the yanks thats all we are about really.
they will need to find cash for perscriptions as they are free for everyone, need to find cash for students as its free to be a uni student there. i hope they have a maths mastermind to sort it out then we can copy.

Battlecannon it phil wrote:scotty land costs england a fortune and them being independent will be class , the oil and and gas field rights were signed to england years ago, and like the yanks thats all we are about really.
they will need to find cash for perscriptions as they are free for everyone, need to find cash for students as its free to be a uni student there. i hope they have a maths mastermind to sort it out then we can copy.

Don't compare us to you guys please, we have sensitive feelings.

Just to go a wee bit OT (see what I did there?) - what is it with Scottish politicians and fish names? You have Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. What's next? Dave Trout? Sarah Cod?

filbert wrote:Just to go a wee bit OT (see what I did there?) - what is it with Scottish politicians and fish names? You have Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. What's next? Dave Trout? Sarah Cod?

Well its better than Balls I guess

How will this work, your all educated people, so please lets not have any bitter whinging Scots making things up and deal with only facts.

Good luck with getting people to even agree on what is a "fact", it's nearly impossible of late. People will argue about even the most well-established basic factual information these days if it doesn't match their ideology or conspiracy theories. See my thread on "the Skeptic System" here in Off-Topic and you'll see what I mean. As for everyone here being educated, have you seen some of the comments that appear on the forum? Based on the spelling issues alone, that's not likely true.

I have enormous fondness for the UK and I hope whatever happens there it works out well for everyone concerned. These are scary times nearly everywhere.

We should put our foot down and stop all this independence nonsense. It's time to take back the colonies, starting with America.