I can't believe it? Independence?????

Not trying to be confrontational but are you ****ing mad, how can you leave us to our own devices.

Don't vote for independence!!

We need some Scottish common sense down here even though you are a bunch of wild, neanderthal, primitive hard drinking inbred know it alls that spawned Alex Salmond that ijeet

Whats the word up there?

Someone pass the popcorn.

[Bibio]

don't worry Scotland will NOT get independence. even if there is a majority vote the majority will be so small Westminster will do exactly the same as they done in the 70's.

Westminster/Whitehall is shizzing their selves about Scotland getting independence. Why? as they will have to find a way of making up the shortfall in revenue. so they will either have to cut more public spending or raise taxes. there is no if or buts about it.

Scotland on the other hand will gain revenue so it might help towards our public spending.

all the scaremongering going on is just that, Scotland has been devolved for a good while now and we seem to be doing all rite with the handouts we get from Whitehall. Scotland is either on budget or falls below each year.

the icing on the cake about Westminster shizzing themselves is the refusal to let Scotland keep the £, bigggg mistake.

for every £ printed by a Scottish bank that bank has to keep the same amount in the BOE as English notes. if Scotland get independence then the BOE no longer have that on their books and Sottish notes then become legal tender. the BOE's credit rating will then go down.

ok so it might take 50 years for everything to be sorted out before Scotland is fully independent but at least in the meantime we wont have to rely on handouts.

i just hope the the Scottish public have the sense to vote out the political party we have at the moment to one that does not have any ties to Westminster come the next election otherwise Westminster will make sure that we are fecked.

Politicians who have dual roles e.g. SMP's/MP's will have their wages cut by the amount they would have received form Westminster so of course they don't want Scotland to get independence.

dear fellow Scots please dont let the media poison your mind.

i could go on and on but i won't.

[NTECUK]

Can't be a bad thing. They don't seem to follow the England's parliament thoughts on tuition fees and health care. And it works better for them.
So it will allow greater freedom to tailor the policy better for Scotland.
The. English and Welsh will have to stand up.
The UK flags gonna look rubbish though

What about the I.O.M -Jersey -Guernsey,all independent but still British Protectorates. I think the biggest problem for Westminster is that mainland UK will become a split island and they don't want that. Should Scotland get independence they are not the only ones who will have headaches sorting things out,Westminster might have quite a few as well. To be honest I am sat on the fence because I don't have all the information as to what both sides intend doing.

[SIII]

IIRC

Westminster spend on new London underground and London to Birmingham rail link will be in the region of £90 Billion. This will come from the tax payers of the English, Welsh, Scottish and N.Ireland. But will benefit the South of England most. Where is the only area recovering from the latest London based bankers recession ??? Who's house prices and wages are increasing ???

Total spend in 1 year for Scotland - £30 billion - for everything !!!!

Doesn't seem quite fair, does it ?

The only reason the eton boys club want to keep Scotland in UK is to continue to rob us the same as their ancestors always have. It has already been declared that, if we vote no - The Scotland budget will be cut !!!

IIRC for every Scottish note printed - we have to keep GOLD in the BoE !!! That's why they will not take the pound off of us, they'd have to return all our gold. Not even sure they still have it ???

[madcockney]

I'm English, but live in Wales, and used to come to Scotland a lot on business at one period in my life. The Scots should make their own minds up, but I would have thought that the current situation was best for all. (On a personal basis I would say "stay with us you are wanted".) Having travelled a lot in a past life throughout the world I can see what the UK government and the Scottish government are getting at when it comes to the British, what I used to call UK, pound. Any country can use another country's currency, but it is not their country's currency, which underwrites the fiscal system of the country. I do not think that this was used by the chancellor as a spoiler, but just stating that the rest of the UK could not underwrite another country, so they need to make plans. The Scots, if they decide to go on their own, will need to have some form of internal currency that has a conversion rate for GBP, which could be one for one, or if Scotland does well could end up being one Scottish unit to 1.2 GBP, though most daily transactions are conducted in £. (During the oil Crisis in the 1970's a company I once worked for did all their transactions in dollars as it was more stable.) To be honest I think that this is clouding the whole issue. It will probably come down to whether Scotland wants to be completely separated from the rest of the UK, whether it is in their interest in respect of industry, business and jobs, and whether they want to share in the UK military for security. In other words will it benefit them.

One other thing not discussed is the fact the distance between London and Scotland, which gives a feeling that London does not understand Scotland. (I know that a lot of Scots living elsewhere in the UK are annoyed that they are not getting a vote, and there are pros and cons for that.) I had already been living in Wales for many years when the vote for a National Assembly went through and even that was controversial. The biggest driving force I felt was Maggie Thatcher, not for being a driving force for the Welsh, but her own and her governments actions and arrogance towards them. There is still a North South divide in Wales, but Plaid Cymru now accept that a large percentage only speak English and they talk to them as well. The issue of complete separation that Plaid Cymru were campaigning for does not appear to be in the general Welsh public mindset. That is possibly one of the big differences between the populations of Wales and Scotland.

[squirrel_hunter]

I genuinely hope Scotland gets independence. It will be hilarious. No one on either side of the boarder will have a clue what to do it will be a complete mess. However I have a cunning plan…

Upon Scotland gaining independence I will instruct Adrian’s Wall to be rebuilt. This time a bit taller and will have it patrolled night and day like the 38th Parallel. The boarder will be sealed. Berwick-upon-Tweed will be decided by coin toss. All now illegal Scottish immigrants will be rounded up and deported to St Kilda after viewing The Wickerman for inspiration. I will then after lulling the Scots into a false sense of security invade this independent Scotland crushing all before me annexing it back into British territory.

[Matt-EUC]

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

I genuinely hope Scotland gets independence. It will be hilarious. No one on either side of the boarder will have a clue what to do it will be a complete mess. However I have a cunning plan…

Upon Scotland gaining independence I will instruct Adrian’s Wall to be rebuilt. This time a bit taller and will have it patrolled night and day like the 38th Parallel. The boarder will be sealed. Berwick-upon-Tweed will be decided by coin toss. All now illegal Scottish immigrants will be rounded up and deported to St Kilda after viewing The Wickerman for inspiration. I will then after lulling the Scots into a false sense of security invade this independent Scotland crushing all before me annexing it back into British territory.

Hear hear!!

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

I genuinely hope Scotland gets independence. It will be hilarious. No one on either side of the boarder will have a clue what to do it will be a complete mess. However I have a cunning plan…

Upon Scotland gaining independence I will instruct Adrian’s Wall to be rebuilt. This time a bit taller and will have it patrolled night and day like the 38th Parallel. The boarder will be sealed. Berwick-upon-Tweed will be decided by coin toss. All now illegal Scottish immigrants will be rounded up and deported to St Kilda after viewing The Wickerman for inspiration. I will then after lulling the Scots into a false sense of security invade this independent Scotland crushing all before me annexing it back into British territory.

Be careful what you wish for, even if in jest.
Island division in my personal view ain't pretty. The UK is lucky it's inhabitants are fairly peaceful. Invasions in an island so small is horrendous. It's that sort of behaviour that keeps a small Mediterranean island with unrecognised territory for 40yrs , divided by a status quo.
That aside....
I'll sit on the fence too. I've read a fair bit about the situation and there is a lot of pro's and cons. Still not entirely convinced either way.