What effect would scottish independence have on the UK tree industry?

[daltontrees]

I don't think that there will be too many problems with trade. The French will want to sell their wine to us and the Germans will still want to sell their BMW and Mercedes cars to us. In return we will still sell our whisky to them.

Would be quite interesting in a few years time if Scotland were in the EU and FUK was out!

 

Dare I ask what the F stands for?

[aspenarb]

Salmond is painting a very rosy financial picture for an independent Scotland .If he gets his way there is no way of honouring the cheques he needs to write without a massive tax hit on Joe public and businesses. Scotlands two major industries which is what Salmond is basing the countries fortunes on are a fast diminishing oil revenue and the finance sector, both of which historically have proven to be fragile and industries like these can very easily uproot and leave. I can see a 50% income tax on the horizon which would be in keeping with other very small countries that need to fend for themselves like Sweden .A question put to potential voters was would they still vote for independence if it would cost them £500 and the answer was a big no, in reality it will cost each and every tax payer in the country a lot more than this per annum if Scotland goes independent. There is strength in numbers so why fragment the UK?

 

Bob

[wrsni]

This is one time when the issue is really very straightforward.

 

If the Scots are stupid enough to go with a megalomaniac like Salmond then they deserve what they will undoubtably have coming to them as a result.

 

His only trump card is anti-English bile and there's never any good comes out of doing something out of spite.

[daltontrees]

This is one time when the issue is really very straightforward.

 

If the Scots are stupid enough to go with a megalomaniac like Salmond then they deserve what they will undoubtably have coming to them as a result.

 

His only trump card is anti-English bile and there's never any good comes out of doing something out of spite.

 

It shoudn't be about Salmond, it should eb about 20 years' time.

 

I have said it elsewhere on Arbtalk, but if England had the decency and humility to admit that it needs an english assembly ina federal UK we wouldn't even be having a referendum on scottish independence. Why do the english settle for scottish MPs voting on english-only matters? Is it because the scottish vote never really changes anything anyway.? Isn't that the driving force for independence?

[Mike Dempsey]

The 'F' stands for former.

[daltontrees]

The 'F' stands for former.

Ahhh... disappointing.

[wrsni]

It shoudn't be about Salmond,

 

You're right it shouldn't, but it plainly is!

 

He doesn't want to be representing a semi-autonomous region within the UK, he wants to be top dog of a country.

 

The economics simply don't add up, the politics don't add up, so what's left,....................anti-English rhetoric.

[theflyingscotsman]

[daltontrees]

You're right it shouldn't, but it plainly is!

 

He doesn't want to be representing a semi-autonomous region within the UK, he wants to be top dog of a country.

 

The economics simply don't add up, the politics don't add up, so what's left,....................anti-English rhetoric.

 

Poeple are having difficulty separating Salmond from the real issues. Jusrt as they are with Cameron. Of whom I would say he barely can relate to the english public and really doesn't have the ear of the scottish public and deosn't even have a mandate to run the country. What a mess British politics is.

 

Whether the politics or economics add up or not there is clearly an issue. Rhetoric like this doesn't go away. So if 30% of Scotland votes for independence, with a disproportionately high part of the younger voters wanting it, the Yes vote might have lost but it would hardly show contentment if a third or more of future electorate of Scotland doersn't want to be part of the UK. The rhetoric will become resentment, embedded as never before.

 

I have almost given up on trying to debate the non-political issues on this thread. The debate keeps being dragged back to the politics. And in that respect I am finding it very disappointing that no-one here has been willing to address the question of why England doesn't have an assembly. If it did the UK government could be run as a federal one, where decisions made for it by its parliament would be made for the benefit of the UK. This solution is so very very obvious and the current set-up is bizarre, anachronistic and productive of the sort of resentment that has raised the independence issue. The if-it-aint-broke-don't-try-to-fix-it argument only washes outside scotland.

[wrsni]

So if 30% of Scotland votes for independence, with a disproportionately high part of the younger voters wanting it, the Yes vote might have lost but it would hardly show contentment if a third or more of future electorate of Scotland doersn't want to be part of the UK. The rhetoric will become resentment, embedded as never before.

 

Well sorry but that's democracy for you.

 

There are two aspects to democracy. Firstly everyone has their say, and secondly, you then accept the will of the majority. Are you suggesting things should still change after the vote because that's what 30% want, what about the 70% who are content to remain part of the UK?????

 

Tell you what, have a look across the Irish Sea at how well we are getting along with our "Mandatory Coalition" and you'll see just how badly a country really can be run!!!