Scottish Independence

I keep reading that over the current century the big shortage will be pure clean water. As the use of oil is slowly phased out Water will be the big cash cow - used for bargaining deals and sold at premium prices. Again Scotland's natural resources will be a much sought after commodity as Scotland (unlike England) has enough water for ourselves and plenty to spare to sell to the highest bidder.

Another interesting FACT = There is more water in Loch Ness alone than in all the lakes in England added together.

I agree that we should be reducing the use of fossil fuels and am delighted by the progress so far in Scotland towards being entirely powered bia renewables - Wind, Wave and Hydro. However until everyone has been converted to electric cars, buses and trains we will need supplies of oil and may as well take them from our own stocks.

I expect you are pleased that Scotland has a moratorium on dirty and dangerous fracking, which will be changed to an outright ban as soon as the Scottish Government has the power to enact that. I am sure you are also lobbying Westminster MPs to take steps to introduce a ban on fracking in the rest of the UK.

Granny23, what's so great about taking out more oil and gas from underground when we should be stopping using fossil fuels to minimise the pollution caused?

Don't be so silly Paddyann. Read Chucky's posts. If you think the day job is desperately failing schools and social care etc etc then SNP is doing the day job. It's just that most of us want it to be done much better. SNP have had long enough to try to impress us but they definitely have not.

Oh Dear ,I thought this site was for Grans ...Adults ,seems a couple of teenagers with closed minds and big mouths sneaked in eh "jane and Jan*You could just avoid my posts if you cant bear the thought of a rabid independence supporter having a say .Or you could get me banned for being a traitor to the England/Westminster you cherish ...ha ha ha

SNP government doing the day job .working for the people instead of against them .

e Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) examined the impact of combined changes to tax, social security and local authority services between 2010 and 2022. Its report estimates household income in Scotland will fall by 8.5% for the country’s poorest families, 8% for larger families and 7.8% for female lone parent households.

However, the projected drop in total household income in Scotland between 2011 and 2022 will be £200 compared to £1450 in England and £470 in Wales, with decisions by the Scottish Government mitigating the impact of some UK Government cuts.

Haven’t a clue what she said but probably same old same old.

Shouting again again Paddyann? It just makes people scroll past your posts.

and meantime SNP gave CARERS a rise that Labour decided to vote against .I take it none of the unionists here are happy with Nurses,Teachers, Police and carers getting wage rises above the average or the extra police on the streets and the drop in crime ,or the maternity grant being reninstated or the many other things including mitigating the bedroom tax ..
Of course you'll say its just SNP propoganda and none of its true!!
Can I again point out that INDEPENDENCE is a cross party policy.At grass roots level.There are NO Scottish Labour or Tory parties they are registered in England only and we have branch offices here who answer to the English masters .

Here is another

Published in Oil Industry News on Monday, 18 March 2019

New Licensing Round West of Scotland to Open Up Supermassive Oil Fields Where 100 Years of Oil Predicted - News Item Graphic
It has been revealed today that plans are in place for a joint licensing round to be launched between the Faroe Islands and the UK North Sea.

The “ground-breaking” collaboration would see blocks come available for exploration in waters on the UK Atlantic Margin, between west of Shetland and the Faroes.

The minority SNP Government needed Green backing to get their budget accepted. (Remind you of anything?) The price? That workers are charged for workplace parking estimated at around £450 per annum! This includes people on minimum wage ,and many who have no alternative travel means. Before we are told by those in support, NHS staff are exempt from the charge. Can you imagine the chaos that has caused? How valued do you think other workers feel? Glasgow and Edinburgh Councils are looking at this although some others have said they will not apply the charge. We wait and see!

Three out of four of the large whisky companies are owned by international conglomerates. We are lucky that they create employment here in Scotland.
I'm happy to pay my taxes too although I have absolutely no confidence in SNP govt's economic competence as you know.

I think you probably knew the answer to that before you posted it.The largest companies are international with Pernod/Ricard and Diageo being the biggest.I live in an area where the distilleries are owned by Diageo.There are a lot of independent( that word again..tut tut) distilleries and new ones opening regularly.Who OWNS it is largely irrelevant.its PRODUCED here and cant be replicated elsewhere .The TAX from it is taken by Westminster who dont want to lose the £58 a second.I'm not up to date with that figure .It could be more or less .Added to the whisky tax is the ever growing GIN industry here ,hugely appreciated and sold worldwide MOST are small companies .All exports through English ports are claimed as English revenue .

Can I add Jane that I am more than happy to pay my taxes and have been doing for 50 years I am NOT happy that they go to fund what Westminster wants at the expense of Scotland where the money was earned .That includes my VAT road tax etc .

Who owns the whisky companies?

Just a couple of verifiable facts to add to the debate.

Exports of Scotch Whisky reached a record £4.7 billion in 2018.

Whisky accounts for 20% of all UK Food and Drink Exports.

I realise the EU is essentially run by two countries, after all it was their idea. Although one has slightly more power than the other! I don’t have any illusions though that the UK was that far up the table. We may have been just above the salt along with Holland, Belgium, Italy, etc, but we bought that position.

I also rather think that the main reason the east Europeans were only allowed in (apart from rubbing Russia’s nose in the mud) is to provide a work force for the west. But that might just be my suspicious mind.

Very much a 'table à trois' or 'ein Tisch für drei' which we are choosing to leave - so you can't really blame them, can you?

It was a table for three until quite recently.

NfKD there is a top table in the EU and it is increasingly becoming a table a deux or tisch fur zwei, take your pick
(Cannot do les accents on here)

An independent Scotland would join a queue of would-be EU members, a senior European official has said.

Jacqueline Minor, the head of representation for the European Commission in the UK, said if Scotland became independent and wanted to join the EU it would be added to the list of candidate countries including Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Speaking at a Scottish Parliamentary Journalists' Association event in Edinburgh, she said: “Were Scotland to become independent, they would join that list.”

She added though that it might be easier for Scotland to meet membership criteria such as democracy, rule of law, anti-corruption and protection of minorities than other candidates.

Read more

Nicola Sturgeon gives Theresa May deadline for Brexit compromise
Ms Minor also poured cold water on Scotland's ability to secure a special deal in Brexit negotiations.

The Scottish government argues the country, which had a majority of remain voters in the EU referendum unlike the UK, should be in line for a differentiated deal after the UK Government's move for special deals for the car industry.

Ms Minor said: “The negotiations will be with the United Kingdom and that means essentially the Westminster Government.
If we are still in the EU and Scotland became independant this would change I guess .

An interesting thread.

Surely though G23 there is no top table in the EU? I thought all states are considered equal? If not, in order to get a top table place, does this mean Scotland would be expected to be a net contributor as the UK is now? Does the EU want you for your looks or your oil?

Totally agree with you there Granny23, that David Mundell got that position because he was the only Tory MP elected in Scotland in 2015.
Luckily he now has another 12 colleagues to support him in Westminster after th 2017 election. Remarkable rise in numbers!

If it came about and we asked to join the EU we would have to agree to using the euro so much for the Scottish currency the SNP would like

This is just not true. EU lawyers have confirmed that if there is an on-going move towards Scottish Independence when/if Brexit is finalised then Scotland will not leave the EU but continue to be 'associate members' until an Independent Scotland is established , when it will become a full member with a seat at the top table. The Euro issue is a red herring. There is a requirement that new members should commit to joining the Euro but they cannot join until many conditions are met. Several current EU members have consistently failed to fulfill these conditions, year after year, but have continued to be full members of the EU without censure or penalties.

We know that Westminster wants to hang on to Scotland because of its wealth of natural resources e.g. surplus water, hydro, wind and wave power, more oil reserves (and reserves of coal which could be safely used in carbon capture power stations and the best fishing grounds. Not to mention lots of unused land, ripe for development. These resources would also be make Scotland a valuable member of the EU. Scotland's membership of the EU would be on an equal basis with all other member Countries, with a power of veto, a seat at the top table and a turn at leadership, unlike the position within the UK, where no MP representing a Scottish Constituency can ever be the PM under EVEL legislation and the only seat Scotland has at the top table ie. the Cabinet, is occupied by the bog useless David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland, who was only elevated to this position in 2015 because he was the one and only Tory MP elected in Scotland.

Thankyou Chucky, SuDonim and others for putting it all so much better than I could. Paddyann’s shouty posts just leave me speechless.
Thankyou also to Jalima and others for pointing out the etiquette of posting.
I’m sorry Gilly for your experience in Dundee - please don’t give up on Scotland, remember it’s the minority who feel, and behave, this way.