Meanwhile in Scotland.....

The young Conservative woman on Question Time in Glasgow last night- was very strange, tense and spoke like a robot.

But she certainly got a massive laugh from all when she stated that Johsnon cares passionately for Scotland.

As a Scot currently living in another part of our country, I was never given a say in the separatist referendum of 2014 and I will not be likely to have any say in the future of Scotland if there is another referendum .

I agree strongly with the SNP that Scotland and the rest of the UK should remain in the EU, but I disagree that the UK should be destroyed, whether we remain or leave the EU.

We have seen over the last three and a bit years how difficult it is to leave a Union we have been part of for more than forty years, so surely we can all see that it would be even more difficult, more complicated and potentially disastrous for Scotland to try to leave a Union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland that has served us all well for more than three hundred years?

I think that one point is that because Scotland is a separate country, we have the possibility of independence if we choose it. The North (and other parts) of England don't have that choice. The only way to shake off the heavy hand of the SE is for them to have some degree of devolution. A start is the elected mayors - even for those who don't like Andy Burnham for his politics (he's not a Tory!) must admit that he fights Manchester's corner.

As one with some family roots in Hexham and around Newcastle, I would like to see the NE of England getting a better deal from the UK. You're right, gillybob, HS2 is an irrelevance for you just as it is for us!

YES I get that Paddyann I am just saying that Ireland is across a sea whereas the South of Scotland and the North If England touch each other . Not arguing that you are not a separate country . You make that point VERY clear !

we are a SEPERATE country Gilly ,thats all. I can still love Ireland and visit although its not tied to Westminster ..thats all.Being ON the same island doesn't mean we're not a different country
.

How on earth do you think the people if Tyneside and many other places in the North will benefit from HS2 ? Short answer we won’t, but by god we’ll pay for it for ever . As long as the South is okay though eh?

I hate bringing The B word into this again but we in the NE where our most valuable output is industry, stand to be hit the very hardest .

How can you compare Ireland which is across a large stretch of sea to a border between the North of England and Scotland where we can touch each other ?

as an aside Gilly I love Ireland but I would hate to see the Republic run by WM ..for WM with no thought for the people who live ,work and contribute there .That doesn't stop me loving the country and its people

the difference being that Scotland is a COUNTRY ,with its own language ,church,systems of law and education and much more.Its OWN history and a different outlook on whats important..thats why we haven't voted for a tory majority for over 60 years .We are very much a more left leaning nation .Cue the unionists who will tell you we NEED WM.
Scotland has the potential to be a great country .IF we dont hand over billions to WM and have to accept a "debt" that isn't our ,wasn't accrued by us .for things we neither want nor need.For instance HS2!! Then there defence ,our spend on defence is more than double per capita than the USA ...now why is that?We should be on a par with Norways defence spendng of £1 billion a year yet WE pay around £5 billion a year .. on Trident that isn't welcome here .We can be self suffiicent in many things including power and water ..instead what extra power we generate we have to PAY to have put on the "National " grid while every other power suppier gets PAID to put theirs on.Dont wonder why we get peed off at WM ,just get some facts and they will explain it all

There are many of us who do think about the North of England, gillybob, particularly those of us who, like me, have friends and close family who live there. As Granny23 says, you are always welcome here. However, you did have a referendum about more devolution to the North of England, and that was rejected. Perhaps it's time to think again?

The 'benefits enjoyed by Scotland' can be a description of our having our own parliament, but it is also a term used by some (not necessarily you, I hasten to add) to complain about things like our free prescriptions, as if they were being paid for by English money and not, as is the case, by our own tax-payers' money because we have chosen to use it that way.

Your words are reassuring Granny23 and paddyann but I’m not entirely convinced. I think some Scots (rightly or wrongly) feel bitter towards Westminster but they forget that there are those of us in the North of England who feel exactly the same without the benefits enjoyed by Scotland .

Personally ( and for my own selfish reasons) I don’t want to see a split . I love Scotland.

There is no "hatred of all things English "* Gilly* just all things westminster

Actually the Land Border between Scotland and England is shorter than the border between NI and Eire because the Scottish one is a more or less straight line and the Irish one is a dogleg. There is already a 'border' in the sea which determines what is Scottish waters and what belongs to England. This is the border that Tony Blair shifted north, overnight, to ensure that some of the oil and gas fields were now in English Waters.

SNP members are not fired up by hatred of the English people. Many members and elected representatives are English born and bred, They tend to see the inequities of the present system of government more clearly than native born Scots who have become used to accepting that no matter how they vote, the wishes of the 10 x larger electorate in England will decide who governs us, determines our budget, and has power over us, to the extent of over ruling the decisions of the Scottish Parliament, e.g. turning down requests for a 2nd referendum. I noticed recently that BJ the PM speaking in the HofC announced that "There will be substantially increased funding for every school in the Country ", when in fact the increased funding applies in England only. This kind of thing really jars, when England is casually seen as the 'whole country', with no thought for NI, Wales and Scotland.

Not to worry Gillybob - you will always be welcome here in Scotland and post Brexit, will be able to cross the border as easily as you will be able to go to Eire, France, or any other EU Country.

I’m not sure how an English/Scottish border could/would work though. We are talking about a fair stretch from East to West and then all the islands too. Surely the border would have to include all the areas of sea (of which there is an awful lot) and not just the land on the England/ Scotland Borders.

Living so close to Scotland as we do, I really don’t want to see a breakup, but I can’t help but think that this seemingly hatred of all things English by the SNP might mean that it will happen eventually .

NICOLA Sturgeon has won an award from a group of 100 European print media editors for her “responsible and ethical stance against Brexit and for being “a crucial voice of reason” in the debate over Britain’s exit from the EU. The recognition comes from the international German media conference M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, which gathers editors from important print media of EU member states

Meanwhile Latest YouGov poll shows the SNP taking all 13 Conservative seats in Scotland if there is a GE now.

"Liberal Democrats' easy Shetland win mocked Sturgeon’s by-election strategy"

www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17874300.letters-liberal-democrats-39-easy-shetland-win-mocked-sturgeons-by-election-strategy/

BOB No, an Independent Scotland within the EU would only have the one border, i.e. the one with the non-EU Rest of the disUnited Kingdom.

Latest Polling:

A SNAP General Election would give the SNP a massive boost and leave the party with an MP in all but seven of Scotland's constituencies, according to a major new poll.

A survey of 10,000 adults, commissioned by the Conservative Group for Europe, shows Nicola Sturgeon's party would gain 17 seats, giving them 52 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats.

Overall a snap election would result in another hung parliament, with the Tories on 311, Labour on 242, LibDems on 21, Plaid on four, Greens on 1 and others on one.

And another border to worry about

delighted that the young Tom did so well and very philosophical about it too.It was a good result given the Lib Dems have been in power in Shetland for a long time .

Just being nosy here sirchengin What IS so great about this disunited kingdom that makes you think we're better handing over all our income to it ..making our own country disadvantaged in the process ?

Speaking as an SNP insider, I don't think that we seriously expected to win (although as always, fighting the election as hard as you can).

*A strong win?
The LibDem vote was down by 19.52%.
The SNP vote increased by 9.27%*

And Labour and Tories with less than 5% between them.....

Personally I am very happy with that result.

The long serving former MSP Tavish Scott had a huge amount of personal support so new LibDem MSP Beatrice Wishart did very well, retaining the seat with a 16% majority.

The UK is in a state of chaos and the SNP hoped to cash in on that. They seriously thought they would win because they'd poured huge resources into their campaign so this result is a set back for them.

They always knew they were going to lose seats - Tavish Scott has been hugely popular there. However, as we keep being reminded by SNP supporters who lost a third for their seats in the GE and don't have 48% support in Scotland, it doesn't matter as they're still the single largest party.

A strong win?
The LibDem vote was down by 19.52%.
The SNP vote increased by 9.27%.

I think local issues e.g. ferry funding played quite a part in the Shetland MSP by-election.
How Shetlanders would vote in a referendum on independence could be quite different.

The voting figures are in this link.

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/shetland-byelection-lib-dems-see-off-snp-challenge-to-retain-seat-a4224721.html

Yesterday's by-election for the Shetland seat in the Scottish Parliament resulted in as strong win for the Liberal Democrats, in spite of the SNP pouring huge resources into targetting it.

Lib Dem winner Beatrice Wishart got 48% of the vote.

SNP 32%

An Independent got 11%

All the other candidates lost their deposits

Con + Lab combined were less than 5%. Between them they didn't even have enough votes to save one deposit.

Absolute nonsense - it was down to people being sick of JC and of the nationalist rhetoric and having a figurehead who wasn't your typical Shire tory. She got 13 seats in the last GE - up from 1. How many did the SNP lose again - remind me?

Going forward I can see a swing to the LDs from those of us who will never put our crosses next to the SNP and whether that will be enough to see off an indy victory - who knows? Personally I doubt it, unless WM get their act together very, very quickly. Effectively we're being asked to vote to sh*tstorm 1 or sh*tstorm 2, with many more years of uncertainty and political wrangling.

her popularity was hugely inflated,the rise in Tory MP's mainly due to Kezia Dugdale telling Labour voters in marginals to vote Tory to keep the SNP out .
The so called massive swing was 2% LESS than the "decimation of votes" in Thatchers time ,down to 22% from 24%