Is this the beginning of the end for the United Kingdom?

Many Scots who support the SNP as the governing party would not vote for independence.I was out with 8 people in Glasgow on Friday. All are SNP supporters (although they do not warm to Ms. Sturgeon) but would vote against independence. Why?

They are all in their late fifties and early sixties and are scared to lose their pensions and benefits. They cannot see how an independent Scotland could afford their pensions . None of them believe an English government would continue to pay their pensions after independence.

And conversely, there are people like me who don’t support the SNP could be persuaded to vote for independence if Sturgeon gets an agreement in place for joining or rejoining the EU - because I really don’t want to be out of the EU with no deal or a poor one just so an extremely right wing Govt can gloat that they got Brexit done.

Many Scots, like me, who live in other parts of the UK and are never consulted do not want to have to produce a passport at Gretna and be treated as foreigners in our own country.

Many more Scots who voted SNP last week to beat the Tories, are still opposed to separatism and it is wrong for the SNP to claim their votes as a mandate for destroying the UK.

And yet that’s exactly what’s being imposed on us in Europe by Boris.

Today I've received this from Scottish CND. Yet another example of how diametrically opposed the Scottish Consensus is from the rest of the UK.

GENERAL ELECTION 2019
We are pleased that Scotland's view on nuclear weapons is reflected in the election results with an overwhelming majority of our winning MPs having a clear anti-Trident stance. It is also encouraging that the issue of nuclear weapons came up so regularly during the campaign on doorsteps and at hustings. It is more of an issue for people than many of the politicians think.

Today is the beginning of a new chapter in Scottish CND's campaign for a nuclear-free Scotland working for a nuclear-free anti-racist world, and responding appropriately to the climate emergency. An anti-nuclear, anti-racist stance was explicit and high profile in the SNP campaign and the one remaining Labour MP in Scotland is known for his steadfast opposition to Trident.

The election results outwith Scotland are a sober reminder that Scotland is currently part of a United Kingdom which is dead set on continuing to prioritise nuclear wepaons at the expense of genuine social and economic security, and to wilfully ignore the planetary crisis.

An independent Scotland will follow a better path than the road the UK is being led down. The power is in our hands to rid the whole of the UK from the scourge of nuclear weapons and we should now be planning the vital and sequential steps towards that end. Meanwhile, we must live and act as part of that global groundswell for peace and human security that is behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is a sleeves up moment.

At the same time we share the feelings of distress, dismay and actual grief that so many are experiencing today and we wish to express real and heartfelt solidarity with those who are even now picking themselves up to continue the hard struggle for equality, truth and justice. In particular, we salute the courage and the persistence of those in the rest of the UK who work their socks off in the cause of nuclear disarmament in such a hostile climate. We are in this together.

You have to remember, though, that the SNP and Greens don’t have the majority share of the votes - so while they have the largest number of seats the remaining majority share of the vote is shared between parties who don’t oppose Trident (with Scottish Labour toeing the UK party line now)