What would be the situation regarding citizenship if the Scots vote for independance? If you were born in Scotland obviously you would have Scottish citizenship, so does that mean that your British passport would be withdrawn and you'd have to apply for a Scottish one? If you'd lived and worked in England for many years could you opt for joint citizenship? Scotland might well not join the EU, at least immediately, so Scots would have no right to live and work in England. Would the ones already there be thrown out? What about existing employment contracts? Presumably they would have to go through the 'Other' channels at immigration points? You'd have to have border controls at all crossing points, I suppose. Would Scotland join the Commonwealth? Suppose the NHS introduced charging for non-England/Wales/NI people? The Scots would have to pay for their treatment in English hospitals. What about driving licences? I suppose Scots with existing licences would be given new Scottish ones, but what about Scots living in England but without a licence? Could they take the English test or would they have to go north of the border?
It's up to the Scot's with what they do, however they'd be a lot of lot of problems with an independent Scotland. They'd have to have their own bank, currency, domain names, passports, resubmit to the EU etc. All those changes would cost every Scottish person money to make, it's not like their government is going to fund the "big change". Other changes might be things like the postcode systems, domain addresses, changes to how businesses are registered (No longer with Company House), phone numbers etc. That's a lot of tweaking of all Scottish business stationary (at the cost of each company). While the notion of freedom to do as they will might seem a great idea, Scotland would end up with a Deficit from costs which in turn would mean undermining any financial position they currently have.
Those problems and a whole bonanza worth of additional concerns would plague an independent Quebec, yet a large minority of Quebec residents and close to 50% of Quebec's French Canadians continue to dream of independence and/or extorting the rest of the country into giving them special status to discriminate against non-French minorities. Go figure, I would have thought independence is most needed for ethnic groups whose cultures, languages and identities aren't welcomed in their host countries. I don't know much about Scotland's reasons for seeking independence, but I'm guessing it's at least partly related to Mel Gibson. Unlike Quebec, Scotland might actually stand to make money by splitting off, because they've got some pretty generous energy deposits. In Quebec they have plenty of resources too, but they've spent decades acting like a bedridden geriatric while the rest of the country funnels billions into their provincial coffers to bribe them into sticking around- they'd be more impoverished than Portugal if they were to split. With the Scots, I guess their feeling is that William the Conqueror is going to get all their oil and spend all the money propping up that showcase capital on the Thames, while the folks in Yorkshire and everywhere else in the country continue living like it's the 1920's and falling ever further behind.
When it comes down to it the decision will be made on economic grounds. The only thing keeping the whole UK afloat is the success of London.
I say it's silver-tongued, fashionably dressed young men like this that keep the UK afloat. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! BTW someone please inform them that we beat the Jerries and we don't need the merchant fleet anymore.
You son of a bitch, you just made me snort Coca-Cola out my nose... do you have any idea how much that burns? XD
Scotland can use the Euro, but the Question I have is what happens to the land the Royals own? And what type of government would the Scots have?
That's the point, they wouldn't be able to use the Euro because they'd have to resubmit to the European Union.
Stryder is right. Barosso (spelling?) has said that Scotland may not be able to join the EU because it needs a unanimous vote from all the members, and Spain would veto it to avoid creating a precedent for Catalunya. So no Euro. I suppose the royals own the land so they would keep it unless the govt did a compulsory purchase. The Scots already have a democratic govt with limited powers so they would keep that.
I believe the intent is to retain the British monarch as head of state - thank God: just imagine Shrek as President of Scotland. Shrek hopes that by holding a referendum close to the date of the Battle of Bollockbum, he can twang the heartstrings enough to get the Scots to vote based on emotion rather than intellect. But, I seem to recall, the Scots have a reputation for being "canny"…… For the rest of the UK (55m out of the 60m total population) I think the main issue would be the cost of relocating the nuclear submarine deterrent. Plus of course there should be no shared currency unless the rest of the UK gets a vote on that, too, as that would put us on the hook for any profligacy (surely unthinkable) by Shrek and his merry men.
I didn't know the wee fella was known as shrek. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! It would probably be too expensive to move Trident so either the Scots change their mind and let us keep it there, or no Trident, weakens Nato, maybe UK loses Security Council seat. Thanks a lot. Are they going to keep the monarchy? What for? The oil wealth - at current prices - would give the Scots a higher GDP/head than they get now so maybe they are being canny...
If that doesn't work, then next time they ought to hold it closer to the Siege of Sackball or the Trials at Testicletit. Edit: Ha! I thought that was an actual place. Almost sounds like a location in Macbeth or something.
Scotland will exploit its Haggis mines. As Rabbie Burns said: Wa fa ye needit a bucket te pish in ye drewzy ballock heeded coo? Scawtlin' will be free befoor ye noo it. an' you will be dancin' in the heather, awa the noo.
