Scottish Independence? Nae Thanks
By TSF at January 25, 2012 | 1:02 pm | Print
Should Scotland break away from the United Kingdom and become a fully recognised independent country? That is a question that will be put to the people of Scotland in 2014 if the SNP have their way. The First Minister, Alex Salmond insists that both England and Scotland would be better off as independent countries but would they?
Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband have called on Mr Salmond to hold the referendum now if he is confident of winning rather than waiting until 2014 which is causing uncertainty. But polls show that the Scottish people do not want to break away from the UK. A recent ICM survey for the Sunday Telegraph found that the majority of Scots did not want an independent Scotland whereas the majority of English voters did. Both the majority of English and Scottish voters who responded to the survey said they think that Scotland would be worse off if independent.
The Unionists need a well known and respected politician to head the cross party campaign, indeed the name of one former Labour Chancellor is floating round as the possible face of the unionists. It is none other than Alistair Darling. One thing is certain and that is the face of the Unionists can not be a member of the Coalition parties in Westminster.
Now is not the time for an Independence referendum, indeed any referendum should take place across the entire country rather than just Scotland. With economic uncertainty, independence would be bad for business and bad for the country.
As somebody who believes in the United Kingdom, perhaps rather than granting independence the Scottish should settle for greater powers or ‘devo max’ as it is known. There should be one question and that question should be about devo max and not independence.
Ultimately, the people of Scotland will decide on their fate. However one rather hopes that a Scottish Independence referendum vote is defeated. Ed Miliband sums the argument for the UK up and that is “we are stronger together and weaker apart”.
You can read the results of the ICM/Sunday Telegraph poll here.
