Bit Of A Cat Fight In The Commons.....

[ToraToraTora]

Ian Blackford whining on about different dependence as usual, fellow Scott points out 55% of voters in Scotland voted for parties that want to remain in the UK. Oh dear!

[steg]

Emir//why the hell do they want Independence from England, //

They don’t, it’s really Wales that we want independence from ;)

[emmie]

Khandro, but Ms Sturgeon doesn't seem to get that at all, so is so focused on another Indy Ref that she is blind to all the failing of their NHS...

[emmie]

steg, i will calm down and go and do something useful
but she makes my blood boil....

[steg]

Emmie, you could make me a coffee and some haggis scones if you want x

[Zacs-Master]

Well, you're constant in your approach anyway, Steg.

[emmie]

haggis scones, not a chance, coffee no problem

[middlemarch]

Sturgeon, as Deputy First Minister, signed the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012 which set the terms for the 2014 referendum and agreed to respect the result. Obviously she has not done so.
I am Scottish and live in Scotland. The atmosphere at the time of the 2014 referendum was intimidating and toxic. I do not wish to go through that again. I voted to stay in the UK and have not changed my mind, nor to I know anyone who has. I hate the image of my fellow Scots which is given by the SNP, constant moaning. Sturgeon does not speak for me.

[emmie]

I have Scottish friends who say the same, they loathe her and all she stands for.

[youngmafbog]

I think we should have another referendum, but let the rest of us have a say. Then Sturgeon will get her way and we can be rid of her constant whinning.

I do feel sorry for the Scots who want to remain with the UK, all I can say is I'd welcome you to move to what would remain of the UK.

[albaqwerty]

could the UK please hold a referendum to find out how many eligible people want NS to button it?
:-)

[New Judge]

//How long does a rare steak take ?//

A couple of minutes. And once it’s been eaten most people don’t have another one for quite some time.

// EMMIE, other than the UK, are all the other current members using the euro?//

No. Nineteen of the twenty-eight do. Denmark and the UK acquired a permanent (well, as permanent as anything is in the EU, that is) opt out when the Maastricht Treaty (which provided for the single currency) was signed in 1992. The remaining seven (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden) are obliged to join the eurozone when they meet he convergence criteria. All new members (which Scotland would be) are obliged to work towards adopting the euro as a replacement for their national currency (Scotland, of course, would have no national currency backed by a central bank if it withdraws from the Union). There is no mechanism for either withdrawal or expulsion from monetary union.

[New Judge]

Now, about the money.

//It’s the uk gov that funds Scotland the same gov that funds England//

Not entirely, it isn’t. The 2016 Scotland Act gave Scotland the power to raise income tax. However, the Scottish Government raised £941 million less than expected in devolved income taxes in 2017/18 (figures from HMRC). Scotland’s economy grew more slowly than the rest of the UK, hitting tax receipts and leaving the Scottish Government with a shortfall in funding. But because of the risk sharing mechanism in the jointly agreed fiscal framework, the shortfall will be offset by a £737 million increase to the block grant funded by the UK Government. The £204m difference will have to be met by Scotland either my raising taxes or cutting expenditure.

However, overall, the budget deficit in Scotland is over four times that of the UK as a whole (>8% compared to just under 2% for the UK). But more than that, in 2017-18 (the latest figures I can find but I don’t believe they have altered substantially since) government spending per head in Scotland was 113% of the UK average whereas revenue per head was only 95% of the UK average. All this (and much, much more) can be found in this Institute for Fiscal Studies report:

https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13287

So whilst it’s very true that all UK taxpayers fund Scotland’s spending to a large degree, that funding is heavily subsidised by English taxpayers since Scottish taxpayers do not contribute enough to support Scotland’s profligacy. Whilst I don’t expect my description of huge lorryloads of £5 notes heading up the M6 nightly to be taken too literally, whichever way you cut it, Scotland is subsidised to a huge degree principally by English taxpayers. This shortfall will have to be made up from somewhere else should Ms Sturgeon’s wishes come true and as far as I can see she hasn't fully explained how that will happen. Whilst I have some sympathy for Scots like middlemarch I’m afraid that 45% of Scots who voted last Thursday cast their votes for the SNP and the FPTP system gave them 45 seats. If they were not happy with Labour or not happy with the Tories and cast their votes that way because of that, they cannot be too surprised if a single issue party like the SNP starts bellowing from the rooftops that the Scots “overwhelmingly support” their main policy.

[New Judge]

^^^ should be 48 seats

[Apc2604]

Why not let her have a referendum and keep her and her cronies quiet. If they vote to stayin the UK then grest, but if leave then let them leave without a deal from Westminster. No keeping the pound, no financial input from the UK. And most probably a 'no' to joining the EU.

[albaqwerty]

'they cannot be too surprised if a single issue party like the SNP starts bellowing from the rooftops that the Scots “overwhelmingly support” their main policy. '

only a percentage voted for the SNP, I would have loved to find out what the result would have been if it had only been 2 parties, but hey-ho, it wasn't.

I have one SNP-voting friend who doesn't want independence.

I'm hoping the indy supporters realise that they will be waving farewell to free prescriptions, an even worse standard of education and a large hike in income tax rates.

[albaqwerty]

Scotland would have great difficult in joining the EU, the % of gdp is too great. (at least I think it's gdp, but whatever it is, one of the criteria is 2% and Scotlands is running at 8%.)

[tamborine]

Only way to shut up SNP is to charge them extrication fee of £billions & remove ship building contracts.

[New Judge]

//only a percentage voted for the SNP, I would have loved to find out what the result would have been if it had only been 2 parties, but hey-ho, it wasn't.

I have one SNP-voting friend who doesn't want independence.//

It was 45% alba. Arguably Ms Sturgeon cannot claim that the SNP (and by implication its quest for independence) has the overwhelming support of Scottish voters. But then neither can Boris Johnson say so of the Tories in the UK as they only polled 43.6% of the votes. But such are the vagaries of the FPTP system.

I have to say, though I find your friend's voting habits a bit strange. If I were Scottish and I did not want independence the very last people I would vote for would be the SNP!

[albaqwerty]

I think he has something stuck in his craw, NJ, poll tax.
But that's another can of worms.
On the plus side, he is kind and quite intelligent on other matters :-)

[hereIam]

I have a friend who lives in Edinburgh, she is married to a Scotsman and he always votes SNP and definitely wants to be independent!