For a change to my usual posts on ferries and bagels, I thought
that I would like to go public on my stance to the Scottish Independence
debate. I have never had a romantic
notion of our nation becoming some kind of self-sufficient utopia, as the
referendum approaches I am even more convinced that it would be a grave mistake
for us to separate from the rest of the UK.
Do I want the status quo to continue, yes more or less maybe with
slightly more power devolved to the Scottish Parliament in particular tax raising
powers but Independence would be bad for the Nation.
If the referendum did go for separation what would our
independent nation actually be like?
Well I don’t believe anyone knows, it would only be once we started the
process that all the details would have to be considered seriously. The reason I say that is because up till now I
have not read or heard of much detail on so many subjects that will have to be
addressed. It is evident to me that many
of the questions raised have not been considered in any kind of depth.
EU membership. It is
agreed by all parties that we should be a member, the legal advice and the word
from the EU say that Scotland will not be an automatic member as it will be
considered a new state and as such will have to apply. It doesn’t sound unreasonable and furthermore
two countries Spain and Belgium, which have separatist movements of their own,
will not be willing to let Scotland automatically become a member. If we then have to have to apply what will
the terms be? Not the same as the UK with its rebate and place at the top table
that is for certain. With our population
and GDP we will be considered alongside Estonia and Latvia somewhere down the
line from Portugal, a member but without any particular influence over policy.
I would ask that you consider some of the other issues that
have recently been raised. Royal Mail, it
presently charges the same price to deliver a letter or parcel from one part of
the UK to another. Clearly the cost of
delivering to Uist, Barra or Ullapool are greater than from NW1 to SE3 so the
profits from the huge amount of mail that moves around the South East of the
country subsidises the mail to the rest.
Same applies to the BBC, a transmitter in the Birmingham, Manchester,
Liverpool area serves millions of viewers, the population being about the same
as the whole of Scotland, whereas the Mull transmitter serves Oban, Tobermoray
and Craignure. STV here in Glasgow can’t
afford to transmit the same programmes as in England. My business, shipping, will we automatically
become a member of SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) a convention to ensure that
all ships meet certain standards. We
will need to set up departments to administer and negotiate our
membership. It just goes on, pensions,
national debt, VAT, banking, currency, so many issues that will need to be
addressed with the new extra associated costs.
No doubt in your own area of interest you will think of problems
that will arise should we separate from the rest of the UK. The grubby reality is that little of this has
been thought through and proponents for independence cast these questions aside
with a “that will all be settled in due course”.
I just hope that those living in Scotland who are getting to
vote, use their head’s not their hearts when it comes to the decision. A cynical observer might consider giving the
vote to 16 year old’s as a move towards appealing to a slightly less informed
electorate but not me. A number of my English
friends and colleagues are all for it, indeed some think that we are already
off on our own. Why do you think that
might be?
I would urge you to discuss this with your friends and
family and consider in detail the consequences of separation.
