The Scottish Nationality Question
Man in a Shed was going to try and phrase this as the Scottish Question or the West End of Garden Question - but neither work. The Man in a Shed Question had little hope of becoming a catch phrase either.
But to get to the point....
If the so called Scottish Parliament ( really the Scottish regional assembly - it is not a national parliament for reasons I'll come onto ), wants to run a referendum on enriching the rest of the UK by turning down the annual giro cheques from London and declaring independence then surely all those who would become Scottish Nationals (and don't live in Scotland) should vote ?
I think that number south of the border might be as high as 2 million. Now their view would be key. If they go with the average view in England - then they will lend their support to independence ( they after all pay tax to subsidize Scottish services also ), however I suspect they will be very opposed to independence.
But you can't have a national vote unless everyone who would be in that nation gets to vote !
Could be tricky.
Man in a Shed thinks there should be two elections.
1) You (everyone in the UK) assign which nation you want to negotiate for you and who will represent you.
2) You vote on if that nation should stay in the UK and EU. Those elected in 1 go on to negotiate with that mandate.
Let the chips ( and deep fried mars bars ) fall where they will....
For the record Man in a Shed would be sad to see Scotland head off - but he'll get over it. It may be the only way for the Scots to rid themselves of the disease of socialism with a dose of harsh reality and hence be a necessary action. It'll keep socialism at bay in England too - making us wealthier far faster, as we don't vote that way in the first place.
Only the Labour Party can really lose ...
1 comment:
I think this is almost a question of "define your terms".
I don't think "Socialist" "Liberal" and "Tory" mean the same thing North and South of the Border.
Whilst eschewing Conservatism, there are still plenty of conservative people, with the kind of nationalistic, dare I say, racist views which are usually the preserve of the Tory right.
The Scots seem to me to have an obsession with fairness to a far greater extent than down south - for example, the demands by the SNP that English students should not be discriminated against.
Wealth and the getting of it is a much more subtle and diffuse concept in Scotland because it is not flaunted.
There is a healthy and scathing distain for the kind of political correctness that is often associated with Socialism, and as I said, it is more likely to be about fairness.
The Tories do have an identity problem up here because it is seen as an "English" party. As long as the vast majority of Tories represent English constituencies it will not be surprising that the Scots, and ex-pat English like me, have no real interest in them.
You imply dark warnings of collapse of the economy...The SNP how vowed to embrace the EC with open arms after independence, so they will be getting their giro cheque from Brussels!
As for voting, I personally do not feel entitled to vote on the Independence issue, but as you well know, Scotland is another country, not just an extension of England with quaint accents, and perhaps the people have a right to decide for themselves.
Finally, and as if I am not already straying from the point, this is still a country that sees the Church as integral to its society. Imagine the hoohah from certain loony left MP's if it was decided, for some reason, to hold the British Parliament in Westminster Abbey. The Scottish Parliament has no problems borrowing Church premises when their nice new building threatens to fall in on them.
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