Scottish Independence - Will Pragmatic Politics Maintain the Union?
With the Scottish National Party winning a majority in the devolved Scottish Parliament, independence seems more likely than ever.
This is the first time a party has won a majority since devolution in 1997, which shows how much support there is for the SNP, however support for full independence appears lower.
Alex Salmond, the Leader of the SNP, and Scottish First Minister has said he plans to hold a referendum on independence in 2015.
Until then it appears the plan is to try to win more and more powers for the Scottish Parliament from Westminster, especially those related to taxes.
There are well known differences between spending in England and Scotland, most notably Scottish students do not have to pay University fees, whilst English students starting next year will pay up to £9 000 a year.
Moreover all prescriptions in Scotland are free, whilst some English patients have to pay £7.
20 for theirs.
Many English people fear that more powers for Scotland will mean more public spending funded by English tax payers.
Whilst this is unlikely to be true as the UK government will be hard pushed to send more money north of the border, Independence would probably means less money for Scotland.
Some reports claim that Scotland pays its own way, however this is only true if all revenue from North Sea oil and gas is attributed to Scotland.
This is an unlikely scenario in the event of full independence and without the full revenue Scotland could be financially worse off.
Furthermore Scotland would face difficult decisions regarding whether to contribute to the British armed forces, or establish its own.
Setting up its own army would be expensive and they would lose out on many of the economies of scale, and it would therefore be proportionally more expensive as well.
The same goes for other institutions where economies of scale are present, such as the NHS, Police, Fire Service and many others.
This would also negatively affect the rest of the UK, as they lose out on the economies of scale, but to a much lesser extent.
Whether the rest of the UK would be better off is hard to tell, and largely rests on how North Sea oil and gas is divided up.
Either way full independence will be a difficult and expensive process for Scotland.
This is perhaps why Mr Salmond has delayed the referendum.
He fears that although ideologically an ideal situation, pragmatically, independence may leave Scotland worse off.
Therefore he has decided to try to win as much power for Scotland as possible, whilst reaping the advantages of maintaining the union.
This is the first time a party has won a majority since devolution in 1997, which shows how much support there is for the SNP, however support for full independence appears lower.
Alex Salmond, the Leader of the SNP, and Scottish First Minister has said he plans to hold a referendum on independence in 2015.
Until then it appears the plan is to try to win more and more powers for the Scottish Parliament from Westminster, especially those related to taxes.
There are well known differences between spending in England and Scotland, most notably Scottish students do not have to pay University fees, whilst English students starting next year will pay up to £9 000 a year.
Moreover all prescriptions in Scotland are free, whilst some English patients have to pay £7.
20 for theirs.
Many English people fear that more powers for Scotland will mean more public spending funded by English tax payers.
Whilst this is unlikely to be true as the UK government will be hard pushed to send more money north of the border, Independence would probably means less money for Scotland.
Some reports claim that Scotland pays its own way, however this is only true if all revenue from North Sea oil and gas is attributed to Scotland.
This is an unlikely scenario in the event of full independence and without the full revenue Scotland could be financially worse off.
Furthermore Scotland would face difficult decisions regarding whether to contribute to the British armed forces, or establish its own.
Setting up its own army would be expensive and they would lose out on many of the economies of scale, and it would therefore be proportionally more expensive as well.
The same goes for other institutions where economies of scale are present, such as the NHS, Police, Fire Service and many others.
This would also negatively affect the rest of the UK, as they lose out on the economies of scale, but to a much lesser extent.
Whether the rest of the UK would be better off is hard to tell, and largely rests on how North Sea oil and gas is divided up.
Either way full independence will be a difficult and expensive process for Scotland.
This is perhaps why Mr Salmond has delayed the referendum.
He fears that although ideologically an ideal situation, pragmatically, independence may leave Scotland worse off.
Therefore he has decided to try to win as much power for Scotland as possible, whilst reaping the advantages of maintaining the union.
Source...