Salmond "We can take Scotland in two weeks"

[TestMangler]

TM, you have correctly identified other people's bulltulip without acknowledging your own.

Scotland would make a good go of being an independent state and won't crash and burn. But that doesn't mean it's going to be smooth, and there are significant short-term risks, which you are brushing under the carpet. There needs to be some expectation management and also some honesty about what independence means, rather than touting some indy-lite (CU with fiscal oversight from London) to pull in some DevoMax supporters who are sitting on the fence. And EU membership is very likely, but not necessarily on the terms Salmond states or implies are a foregone conclusion.

I'm glad you said that OG. It's all very sensible and I agree in the most part with what you say.

If there is an 'everything in the garden will be rosy and covered in toffee sauce' brigade, I'm not in it.

So, that leads us to the CU, our one remaining point of contention.

My question to you would be the same one I've asked before and no one has answered. What sovereign and economic powers did Ireland surrender to UK when they had a currency union ??

[Batcher]

So, here is a way that would allow the Better Together coalition to kill off the entire indy campaign.

Give a guarantee that they will devolve oil and gas taxation completely to Scotland.

It's clearly worth very little to Westminster, and would probably kill SNP support stone dead.

+1 WTMS

[EternalOptimist]

We're not looking on oil as a bonanza, it's a bonus.

We have massive potential for wind and wave power and have had hydro dams for years producing electricty that has been exported.

Our green energy potential is one of the reasons I think we will be welcomed back into the EU.

If more English people realised that Salmon wants independance, but wants another country to pay for his windmills, then he wants that same country to pay for the lekky, they would be up that motorway to boot youse out. freeloaders

[jemb]

I'm glad you said that OG. It's all very sensible and I agree in the most part with what you say.

If there is an 'everything in the garden will be rosy and covered in toffee sauce' brigade, I'm not in it.

So, that leads us to the CU, our one remaining point of contention.

My question to you would be the same one I've asked before and no one has answered. What sovereign and economic powers did Ireland surrender to UK when they had a currency union ??

Ireland is currently in the Euro. But anyway, I would suggest that your question is irrelevant. All the parties will have a firm commitment to a no CU on their manifesto.
It will not happen. They have enough advice, including from Mark Carney, that suggests it would be a dumb thing to do and that will be enough for them to add it to their manifesto.
Scotland is choosing to leave the UK - a currency union is not on the table.

[Batcher]

There will be no CU.
Mark Carney of the Bank Of England has said that it is not compatible with Scotland being a sovereign country.

Yes voters tend to assume it will happen and that it's just a bargaining chip used by the No campaign. It would be political suicide for any party that promotes it and, as a result, they have stated that it a no-to-CU will be part of their manifesto.

...Ireland has the Euro.

Mark Carney said it was in the context of the three main parties of Westminster saying they would not agree to a CU. I think it will happen once the talks start in earnest as it will be best for both sides during the transition.

Ireland has the Euro now but had the Punt before that.

[centurian]

Give a guarantee that they will devolve oil and gas taxation completely to Scotland.

It's clearly worth very little to Westminster, and would probably kill SNP support stone dead.

I can go with that - as long as the Barnett formula is also scrapped. Whether by design or not, oil revenues and the Barnett formula more or less cancel each other out.

If they want all the revenue, they have to pay the extra expenditure out of that revenue.

[jemb]

Mark Carney said it was in the context of the three main parties of Westminster saying they would not agree to a CU. I think it will happen once the talks start in earnest as it will be best for both sides during the transition.

Ireland has the Euro now but had the Punt before that.

You *think* it will happen. What makes you *think* it will happen? Salmond?
There is no benefit to the RUK tying themselves to a Scotland with totally different fiscal tax and spend policies and different borrowing requirements.
It makes no sense.

You are also ignoring the political aspect of this.
Labour - committed to a NO CU as part of their manifesto
Tories - committed to a NO CU as part of their manifesto
Lib dems - who gives a fu*k.

Guys, vote Yes with your eyes wide open.

[Batcher]

If more English people realised that Salmon wants independance, but wants another country to pay for his windmills, then he wants that same country to pay for the lekky, they would be up that motorway to boot youse out. freeloaders

As long as that motorway isn't the M8 between the two major cities in Scotland. It's basically a dual carriageway and becomes the A8 still at points.

Another example of Scotland missing out while they look at spending £18 Billion on HS2 to shave 10 minutes off a train journey between Birmingham & London.

[minestrone]

When CU does not happen the English will be blamed, that is a certainty.

[TestMangler]

Ireland is currently in the Euro. But anyway, I would suggest that your question is irrelevant. All the parties will have a firm commitment to a no CU on their manifesto.
It will not happen. They have enough advice, including from Mark Carney, that suggests it would be a dumb thing to do and that will be enough for them to add it to their manifesto.
Scotland is choosing to leave the UK - a currency union is not on the table.

I'm aware Ireland is in the Euro. But they also had a currency union with the Uk for sixty odd years, ending in 1979.

Simple question, what sovereign or economic powers did Ireland surrender to the UK ?

Moving on.....Imagine for a minute that Scotland votes yes and oil revenues (or 86.x %) of them stay in Scotland.

This has a clear effect on rUK balance of payments. Agreed ?

Next, consider that Scotland is England's second biggest export market (I seem to recall a figure of £50 billion per year, but I may have got that wrong). So, as well as the strength of the pound being slightly undermined by the loss of oil and gas taxation, rUK will take the DELIBERATE step of sticking an obstacle in the way of THEIR OWN exporting companies and employers, for dogmatic reasons.

You really believe that will happen ??