I don’t want a vote on Scottish independence

! This post hasn't been updated in over a year. A lot can change in a year including my opinion and the amount of naughty words I use. There's a good chance that there's something in what's written below that someone will find objectionable. That's fine, if I tried to please everybody all of the time then I'd be a Lib Dem (remember them?) and I'm certainly not one of those. The point is, I'm not the kind of person to try and alter history in case I said something in the past that someone can use against me in the future but just remember that the person I was then isn't the person I am now nor the person I'll be in a year's time.

So it’s a couple of weeks since the SNP romped home to a comprehensive victory in the Scottish Parliament elections and there’s still no sign of an independence referendum but there is still plenty of talk about what the “independence” will be and who should have a vote.

Alex Salmond Laughing

So I sez "Aye, give us a coupla billion and we wunnae hold the referendum". I didnae expect him tae do it!

Scotland will never be independent, even if it leaves this union because the SNP intends Scotland to be a member of the EU, leaving a union it has a disproportionate amount of control over for a union in which it will be a tiny irrelevant voice.  But that’s a decision for the Scots to make and if they choose to take that path then more fool them.

Alex Salmond has already been talking down independence and suggesting what will be, in all but name, a confederation of Scotland and “Britain” in which Scotland remains in a union voluntarily and on their own terms with “Britain”.  Presumably he has looked at Dubai’s bailout of Abu Dhabi and decided to hedge his bets.

Lots of people are demanding a vote in Scotland’s independence referendum, arguing that if the union is to be dissolved then it’s not just the Scots who should  be able to vote on it.  I disagree for two very good reasons:

Firstly, whether Scotland decides to declare independence or not is Scotland’s business – a declaration of independence is an affirmation of sovereignty and you can’t affirm your sovereignty by asking for someone else’s permission.  The UK or “Britain” isn’t a country, it’s a union of countries and if one of them decides it no longer wants to be in that union, it’s nobody’s decision but their own.

Secondly, Scottish independence won’t mean the end of the union, the Brits will keep “Britain” going for as long as possible in a sad parody of its former self like Serbia federating with Montenegro and calling itself Yugoslavia not because the Serbian people identified themselves as Yugoslavian but because the Serbian political class that dominated Yugoslavia refused to accept the reality of post-Yugoslav Serbia.  The same will happen in England – the British political class will refuse to accept the reality that they have put Scotland on such a high pedestal that the union will seem irrelevant without them and will do whatever it takes to keep “Britain” in existence that little bit longer.

To ensure that Scotland stays in some form of union with “Britain”, the Scots will be comprehensively bribed.  The union started with England paying Scotland’s national debt and a bribe on top to be shared amongst the Scottish people which was promptly stolen by Scotland’s great and good and the end of the union will similarly marked by a Scottish cash bonanza at the expense of the English taxpayer.

The day after the SNP won the Scottish election, David Cameron gave Scotland a £2bn bung for no other reason than Alex Salmond had won the election.  This is the first of many bribes from the British government and it won’t just be handing over billions on pounds of English money, it will be political concessions as well – more independence, a greater say in what happens in England, more Scottish representation at Westminster, more Scots in key British cabinet positions, more British (English) government departments located in Scotland, more “respect” for Scotland.  The divorce settlement will cost England dearly if it is negotiated between the Brits and the Scots.

I don’t want a vote on Scottish independence (although I would vote yes if I did) because it’s none of my business as an Englishman living in England.  I am agnostic about the union – if the union survives or if England stays in it or not is something I won’t lose any sleep over but if the union survives and if England stays in it then it has to be on equal terms with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with an English Parliament and fiscal autonomy, just the same as Scotland.  But if the terms of the union – and England’s relationship with the other members – are to be fundamentally renegotiated then that renegotiation has to be done between England and the rest of the UK, not “Britain”.

The British can’t be relied up to represent English interests, we must have an English government to negotiate on our behalf.

5 comments

  1. […] I explained that I don’t want a vote on Scottish independence and predicted how Alex Salmond would approach “independence” for […]

  2. Sandy (12 comments) says:

    You must be in UPRICK.
    Same bullshit as Farage -‘swopping London for Brussels’.
    Wrong, bonehead, right now we have London AND Brussels.
    After Indy, only Brussels, so no paying for England’s excesses (HS2, Jubilee, Olympics,Crossrail, Thameslink etc etc).
    And with £17 billion of Scottish oil money missing, and 25% of your food and drink exports gone, you’ll be crying all the way to the bank.
    The World bank that is, the IMF.
    And the food bank.
    As Frankie Boyle said, ‘Global warming is brilliant, cos we can sit up in the hills and watch the English drown.’ Happy days 🙂

    • wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

      HS2 is British and will extend into Scotland. We don’t want it, it’s a requirement to connect up to the EU’s pan-European high speed rail network. The jubilee was British – the Queen is the Queen of the UK (also of England and Scotland). The Olympics were British – England doesn’t have an Olympic team and of course events were held in Scotland and Wales as well as in and around London. The “investment” in London for the Olympics resulted in Barnett Consequentials. Crossrail has resulted in Barnett Consequentials. Thameslink has resulted in Barnett Consequentials. The British things you mention are British, the English things all resulted in cash lump sums to Scotland to spend on pet projects.

      As I said in reply to one of your other comments, all north sea oil and gas revenue (including that generated in English waters) comes to £7bn. Have your share of it and the £4bn whiskey tax – the two together will just about cover Scottish health spending. Presumably you’ll be reimbursing the UK for the massive capital investment in north sea oil and gas exploration of which Scotland contributed just a small fraction?

      Frankie Boyle is a racist hypocrite and if you think he’ll stick around after independence to pay Scottish wealth taxes you’re a bigger fool than your comments make you out to be. He’ll be long gone like all the other rich Scottish patriots who live abroad.

  3. Sandy (12 comments) says:

    You seem to be confusing ‘British’ and ‘English’.
    So Andy Murray is apparently a ‘British’ Wimbledon champion.
    Nope, he is Scottish.
    So England is still waiting for a male Wimbledon winner.
    Typical hypocritical English, English when it suits you, British when it suits you.
    Be good to see all Chris Hoy’s medals retrospectively removed from ‘GB’ Olympic medals tables and applied to Scotland.
    It’s gonna leave you a bit short……..

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