Better Together said in yesterday's
record : Well he still can't tell us what currency we'll be using, or
what will happen to schools and hospitals.
The pro-union side do know that
education and healthcare are already under Scotland's control don't
they? Nothing will change, well they'll be given the extra funding
they need seeing as we won't be paying the Westminster gravy train
anymore, or for nuclear weapons, or for illegal wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan etc etc. What they don't say is that with reductions in
England's public spending, Scotland's block grant gets cut due to the
Barnett formula. This means that if Scotland stays in the UK, and
with the English NHS being sold off as quickly as it can be without
mass revolt the Scottish Health Service will suffer dwindling
finances and would be forced into privatisation. Same goes for
Education. Young people would have to pay for having the audacity of
attempting to achieve higher education.
Currency is a non issue in my opinion. We could use Knuts, Sickles and Gallions for all I care. The value of a currency is only what value people believe it has and what its backed up by (previously gold though in Scotland's case an independent Scottish currency would be petrol backed - a certain Mr Gordon Brown sold most of the UK's gold though we left the gold standard many many moons ago - so an indy Scottish currency would be a very hard currency rather like Norway's) not what name is on it. If it was sterling then the entire island economies would balance that out.
That said, there is very little Westminster could do to stop Scotland continuing to use the £ except moan about it. Think Panama with the US dollar. Also if the pro-union side had even bothered to read the white paper, they would know that 4 currency options were put forward by the fiscal commission. The currency union was chosen as the most favourable not just for the people of Scotland, after all any one of the 4 would do just fine, but for England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well. As the treaty of union would be dissolved and the UK would not exist. There would be no rUK unless new treaties were drawn up and signed by the remaining parties.
Mr Osborne's and co downright rejection of such a joint currency venture shows just what he, and those who supported him i.e. Mr Balls and Mr Alexander, think. That the pound belongs to Westminster and no-one else. It has a distinct air of "it's my ball, you can't play" about it. In other words, childish. Furthermore the Republic of Ireland used Sterling for roughly 60 years after she broke free from Westminster's grasp, yet that inconvenient truth seems to have been forgotten by the Better Together campaign, who seem to want to create as much uncertainty around the issue as possible.
The #indyref is not and has never been about Alex Salmond, the #YesCampaign have been saying this from day 1. Alex Salmond is even on record on Scotland Tonight saying "it's not Alex Salmond's version of independence, the people of Scotland will decide what kind of country we want to live in" That was a long time ago he said that, I think 2012 or the beginning of 2013.
Labour died in 1997, its New Labour now. People seem to forget that. Labour were the voice the left needed, New labour decided to take a step to the right to try and fight the Tories on their home ground instead of standing their own. With the rise of UKIP, mostly in England, the 3 main political parties are moving further and further right, while Scotland generally stays to the left of politics. New Labour needs to go back to old Labour but are missing a force like UKIP on the left to counter the pull of UKIP.
An independent Scotland would be the best thing that has happened to these islands for a LONG time. It would not only balance power centres across the island, but it would shake up Westminster too. The people of England (especially the North), Wales and Northern Ireland would see what Scotland could achieve and they would demand the same from their elected officials. It would create a fairer society for all 63 million people that stay on these shores.
There has been voiced opposition from Spain, France and Italy though not one has said they would veto the Scots from being in the EU. They are currently fighting battles in their own respective countries trying to suppress succession movements with certain regions of their lands, but the UK is not a country. It is a union of countries. Scotland is not a region or a province but a nation.
Scotland deserves a chance to make her way in the world again, and I'll be playing my part in making it possible. I will be voting Yes for my country, for the old and the young, for the sick and the poor, for the healthy and everything else in between. I'll be voting Yes because it's the right thing to do.
Currency is a non issue in my opinion. We could use Knuts, Sickles and Gallions for all I care. The value of a currency is only what value people believe it has and what its backed up by (previously gold though in Scotland's case an independent Scottish currency would be petrol backed - a certain Mr Gordon Brown sold most of the UK's gold though we left the gold standard many many moons ago - so an indy Scottish currency would be a very hard currency rather like Norway's) not what name is on it. If it was sterling then the entire island economies would balance that out.
That said, there is very little Westminster could do to stop Scotland continuing to use the £ except moan about it. Think Panama with the US dollar. Also if the pro-union side had even bothered to read the white paper, they would know that 4 currency options were put forward by the fiscal commission. The currency union was chosen as the most favourable not just for the people of Scotland, after all any one of the 4 would do just fine, but for England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well. As the treaty of union would be dissolved and the UK would not exist. There would be no rUK unless new treaties were drawn up and signed by the remaining parties.
Mr Osborne's and co downright rejection of such a joint currency venture shows just what he, and those who supported him i.e. Mr Balls and Mr Alexander, think. That the pound belongs to Westminster and no-one else. It has a distinct air of "it's my ball, you can't play" about it. In other words, childish. Furthermore the Republic of Ireland used Sterling for roughly 60 years after she broke free from Westminster's grasp, yet that inconvenient truth seems to have been forgotten by the Better Together campaign, who seem to want to create as much uncertainty around the issue as possible.
The #indyref is not and has never been about Alex Salmond, the #YesCampaign have been saying this from day 1. Alex Salmond is even on record on Scotland Tonight saying "it's not Alex Salmond's version of independence, the people of Scotland will decide what kind of country we want to live in" That was a long time ago he said that, I think 2012 or the beginning of 2013.
Labour died in 1997, its New Labour now. People seem to forget that. Labour were the voice the left needed, New labour decided to take a step to the right to try and fight the Tories on their home ground instead of standing their own. With the rise of UKIP, mostly in England, the 3 main political parties are moving further and further right, while Scotland generally stays to the left of politics. New Labour needs to go back to old Labour but are missing a force like UKIP on the left to counter the pull of UKIP.
An independent Scotland would be the best thing that has happened to these islands for a LONG time. It would not only balance power centres across the island, but it would shake up Westminster too. The people of England (especially the North), Wales and Northern Ireland would see what Scotland could achieve and they would demand the same from their elected officials. It would create a fairer society for all 63 million people that stay on these shores.
There has been voiced opposition from Spain, France and Italy though not one has said they would veto the Scots from being in the EU. They are currently fighting battles in their own respective countries trying to suppress succession movements with certain regions of their lands, but the UK is not a country. It is a union of countries. Scotland is not a region or a province but a nation.
Scotland deserves a chance to make her way in the world again, and I'll be playing my part in making it possible. I will be voting Yes for my country, for the old and the young, for the sick and the poor, for the healthy and everything else in between. I'll be voting Yes because it's the right thing to do.
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