Osborne the Unionist

Conspiracy

All this chat about the Union and a referendum is missing the point entirely. In all the many hours of reading I have done on the matter, not one commentator has pointed out the remarkable resemblance between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon and the Krankies. Every time I see Nicola Sturgeon on my TV, the phrase 'fan-dabby-dozy' pops into my head. Is it any coincidence that we've never seen the two couples together? Is it not strange that at the height of panto season, the one time of the year the Krankies have work these days, the Scottish Parliament is oh-so-conveniently on a break? The public deserve to know the truth. And at the very least I expect a Spectator cover this week depicting them as such. Let the fight back begin now with some good old-fashioned lampooning. I am finishing this comment by dothing a school boy's cap and sticking two thumbs up, something that is lost in this medium.

Kittler

"Osborne a Unionist" Oh no he's not. I've listened to what he has to say on the European Union and he is a bit of an Independentist.

tom jones

Scotland want independance, England want Scottish independance, our party will hugely benefit from the loss of many Labour MPs and what do we do? We support the union. It's pathetic. Bad politics and stuck in the past ideas.

Hexhamgeezer

Conspiracy (above) might be on to even more than he/she realises.

IF they are actually the Krankies, a cursory interweb search by uber stategist George will reveal the SNPs leadership's sordid extra-curriculars. Google 'hanky panky krankies' for enough ammo to blow the SNP out of the electoral water.

Dennis Churchill

The problem is similar to the reason why the Irish will not swap the Euro, which is crippling their economy, for sterling which could get them out of the mess their economy is in: Anglophobia.
Too much of both Scottish and Irish identity consists merely of not being English rather than being Scots or Irish.
While Scottish nationalism has such a large element of Anglophobia the union can’t continue.
Scotland inside the European Union and the Eurozone will have less independence than within the United Kingdom but like Ireland it is not about independence but independence from England.
Is any work being done on English or Northern Irish bases for nuclear Subs? That is the clue.

Forlornehope

It is difficult to see any reason why the SSBNs could not be based alongside the SSNs at Devonport. They have to go there for major overhauls at present. The French base their SSBNs on their Atlantic coast without any serious problems. It should also be straightforward to transfer Naval shipbuilding from the Clyde to the yard at Barrow. The "public spending per head" comparison between England and Scotland misses the point that there is a lot of UK government spending in Scotland that would relocate to England if Scotland were independent.

Ostrich (occasionally)

Kittler 9th, 4:32pm

Oh, you ARE a naughty boy!

Daedalus

I had a quick look at what would happen if Scotland did devolve, see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPs_elected_in_the_United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010) That would mean at least 40 odd less socialists in parliament. I used to be a unionist; NO LONGER!

Daedalus

Kittler

The Trident subs are based at Faslane and at nearby Coulport the missiles and warheads are held, loaded and unloaded, when the vessels leave and return. These facilities are not just harbours or docks, but an immense sophisticated infrastructure, some of it built into the mountainside. They were the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in Scotland and came in away over budget.
It would be almost impossible to replicate elsewhere, cost billions and take many many years.

Dimoto

Everyone acts as though Scottish independence would mean the Scots sailing off into the sunset.

Quite the contrary, independence would be devolution max plus plus.
As Kittler hints, England would end up paying an extortionate sum to maintain Trident in Scotland, no doubt there would be a Gurkha-type deal with Scots regiments in the army and a further bounty, there would be an ultra-gentle decline in English government work in Scotland/capital disbursements, and (as suggested just now by the BBC's Scottish expert on Scottish constitutional matters), dual citizenship for Scots. Who needs oil ?

The British government has always been indulgent with newly independent countries, no doubt the lame negotiators at the FO would ensure that Scotland gets a sweetheart deal, at English expense.

Salmond has been canny enough to suggest that the Queen would continue as Queen of Scotland, also ensuring a powerful lobby for special treatment for the Scots.

Then, with a sly smile, they will continue their pre-union behaviour of acting as a French fifth column, to make mischief for old England.

One of the major issues never discussed, is the realignment of Scottish politics, post-independence.

Would the rumps of Labour, LibDem and Tory reconfigure against the Nats ? Would a new Scottish Republican party (stressing the old Scottish values) arise ?

Or would the Nats have unchallenged hegemony for 30 years, like the ANC in South Africa/Congress in India ?

strapworld

Kittler. Never say never. Nothing is impossible. The English have plenty of coastline from which to replicate. Cornwall has plenty of room for such developments.

michael

Devo max = Indie light = independence not quite = Wots the SNP stand for this week?

....Sort-of Nationalist Party?

In or out?
-fair question.

Just about in, but...
-In this case, if only for the sake of the other members the Union is mandated to take a stance.

Fergus Pickering

Denis Churchill, I entirely agree with your post. Is it something celtic, a sort of failed racial identity?

Remittance Man

Instead of offering the Scots what is in effect the nuclear option, I hope the Conservatives come up with a different strategy.

My personal prefrence would be for a form of Federal United kingdom with each Home Nation being granted significant powers to manage themselves with only those matters that can genuinely be described as affecting the whole UK reserved to Westminster (defence, foreign policy, broad economic policy, etc).

With that autonomy would also go the authority to levy whatever taxes were necessary to acheive the goals of the individual nations. Given that HMRC already operates the most complex tax system in the world, it should not be beyond the whit of man to use the existing tax system even if, say, VAT were levied at a common rate of 5%, with England adding no local additional tax, Wales and Northern Ireland adding another 6% and Scotland opting for 10% over and above the national rate. The same could go for Income and Corporation tax.

2trueblue

Denis Churchill, the attitude of the Irish and Sotland is very similar, despite the support given to them by the English. It is also similar to the attitude of those in the heirarhy of the EU, yet they all enjoy huge largess from this country. Do we need any of them?

Mac

It was George Osborne's election strategy that costs the Tories a majority in the 2010 election.

It was George Osborne's EU strategy that saw David Cameron use the veto and walk away from Europe, a failure that saw the UK lose influence and be marginalised.

It is George Osborne's economic strategy that means that the Coalition will still be making public service cuts, no economic growth and no tax cuts leading up to the next UK election.

Now George has put in charge of the Coalition's strategy in dealing with a Scottish independence referendum. Is that wise?