So, us Scots are National Security Risks.

[AndyRM]

Does anyone actually watch any of the dogsh!t Twitter clips this squalid little cretin posts everywhere?

I don't think I ever have.

I do.

They're tragic.

 

[icowden]

This is because Westminster don't give them enough money, which can be solved by leaving the UK entirely and receiving none.

I'm not sure that that would be problematic. Scotland generates about 8% of the UKs GDP. Scotland's population is about 8% of the UK.
Scotland generates about 15% of the UKs electricity which gives them a great bargaining chip.

 

[First Aspect]

I'm not sure that that would be problematic. Scotland generates about 8% of the UKs GDP. Scotland's population is about 8% of the UK.
Scotland generates about 15% of the UKs electricity which gives them a great bargaining chip.

You don't own a good deal of that electricity, energy companies do. Your budget deficit, as mentioned above is about 12%. So yes I suppose the economy is okay, but you are going to need to keep it that size with less state funding.

What are you going to cut?

 

[icowden]

You don't own a good deal of that electricity, energy companies do. Your budget deficit, as mentioned above is about 12%. So yes I suppose the economy is okay, but you are going to need to keep it that size with less state funding.

What are you going to cut?

Why mine? Scotland doesn't need to cut anything. Just put up the price of exporting energy and oil to England.

 

[First Aspect]

Why mine? Scotland doesn't need to cut anything. Just put up the price of exporting energy and oil to England.

Oh dear, it's available from Norway and the Netherlands. Sorry about that.

Scots could be taxed more for the electricity though.

 

[cookiemonster]

I do.

They're tragic.

A bit like the person posting them.

 

[cookiemonster]

You don't own a good deal of that electricity, energy companies do. Your budget deficit, as mentioned above is about 12%. So yes I suppose the economy is okay, but you are going to need to keep it that size with less state funding.

What are you going to cut?

We have hydro, wind and tidal. We produce all the energy we need to be self sufficient. We don't need much in the way of Norwegian or Dutch energy. We don't own it as it's been privatised.

Also, this deficit. Where does it come from? According to the 1998 Scotland Act, that set up Holyrood, Scotland is not allowed, by law, to run a deficit. And, by law, we have to produce a balanced budget every year. As we do despite having 2/3 of our tax income taken away from us (OBR figures, 216 billion tax income and we get 86 billion back).

So, where does this deficit come from? It's illegal for a Scottish Gov to have one.

If we were independent, we wouldn't need to cut anything. We would invest.

 

[Pinno718]

We have hydro, wind and tidal. We produce all the energy we need to be self sufficient. We don't need much in the way of Norwegian or Dutch energy. We don't own it as it's been privatised.

Also, this deficit. Where does it come from? According to the 1998 Scotland Act, that set up Holyrood, Scotland is not allowed, by law, to run a deficit. And, by law, we have to produce a balanced budget every year. As we do despite having 2/3 of our tax income taken away from us (OBR figures, 216 billion tax income and we get 86 billion back).

So, where does this deficit come from? It's illegal for a Scottish Gov to have one.

If we were independent, we wouldn't need to cut anything. We would invest.

If we were independent, we could possibly join the EU and receive all the benefits from being in a customs union, we would be able to access urban and rural development funds, we would attract EU nationals in key areas like construction, health care and hospitality.
The short term would be tough.
The thought of living under Reform is sufficient to make me think that independence, no matter how rocky a road that is, would be far better than a neo fascist govt..
Although, the media is hell bent on giving Fagash air time whilst nobody talks about the 'rise of the Liberal Democrats' who have almost 16 times as many seats, so I do not know if Reform will change the political landscape.
They could split the vote and we end up with no majority, possibly quirky coalitions and be in endless political purgatory. Maybe when the populist pack of cards collapses in the US, people will reflect on populism in the UK.
No one wants to really talk about the facts and economic consequences of leaving the EU. There's is no land of milk and honey and there is no £350m a week for the NHS and there has been a surge in immigration as EU states are no longer bound by the Dublin 3 agreement.
The UK's future as a whole is bleak. Scotland as an independent nation could be workable but the actors, I do not see as capable sadly.

 

[First Aspect]

We have hydro, wind and tidal. We produce all the energy we need to be self sufficient. We don't need much in the way of Norwegian or Dutch energy. We don't own it as it's been privatised.

Also, this deficit. Where does it come from? According to the 1998 Scotland Act, that set up Holyrood, Scotland is not allowed, by law, to run a deficit. And, by law, we have to produce a balanced budget every year. As we do despite having 2/3 of our tax income taken away from us (OBR figures, 216 billion tax income and we get 86 billion back).

So, where does this deficit come from? It's illegal for a Scottish Gov to have one.

If we were independent, we wouldn't need to cut anything. We would invest.

This is frighteningly uniformed.

On the budget deficit, see here:
https://www.gov.scot/news/governmen...the difference between,of GDP (£30.3 billion)

I think you might be confusing sovereign debt and the budget deficit.

Comments on energy are interesting. Scotland already has sufficient overall capacity, it's just variable, privately owned and the energy isn't just sent to Scotland. So you seem to envisage some future where a Scottish government nationalised it.

How would you pay for that? Not even the SNP are suggesting this. If you get private investment, which is basically continuing how it gets funded now, you will be competing with the build costs and energy costs available from potential investments elsewhere, or alternatively the market rate.

Energy could alternatively be cheaper in Scotland by taxing it less. But then how are you going to replace that government income, seeing as you already tax income more than the rest of the UK and still have to fill a 10-ish percent gap to spending.

On the SNPs policies, they seem against both gas and nuclear. Implicitly this policy requires Scotland to be part of a wider energy network. This is fine, and it's the case now and widely across Europe. Even though Scotland now has enough total capacity, at present energy is imported from England at times, and at commercial rates. The large scale storage or electricity in amounts required to avoid this are some way off. There is no practical alternative plan.

It's a shame because in places like Iceland and British Columbia (where hydro is a viable large scale generation option, unlike Scotland) they managed to get locally independent energy generation and pricing set up right in the first place. Probably because they are comparatively isolated and simply had to.

So it's possible, but for Scotland extremely expensive and time consuming to get to from where you are.

Pinno, even the SNP are acknowledging that it is a work of decades to get back into the EU. And their own current currency policy precludes it, as does the fiscal position.

Even if Scotland teleports back in somehow, the SNPs own analysis indicates the economic benefit would compensate something like 1/5 of the damage of leaving the UK.

I appreciate that if you fast forward a few generations that trading relations would move to reflect where it's hard or easy to to business, but that's not "short term" or guaranteed to be better.

 

[Xipe Totec]

All wildly academic anyway. A second referendum cannot & will not happen without Westminster's approval, and that will never be granted unless the UK government is entirely confident that it will win.

Once Reform gain control of Westminster, expect to see devolution revoked & Holyrood closed down (if that hasn't already happened by then) so they can get on with the important work of eradicating ECHR rights, without the inconvenience of dealing with the fact they're incorporated into the devolution settlement.

 

[BoldonLad]

Does anyone actually watch any of the dogsh!t Twitter clips this squalid little cretin posts everywhere?

I don't think I ever have.

Not me, I am not on twitter, fortunately

 

[Xipe Totec]

Not me, I am not on twitter, fortunately

Reminds me I should really get around to deleting my account - haven't used it for over 2 years & archived all the content 6 months or so ago. Fully deleting it seems to be a bit of a faff though, and not something PayPalpatine is keen for people to be able do easily.