It's a crying shame that Scottish socialists are despairing of the ineffectiveness of the current Labour Party.
As a country that appears to hold social justice, as a core value in it's integral strategy, who can blame them after the erosion they have seen and had to endure from Westminster?

Not fully up to speed with it all, but does it mean border patrols and new passports issued for those in Scotland and those Scots already living and working in the rest of the UK?.

On another issue my sister is friends with someone who works for a big oil company overseas, they said The SNP will have to tread very carefully towards them on all sorts of measures...whatever that meant?.

Salmond has already stated categorically that he has no intention of setting up border controls as his vision is on a par with the sort of borders you see in Europe, a road sign and nothing else.

However Theresa May in playing the pantomime villain has stated that English border controls will be necessary if Scotland adopts a free border approach in the same way that you see when crossing from Holland into Germany, the theory goes that anyone could fly or sail into Scotland without any checks and then just drive across the border, not sure if thats what Salmond really means as so much of this crazy debate is based on the back of cig packet calculations, but if May is really intending to have a passport check on every border crossing between Scotland and England then good luck to her, I think she is under the impression that only the A1 and M6 go into Scotland.

Personally I hope she does because the very first time I get a call out to one of our Scottish clients I'll have a lot of fun getting back into England with an out of date passport, I'll even be a test case if they want.

Wouldn't it be more akin to the border between the UK and Rep of Ireland? There we have a common travel area but only once you're actually inside it - it's not really a case of 'sneaking in' and then roaming around wherever you like.

Indeed. But like it or not and independent Scotland would make Labour toast too!

The Scottish people should stand proud & tall and take control of their own country. They were sold out by royalty centuries ago.

As long as there are no longer Scottish MP's sitting in Westminster following a Yes vote, there's nothing else for the English to really be concerned about.

Labour will be the big losers electorally. 40+ MP's off any total will be mitigated by the majority required to win decreasing, but the Tories lose nothing at all.

I think there will be a No vote myself. fear of the unknown & sweeteners late in the day will swing it..

The big win is the democratic process.

I think thats where May was getting her knickers in a a twist because of something that Salmond may have hinted at once, she seems to be under the impression that he doesn't want any controls at all for UK citizens in a true EU open border type scenario.

Given that we can't control our own home-grown terrorists I think she's panicked into thinking that Scotland will be an easy route for all of Europes terrorists too.

For someone who says he hasn't listened to Salmond you seem to be taken in by his false promises.

The Bank of England (BOE) is the bank of last resort and came to the rescue of HBOS and RBS (both Scottish banks) when they went bust to the tune of more than the whole Scottish GDP. If Scotland becomes an independent country the BOE cannot be the bank of last resort to a foreign country. If Scotland keeps the pound without the backing of the BOE then they will have a huge risk of requiring a bail out within a short period of time. The question is who will bail them out?

Salmond has gambled his whole economic policy on oil revenues which he fails to accept are declining. He has also hugely under calculated the costs of independence. eg his own embassies around the world, his own DVLA, his own funding of a higher public deficit than the rest of the UK, his own defense, his own BBC, his own civil service, funding Scottish pensions out of current income, etc etc etc

Of course it is possible for Scotland to become an independent country but the short and medium term costs are huge and he will need an austerity programme far far tougher than the rest of the UK to have any chance of making the books balance. Even the long term future is a massive gamble economically.

Salmond has made promises that he cannot keep

I think you are rather over estimating what Salmond has actually said or promised. Scotland keeping the £ doesn't equate to a bail out in any way.

There would be nothing preventing the BBC operating as a commercial television station & collecting subscriptions in Scotland.

Embassies? Reciprocal agreements with any countries they want them in?

DVLA? That would be a huge money spinner for them. Civil Service requirements would be what, set against what they have now?

Croatia is a similar sized country population wise to Scotland. It has a shipbuilding industry the Scots have the capability for on the Clyde. It seems to be doing quite well following accession to the EU, which has pumped in some £18bn into the country.

They have a currency. they can continue to use the same currency. It is not in the interests of England as a trading partner to change this position.

Peg the Scottish £ to the English £. Job done.

they will not have a currency if they go for independence, that has been made abundantly clear.

Krugman is recently quoted as saying keeping the £ would create economic insecurity for Scotland. he really can't make his mind up can he?

I don't understand the obsession with American economists as point provers.

What rule will he be the exception too?
It's the art of politics, didn't you know?

No one seems at all interested in answering the question of which would be the bank of last resort?

The BoE dopesn't operate in this way for any other foreign territory, why would they want to start on this route with Scotland?

And just how independent would Scotland really be if certain fiscal controls were outside their political remit?

Also, how would they fund the NHS etc. They may claim the oil is "there's", try telling that to BP/Shell etc. who have invested billions of pounds, what about an Army, Navy, Air Force?

What would they do about Queenie and the vast swathes of property/land in Scotland?

so many unanswered questions?

Set up their own central bank & print it's own money. Simply peg it to the English £ for cross border trade, vary it as they choose for foreign exchange.

Join the euro & take advantage of the ECB.

Plenty of options avaialble.

Bless. if that was the way to ease your financial problems, we could all do it. The Bank of Rumples has a nice ring to it.....a spot of nightshift on the old printer, and I'll be a millionaire come morning!

and, eerm, you might want to look into the criteria you have to meet before you can apply to join the Euro. Both Spain and Greece met it, and look how that turned out for their economies.

The NHS wouldn't/couldn't apply though could it? They won't be a part of the nation.

The questions are massively unanswered, and the more I look at this, the more I think this is Salmond's personal crusade that will leave Scotland worse off.

I agree, even their ability to run air traffic control would be hugely compromised, what about the RNLI??

Idealism is great, reality bites.

Oh well, you may all just have to leave it to the Scots seeing as their intellecual/educational abilities have been proven consistently superior to their counterparts south of the border.

not to mention their footballing ability, and reliability to get a tan!

To be fair mate Scotland are shoite and we know we are (a slight resurgence of late mind).
The English are also turd and just beginning to get that fact after many years of delusion.



I was born in East Angus but my tan is superior to most of my adopted East Yorksherians

you've probably had more practice with your background!

I am confident they will, in the end, vote No, sense will prevail!

I'd probably register a no vote if still residing in my country of birth but still have sympathy for my compatriots not wanting to be governed by a set of Bullingdon bellends.