Should Scotland become independent?
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader has just announced that Scotland will be having a second referendum. This follows hot on the heals of the last referendum but she believes that Brexit (which a majority of Scotland voted against) gives her a fresh mandate to do this.
As a left-wing Englishmen, my own thoughts on this are somewhat conflicted. The political argument for independence is something that I have a lot of sympathy for and indeed some of the English left support Scottish independence. Scotland has a social democratic majority and hates being ruled by the more Conservative England, as do I. The selfish part of me wants the most anti-Tory part of our country to stay and help build a left alternative from within the UK. However, the Labour Party is miles away from power and if Scotland could successfully form a left-Scandanavian state to the north of us, then their good examples could show us a better way.
Is this likely to end well though? Scotland has economic strengths but is dependent on oil, which has halved in value globally. In addition, the Scots would either need to join the European single currency area, which is increasingly neo-liberal and increasingly disintegrating itself; or stick with a shadow pound, which would leave them at the behest of The Bank of England. I am no fan of single currencies with separate Governments anyway, because national economies are rarely that compatible with each other and when the s**t hits the fan, its always the weakest who get screwed. Look at Ireland and southern Europe as examples of this happening nearby.
All in all, I understand the temptation for Scotland to leave the union but I would not back it if I lived there. It would make the country poorer and would leave them economically vulnerable. However, I am no fan of UK politics in general and if they do vote to leave I very much hope that I am wrong.
As a left-wing Englishmen, my own thoughts on this are somewhat conflicted. The political argument for independence is something that I have a lot of sympathy for and indeed some of the English left support Scottish independence. Scotland has a social democratic majority and hates being ruled by the more Conservative England, as do I. The selfish part of me wants the most anti-Tory part of our country to stay and help build a left alternative from within the UK. However, the Labour Party is miles away from power and if Scotland could successfully form a left-Scandanavian state to the north of us, then their good examples could show us a better way.
Is this likely to end well though? Scotland has economic strengths but is dependent on oil, which has halved in value globally. In addition, the Scots would either need to join the European single currency area, which is increasingly neo-liberal and increasingly disintegrating itself; or stick with a shadow pound, which would leave them at the behest of The Bank of England. I am no fan of single currencies with separate Governments anyway, because national economies are rarely that compatible with each other and when the s**t hits the fan, its always the weakest who get screwed. Look at Ireland and southern Europe as examples of this happening nearby.
All in all, I understand the temptation for Scotland to leave the union but I would not back it if I lived there. It would make the country poorer and would leave them economically vulnerable. However, I am no fan of UK politics in general and if they do vote to leave I very much hope that I am wrong.
41-45, M
