If You Can Think Of Any Disadvantages, Let Me Know.
Less Of A Spending Burden, Likelihood Of Intelligent Governments.
“Scotland has over the years been denuded of all the talented people, who have decamped to London”
“It won’t be long before they clamour to be let back in again”
Hey Scotland. You’re welcome to your socialist experiment, especially if you have to pay for it yourselves. So give us all a break down here in England and vote “Yes” next week. Save us lots of money, and at the same time almost guarantee we’ll never have a Labour government here again.
And don’t expect much patience from us when you come begging to be let back in as your economy tanks, taxes go through the roof, businesses and banks escape to England and unemployment soars.
I admit it’s never a good idea to judge towns or countries even by the behaviour of people on BBC Question Time or BBC Any Questions, but over the years every time one of the above has been based in Scotland, I’ve taken note of the relentless silly, chippy leftie views expressed and the dearth of informed conservative views. And a consistent contempt for the English. England audiences are admittedly also packed by lefty organisations and it’s often counter-intuitive when you hear thunderous applause usually indicating a dimwit populist view about the minimum wage or the NHS has just been expressed by Polly Toynbee or Owen Jones or Caroline Lucas. Again, listening to football crowds isn’t a recipe for finding the true flavour of a country’s opinions, but Scottish football crowds do seem of an ilk and I try and ignore their loopy chanting, like up the IRA.
This evidence of true Scots character might be a bit superficial, unreliable, and misleading so perhaps I ought to look for deeper evidence. How about this. I don’t think there is a single Conservative MP for Scotland, anywhere. In a supposedly educated and civilised part of the United Kingdom (it isn’t a country yet) that surely is extraordinary. If Scotland had voted “Yes” to independence before the previous election, the Tories would have had enough votes in Parliament to govern alone in 2010. After the Tony Blair landslides, there would still have been enough votes in Parliament for Labour to form a government so I can’t say that if Scotland goes, we’ll never have another Labour government, but it would be a lot more difficult for the Labour party.
Nothing sensible
I never hear a sensible expression about small state, low tax, responsible individualism from Scottish audiences. As some smart person said the other day, isn’t it depressing that the debate in Scotland about independence has on both sides politicians like Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling vying to spend more of our money, and this in the country that gave us brilliant Wealth of Nations economist Adam Smith. You do have to wonder about the mentality of Scots who don’t seem to think Salmond is a lying sleazeball on the make. and vote for him in droves.
It might well be the case that Scotland has over the years been denuded of all the talented people, who have decamped to London where the money and good jobs are, leaving a grasping, unambitious rump of citizens who demand more free stuff from government and worship the Welfare State and the NHS without ever thinking that there might be a better way.
No negatives
Scots get a higher proportion of government tax revenue spent on them, and seem to want more all the time. If they vote “Yes” on September 18, I’m struggling to think of any negatives for the English. The consequences of losing five million citizens who are probably a huge net cost to the Treasury has to be good for us. The prospects that it will be much more difficult for Labour to win control of Parliament is tempting. Not having Scottish bully socialists like Gordon Brown on our payroll has to be good. North Sea oil and gas revenues are on the decline, and don’t expect that all the fields would go to Scotland when the time came to divvy up the spoils.
It will be fun also to see how an independent Scotland copes with their ambitious plans for even more welfare without the revenue base to fund it. It will be collapse of stout party time pretty soon. It won’t be long before we start to hear a clamour to be let back in again, not least when they find that Spain vetoes their plan to join the E.U. on the grounds that this will encourage their nutters in Catalonia to seek independence. The demand by Salmond for access to the pound sterling for its currency is also a puzzle. Surely if Salmond wants true independence, he wouldn’t want to retain the pound, which means conceding monetary policy to the English.
I hear Prime Minister David Cameron and the Tories saying how much they value the Union and please will the Scots see sense and vote “No”, but this brings turkeys and Christmas to mind. So I’m hoping for a resounding “Yes” vote, which will immediately raise the question about next May’s general election. Surely if independence is to go ahead, then Labour MPs from Scotland will have to stand down from the Westminster Parliament. I can’t wait to see the expression on Ed Miliband’s face when he faces that one down.
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