well said

FYI Jonathan. We are subsidised by nobody! Scots are net contributors to the UK economy in the official stats by some £1700 per head. The UK Govt have always used propaganda to play on the fears of Scots. they are masters at it….been doing the Imperial thing for a thousand years. Only now are Scots getting the self confidence to question our status. I just wish we had the guts and the steel the Irish did to reclaim their country. I believe George Osborne’s family were part of the so called Irish aristocracy that upheld colonial rule in Ireland for so long. We will be glad to let you have him. Interestingly to those who say the Union has been good for Scotland. Yeah right! At the Union Scotland had a third of the population of the Brit mainland….now it’s less than a tenth! Some benifit….some Union dividend….that stat shows how our talent and people were sucked down the the black hole of the SE England.

Would it?? And how much of the UK’s debt would it have to take on???

The only benefit of this discussion is people like you may eventually learn the difference between English. United Kingdom and Great Britain.

RBS comes to mind.

Have you any source for the 6th richest country per head of population statistic?

@Barry: There are suggestions of 12.5 percent of the national debt – along with military technology – Would give them a GDP to debt ratio of less than 80percent anyway.

English and British are interchangeable because the UK is England’s show.

Remember that Scotland will be able to claim about 12% of all “UK” assets. 12% of every single state asset of the UK will be owned by Scotland. That amount will dwarf any bailout of RBS etc etc.

That should read united Ireland.

I can’t see it being much of a problem for them so long as an independent Scotland stays in personal union with the rump UK. If it chooses to become a republic, that could be interesting.

I think things are bad enough here without having to take on NI…

A sizeable proportion of those seeking independence have no interest in a republic but would retain the monarchy just like Australia .
The people I hear talking about Scotland becoming a republic are most Irish not Scottish

You made my day. lmao.. too funny!!

If da nordies joined in with us, we’d need another ten bailouts! Northern Ireland is clearly an insolvent economy on its own, if it needs 600 million a year for the police just to tackle the people trying to undo the peace process.tomorrow-united ireland? When our shanty government cant even afford to equip their current police force, the burden of policing july marches which will go on regardless would bankrupt us over and over again.thats just one aspect.different when east joined west germany.west was flourishing while east was crap.at the moment north is fairly comfortable while republic is a sinking ship.

Scotland and the SNP have no intention of becoming a Republic. Just a separate indep. State with the Queen as head of State.

Like the Isle of Man and the like.

Mel Gibsons bank balance ?

:-) Braveheart… what a pile of nonsense!

They can’t have their own currency. All new members to the EU have to use the Euro.

The current Irish map looks bizarre having 6 counties of a 9 county province under foreign rule.

I totally agree. The answer options are silly . As there will be more than likely a number of options on their referendum. Being independent and having the queen as head of state seems popular as she is technically the queen of Scotland too. Then there will be he option to become a republic . It will be a complicated referendum and the Scots should e allowed to decide.Either way it really will make NO difference to the Irish

Hi Barry, David

Our polls are just vox-pops – to see what people in Ireland think about certain issues happening around the world. We’re not suggesting that Irish people can decide on the issue or that the result will matter. It’s purely an unscientific poll to get a conversation going!

It was particularly topical as the Scottish leader was in Ireland discussing the matter yesterday.

In terms of the options given, I’ve tweaked the piece to explain that a bit. Westminster has hinted this week that conditions may be linked to the referendum and that one of those will be that the ballot can include one question only, i.e. Should Scotland leave the UK? Yes/No answer.

More here: http://www.thejournal.ie/explained-whats-happening-in-scotland-323450-Jan2012/

Cheers,
Sinead

Yeah. It’s an opinion poll. I don’t think it’s a referendum.

But who will get Rockall???

you say westminister should not decide, the houses of parliment is not an English only house the MP’S from all states within the union are represented there. Scotland Wales and northern Ireland have there own assemblies, where as the English do not. I truly believe the union should disband. people are commenting on this story from an Irish history perspective, which is totally different from the history of Scotland and England.

Enda won’t stand up for his own people Stewart I’m sorry to say. So you have very little chance of him standing up for ye. Good luck anyway Stewart.

Enda made the right choice, for once, about staying out of Scottish affairs. There are people in Scotland that don’t like the Irish, and many would make their decision based on Irish involvement. Best thing to do is let the Scots play this out themselves and accept the outcome of the vote.

I think it a wise move kenny staying silent. intervention from the Irish premiere in support of Scottish independence could have a negative effect on the SNP proposal. given the shambolic state of our economy, advice from the Irish govt would be seized upon by unionist campaigners in Scotland. The majority of Irish people support Scotland in her decision but prudent to stay outside the debate as we have recently gone begging to Westminster for a 3.5 billion aid package! I sincerely hope Ireland can be the first country to send and ambassador to a newly independent Scotland

I suppose those are fair points

I don’t think this poll is legally binding.

it may have these consesquences,but I feel not, in terms of population, Scotland had roughly 5.3 million, where as England alone has over fifty million so the loss if Scotland and even Wales ( about 3 million), does not really take anything away from the table in terms of power base and influence, I think the reason Cameron will fight this tooth and nail boils down to natural resources within and around Scotland and the north sea

if the UK ceases to exist, continued membership of security council, by whatever entity remains, will be called into question

Daniel, I wish people like you would stop buying into the RBS and HBOS argument.

If Scotland was to take the burden of those banks 100% then Scotland should also receive a refund of all taxes paid to the UK government by those ‘Scottish’ banks for the last few hundred years.

It should come to quite a lot.

The Soviet Union was neither short of people, nor short of an abundance of natural resources. Why she produced 80 years of abject poverty and misery was because of the flawed philosophy behind her dreadful politics of collectivism. At the same time Hong Kong, with a much smaller population and minimal natural resources (even having to import fresh water) produced vast wealth and prosperity. Hong Kong, of course, had elements of freedom in her markets. It is ideas that produce wealth, and ideas come only from individuals, and only a free mind can produce worthwhile ideas.

Scotland would be keeping the royal family as their head of State – The SNP are not Republican.

Absolutely no chance of a partition.

Only allow them to do that if they can put the past behind them. I doubt too many Irish people want the troubles to restart in an age old battle between the Catholics and Protestants.

“the irish”-hate that type of phrase. As a Belgian you may not know this but the poll is interesting for all, as we are the only country to have successfully (debatable, I know) gained independence from Westminister. 2500 people thought it was worth polling in anyway.

Ok, Michael. I understand what you’re saying. But I know a good few Flemish people would love to gain independence from the ‘royaume Belge’ and I don’t think anyone else has any say in that apart from the people themselves. A poll about another country’s policies seems a bit silly. Nothing more, nothing less. But hey , keep debating it! My opinion would be that they should become independent. What is that going to change though?

“…as we are the only country to have successfully (debatable, I know) gained independence from Westminister.”
Did you mean “Yes Minister”. Think the USA might find your claim contentious…

How would they lose their free education etc. Any facts to back that up? Seeing as Scottish people pay more in taxes of their SCOTTISH money than they get back from the treasury, this is petty scaremongering.

@fiachra kme, facts are this the UK government spent 10,212 per person in Scotland 2010, that is 1,624 more than they spent per person in England, it costs every family in England 420 pounds a year to subsidize free education and free prescriptions in Scotland. if you research on the internet these figures are easily found and backed up. and as for petty scaremongering you are way off the mark, I am just trying to state fact without emotional bias .

That is in relation to how much they get but seeing that that is not including Scottish Oil, it relies only on expenditure, Also it does not take into account scottish businesses headquartered in London. English people are not subsidising scots, if they were i would be extremely surprised that English MP’s did not protest about this. I am also, off topic but still, shocked that English people are not pleading for their own independence, as i if unionist are correct in suggesting that the English subsidise everyone else, surely England would be better of Independent?

Robert Mayberry, those figures are the levels of public spending only and do not tell the full story. For example, they tell us nothing about income from Scotland into the UK coffers (oil, whisky duty, all other taxes etc) and lower than average spending in other sectors, defence spending for example. Also, that’s comparing Scotland v all of England. If you look at the figures regionally you’ll find that London and the SE get more per head than Scotland. So who’s subsidising who, eh? The GERS figures from the last 5 years show that Scotland is in surplus compared to the rest of the UK. 9.4% of UK income from 8.4% of the UK population. We are not subsidised, end of story.

Scotish oil money flows through aberdeen and straight to london – scotland funds england!

Oh and Ireland wasn’t depressed and unemployed when it was in the UK?

Oh no it was, it was in a terrible state. But it didnt have the modern services which Scotland has available to them now, Ireland was a subordinate, rebellious state which Britain spent more money on trying to quell a war than provide services such as healthcare and roads to. Scotland has to think economically. They have to take a look at what they get from Britain for being part of them and then see how they can replace those services and funding themselves. It would be silly to leave the UK just to say they are not in the UK. If they can come up with a viable economic strategy which would mean they could support themselves then I say go right ahead. But with no major and stable independent economic market to lean on other than their oil, I say that would be hard to do.

Yes I’m sure we all remember being though in history how when Ireland was part of the UK our economy was great .. especially around the mid 19th century when a million people didn’t die of starvation and another million emigrated .. Yes the Brits did a good job alright .. why’d we ever leave!

Ireland was in a completely different situation to Scotland, you cannot compare the two.

@Leo what makes you think we’d have faired any better ? much of the history of this state since independence would probably have happened back in the 19th C also, gombeen self serving politicians and a malevolent church hierarchy enforcing its own warped perspective

Scotland has its oil which is the life’s blood of the modern world. It can bring in foreign investment into the country to increase the wealth. It is not impossible for the Scots to do well on their own, but that’s up to them, makes no difference to me what they do.

btw look at Norway and it’s wealth because of the oil. Norway would be nothing without it and its now a very well stable country.

Scotland would not become “dirt poor”, at the moment Scotland pays more money to London via revenue than they recieve. Secondly its about political self determination, I am sure Scotland would remain part of the commonwealth and maintain strong economic links to the rest of the UK and Europe.

@conor I’m not saying we’ve done a good job but hearing crap like we should never have left the UK is a joke.. Many men an women fought and gave their life’s so we the Irish people could choose our faith .. Our country is not even 100 years old yet were still young we’ve allot to learn .. Let’s not go running back to the UK just yet :-/

wow wow wow, I just want to make it clear that never said that Ireland shouldnt have left the UK, I said that this idea of not needing the UK for anything is silly. We were battered by the UK, and we are a million times better off not with them. But we didnt get from the UK what Scotland have gotten and continue to get. They must know they benefit from being in the UK if they are still connected to them. I just think that they need to look at the economic facts of leaving the UK before jumping into it. We made silly decisions with regard to not accepting we needed the UK for certain things like special agreements with trade. I dont want people thinking that I think Ireland shouldnt have broken from the UK, we were right to do so. But as I said before, Scotland is completely different to Ireland.

@amy my apologies after re-reading your comment I realise u never actually said we should never have left, just the wording implied such.. I agree with you Ireland should not have taken the stance it did to our closest neighbour in the early years of the state but I don’t think anyone would imagine that Scotland would take such a route, I’m sure they would become like Canada or Australia, queen still as the head of state but with complete power given to the Scottish people.

Thank you for correcting your reading of my comment. Also, if they can manage to do a better job than us …. which wouldnt be hard to be honest …. then I say well done to them. It would be nice to see them independent and successful, I just personally dont think it will happen.

Gay Michell supporter

Ah, that’s harsh

You can tell by the picture this fella’s a redcoat!!

It matters because Scotland is our sister nation with a shared culture. They are in the similar position Ireland was in at the start of the last century & deserve our support. So far we have only achieved independence for part of our nation, hopefully Alba can go the whole way.

I think Scotland is a net contributor to the UK.

johnathan so ur sayin the english provide the scots wit everytn they need and they jus sit on their arses and do nutn ya big fool

No, Phillip, those are your words. Read my post again and you will see I said no such thing, nor did I make any judgements of any people. I was referring to the subsidies that the Scottish government receives,that are provided, by force, by the English taxpayer. Those subsidies exist and the details are in the public domain.It was you that made judgements ans sunk to the level of insult rather than intelligent comment. Got out of bed the wrong side today, did you? The fact remains that the English tax payer would be much better off if he/she did not subsidise the Scots.

Silly boy Jonathan you are forgetting to include North Sea Oil which is Scottish. When the Tories are on the take you don’t count plundering only tax versus expenditure. So yo are wrong my friend.

Because we’ll be spitting on the graves of every generation of Irish people who fought and died so we can live under our own flag.

I think it’s far to say we did not join the uk!

Because they treated us like shit, and reduced us to such poverty that 2 MILLION people died. Thought that might have been reason enough?

Even if we wanted to rejoin the UK do you think they would have us back?
Ireland would be a laugh stock throughout the whole world if that was ever going to happen.

David; one of those thumbs down was accidental from me. It should have been a thumbs up. Oops. :’)

Ireland is already a laughing stock. Laughter is fun. Let’s enjoy it.