An independent Scotland?

[Missnurse]

I'm almost certainly a yes now too but it's all so confusions 😩

 

[Debi]

It is very confusing! I've pretty much always been a YES to be honest, but I can really understand why people would be confused. All the information is conflicting and it is very difficult to decide who is telling the truth. But the bottom line is- should we, as a country, manage our own affairs? We definitely have the resources to be successful, even without oil. We have decent politicians who are capable of doing a good job. Sure, it might be hard to begin with, but if we all pull together we can more than make it work.

I worry about our future within WITHIN the union with UK politics leaning more and more towards the right and all this UKIP business. It's all very well to say we might get a Labour government next year, but I actually don't think it's very likely. Historically, the opposition party normally needs to be much further ahead in the polls at this point to stand a chance, and I think labour will take a hammering in normally "safe" seats in Scotland because of their association with the Tories and their general conduct in this referendum. If we are at almost 50% YES, that is a whole load of labour supporters- who knows what they'll vote next year (possibly SNP, which would be pretty pointless and would actually help the Tories back in).
Regardless of that, even if every single person in Scotland does vote labour next year, we are still not guaranteed a Labour government.

Governments are re-elected every 5 years. Even if social progress is made under Labour, we may well get the Tories in again after that. And how much say will we actually have?? NONE.

 

[makemeamammy]

It is very confusing! I've pretty much always been a YES to be honest, but I can really understand why people would be confused. All the information is conflicting and it is very difficult to decide who is telling the truth. But the bottom line is- should we, as a country, manage our own affairs? We definitely have the resources to be successful, even without oil. We have decent politicians who are capable of doing a good job. Sure, it might be hard to begin with, but if we all pull together we can more than make it work.

I worry about our future within WITHIN the union with UK politics leaning more and more towards the right and all this UKIP business. It's all very well to say we might get a Labour government next year, but I actually don't think it's very likely. Historically, the opposition party normally needs to be much further ahead in the polls at this point to stand a chance, and I think labour will take a hammering in normally "safe" seats in Scotland because of their association with the Tories and their general conduct in this referendum. If we are at almost 50% YES, that is a whole load of labour supporters- who knows what they'll vote next year (possibly SNP, which would be pretty pointless and would actually help the Tories back in).
Regardless of that, even if every single person in Scotland does vote labour next year, we are still not guaranteed a Labour government.

Governments are re-elected every 5 years. Even if social progress is made under Labour, we may well get the Tories in again after that. And how much say will we actually have?? NONE.

Totally agree with this! I don't think Labour have got a chance next year - Miliband doesn't have the gravitas or charisma required! So yet again Scotland would be left being ruled by a government with only one seat in Scotland - utterly ridiculous!

 

[makemeamammy]

Very interesting to see how the poll on this thread has gone. Of the Scottish people voting it was always a no vote I think up until the last few days when suddenly the yes vote has surpassed the no. Obviously I'm discounting the huge majority of non-Scottish people who would vote no since they don't actually get a say x

 

[Mooshoo]

Now that it is really the talking point from what i have heard from others is they are voting yes. I can count on one hand the amount of people i have spoken to that are voting know so i think these polls will be taking a huge turn.

I think independence is looking very likey, i think im voting yes but still not 100%

The yes campaign has definitely gained a lot of momentum lately! I'm in the same boat, most people I know of are voting yes. Very few have been open about voting no although perhaps there are others who are voting no who haven't said

What is swaying you towards a yes vote?x

I think what seems to sway me is that we should have a choice on where our money goes. I agree that we should have no say to englands money either we should control our own.

Im also thinking could it be worse off. Right now im living on minimum wage and struggling to save for a mortgage. OH isnt much higher than that so what can we really lose. May sound really naive but the postition we are in just now they cant exactly lower our pay

Have you been decided for a while?

 

[Missnurse]

It's things like the nhs that worries me If we stay united. It goes down the pan in England it will follow suit here too whereas with a yes vote HOPEFULLY we would at least have a chance at keeping our Scottish nhs.

 

[tommyg]

With regards to the poll on here I am one of the recent yeses. Had I voted when I joined the thread it would have been a no but as I said a few pages back the lady who suggested that people in England should have a say and the realisation that no matter what we want they would out vote us as they often do in general elections swung me to a Yes.

Yes I firmly believe the NHS will be safer under independence than it will be as the UK. Everybody who works for the NHS will tell you when people leave they aren't being replaced those who are left are working their butts off trying to cover for staff shortages. That cannot continue before patients suffer.

I also think university education is very important. Personally I'd like to see a return to the 70's and 80's where their were less uni places and only the best got them but they also got a grant to go with them.
So many HND courses have been padded out and turned into degrees taking longer and costing more money, in turn meaning HNDs are devalued.

 

[Missnurse]

I agree with your comment on uni places and them being padded out with degrees etc. it's a degree you need to get in nursing now which is twice the price for the 3 years in tuition etc than the diploma which there was nothing wrong with in the first place!

 

[tommyg]

Exactly. And I'm not saying nurses aren't highly qualified or justified. But the way nursing has gone is similar to elsewhere. People who had to diploma and with tons of experience were being overlooked for promotion because bosses were favouring young staff who'd come via the degree route.

Interesting the latest poll is swinging towards a Yes.
Do polls ever swing the swing back again?

 

[Pearls18]

Different polls are saying different things, I'm guessing polls can go to and from I have no idea how they work them out, I was glad to hear the polls saying yes as I'm hoping that'll get anyone who wasn't planning on voting and was a bit skeptical to independence that if they don't want it to happen they will need to get out to vote. It's very exciting though, and I'm not even Scottish lol.

 

[catty]

I'm starting to yet a bit excited/nervous over it. All of the debates iv seen really look good for Scotland, I always feel they seem to 'win' the debate, in my eyes anyway.
I can't even spend my Scottish pound anywhere anyway so what difference will it make. You have to exchange ur Scottish money to even go to London! !

 

[Pearls18]

It's not about the currency itself on a physical level for people using it but the ramifications on the economy, trade and stocks etc.

 

[catty]

I understand that but it's being made out that we cannot use the pound - well we do at the moment and if we want to go anywhere we can't use our Scottish pound anywhere. Try exchanging it anywhere and your looked at like you have 3 heads.
I'm not actually sure if it will be better or worse if we split (currency wise) v
But iv seen nothing else that would sway me to say no at all.
I do think it is unfair on the rest of Britain if we get free education, childcare, nhs but then hopefully it will be the same everywhere soon.

 

[Abigailly]

My poll vote says I was voting no. I am still very much a No vote, however my heart is really struggling with a no vote. I want Scotland to prosper. I want it to be as strong as it can be. Of course I want my home to be the best place it can possibly be. Do I think that away from the UK is going to do that? I just don't know. The closer we get the more confused I'm getting. I SO want Scotland to stand alone but economically I just can't get it to all add up.

I run a small company, our biggest outgoing/tax etc is corporation tax. SNP pledges to lower it by 3percentage points. But at a question thing I attended I was given the opportunity to ask Sturgeon about it and she told me what the SNP pledges but when I questioned her on it, in reference to my company she said they can't guarantee it, that it wouldn't fit in with the rest of their policies. I can't get my head around that.

My husband works for LBG who has already stated they'd probably move south of the border. My mum works in an NHS research lab in Dundee, where all the research will be moving south if independence happens, the SNP have already confirmed this. My brother in law is in the Army, he still has had no answers on how this would work.

To me it's a head versus heart situation. And I'm really struggling with it. Do I go with my heart and say 'Fuck it', it may destroy my family but what if it could be better for Scotland as a whole, or we could go down the pan, but at least we took that chance. Or go with my head and protect my family and fight for more out of our country.

 

[Abigailly]

I understand that but it's being made out that we cannot use the pound - well we do at the moment and if we want to go anywhere we can't use our Scottish pound anywhere. Try exchanging it anywhere and your looked at like you have 3 heads.
I'm not actually sure if it will be better or worse if we split (currency wise) v
But iv seen nothing else that would sway me to say no at all.
I do think it is unfair on the rest of Britain if we get free education, childcare, nhs but then hopefully it will be the same everywhere soon.

It's nothing to do with the physical money. It's the currency as a whole so the exchanging it isn't an issue. We will always be able to use the pound. We can use any currency we want. We can use the Dollar if we want, but it's about the control we have over which ever currency we use.

 

[Cariad_x]

I'm a no voter but really struggling with the decision now. I see both sides of the coin now but I still don't see how it will be financially sustainable. There is a severe lack of planning of a "worst case scenario" and I just don't see how we can finance this other than by paying through the nose in higher taxes.

 

[catty]

I honestly do think it could work BUT who do you trust, as some of it does sound a bit too good to be true. I wouldn't mind paying slightly more taxes if I new it was helping fix potholes that we can't get funding for etc etc. But I am quite scared my mortgage goes up.
I think due to quite bad advertising from better together it's looking much tighter than I'd expected, I really thought it would be a straight no

 

[loeylo]

I'm Scottish. I was definitely in camp yes a while ago, but over time I have lost confidence in the yes campaign due to a lak of concrete evidence. Ideally, I think we need more devolution, but independence is a whole separate issue! I am terrified by the thought of independence! My parents would both likely lose their jobs, my partners job would be in jeopardy, and I don't know how secure mines would be - I am a teacher. Also, changes to the education system terrified me!

Another thing is I don't necessarily think that money is being spent wisely in Scotland. For instance, free prescriptions. My partner is prescribed shampoo and moisturiser for a skin condition. He gets these free of charge, on the same prescription as his anxiety medication (beta blockers) - there is realistically no reason why we should get free moisturiser or shampoo! Both are on sale in boots for about £15 total for a months supply. Our combined salary is nearly £50,000 - we are quite hard up financially right now despite this as I don't have a permanent job, so we are having to save a lot for me being out of work, plus we have just bought our first house and we are paying a fortune on renovation - but in reality I think it should be means tested!

 

[tommyg]

My poll vote says I was voting no. I am still very much a No vote, however my heart is really struggling with a no vote. I want Scotland to prosper. I want it to be as strong as it can be. Of course I want my home to be the best place it can possibly be. Do I think that away from the UK is going to do that? I just don't know. The closer we get the more confused I'm getting. I SO want Scotland to stand alone but economically I just can't get it to all add up.

I run a small company, our biggest outgoing/tax etc is corporation tax. SNP pledges to lower it by 3percentage points. But at a question thing I attended I was given the opportunity to ask Sturgeon about it and she told me what the SNP pledges but when I questioned her on it, in reference to my company she said they can't guarantee it, that it wouldn't fit in with the rest of their policies. I can't get my head around that.

My husband works for LBG who has already stated they'd probably move south of the border. My mum works in an NHS research lab in Dundee, where all the research will be moving south if independence happens, the SNP have already confirmed this. My brother in law is in the Army, he still has had no answers on how this would work.

To me it's a head versus heart situation. And I'm really struggling with it. Do I go with my heart and say 'Fuck it', it may destroy my family but what if it could be better for Scotland as a whole, or we could go down the pan, but at least we took that chance. Or go with my head and protect my family and fight for more out of our country.

Corporation tax, I'm sure they will lower it, partly to discourage any companies from leaving and partly to encourage companies to invest.
Mr MD If I move my head office and register the company in England I'll pay 20% but if I say put I'll pay 17%.

There is a reason why lots of companies are registered in places like Luxemburg - very low tax. They might only be doing 1% of their transactions in Luxemburg but it gets 100% of the tax.

Why would an NHS company want to leave Dundee, pay more tax, spend a fortune trying to get more staff trained or a fortune relocating their existing staff.

The forces are probably the messiest bit of the divorce. Some bits appear relatively easy like the Scottish regiments would logically come back to Scotland.
And somehow the assets of the army, navy and Air Force will need split after all we all contributed to buying them.
Oh but we don't want trident so we'll have more than our fair share of RAF planes instead.
As for personnel purely my guess would be that individuals would be given the choice. Do you want to stay with the rUK or do you want to be come part of the new Scottish forces?

I'd say go with your heart. Even if we stay with the UK their is nothing to stop companies pulling out of Scotland and if anything the current uncertainty is bound to be putting investors off.
I'd also think the uncertainty isn't going to go away, look at Quebec I think it is a matter of time before it seperates.

 

[tommyg]

Loeylo what do your parents do? Are they MPs sitting in Westminster?
You can safely say your job is safe Scotland is still going to need teachers regardless if we have a extra layer of management sitting in London or not.

Yes I agree money isn't always spent wisely, but you know what if we go for independence then our vote will actually count for something and we can vote for change. At the moment we are still having the purse strings held by Westminster.

Westminster isn't immune from silly polices that are a complete waste of money one being to pay me Child Benefit and then tax my husband for it. How much does all of that cost to process? We as a couple are no better or worse off but the government keeps somebody in a job faffing about with it.

Another daft one for them forcing civil servants into taking an English bank holiday when our kids are all at school. Yes that's bright and just give their staff a headache sorting out childcare for September weekend.
If they don't care about their own staff how much to they care about the rest of us.