If Scotland votes aye

[werd]

Let the English vote on it too. I vote yes as scots get more government money per head than any other country in the UK. If we get rid of the Scots the rest of the UK will benefit!

and what would Westminster do without the money that Scotland gives them,per head Scotland gives more to Westminster than it gets back,so us leaving the union we would not need to subsidize Westminster anymore

First post and complete rubbish well done! England finances the rest of the UK. Correction... London finances the rest of the UK. If you think otherwise you are fooling yourself!

utter tosh if you look at the figures and they are there for all to see,Scotland contributes 9.9% of the UK tax and in return Scotland only receives 9.3% of that money back which in money terms equates to us giving the UK government an extra £4.4 billion so yes London finances Scotland

What utter twaddle where did you get your figures from Alex Salmond by any chance!

Central government ie Westminster

[fishtank]

London finances the rest of the UK.

It doesn't Judgee, It just earns more per capita but it also spends more per capita and the main reason it earns more per capita is that most of the larger companies have their headquarters there.
There is a slight surplus between the two figures but it isn't enough to run the street lights in Brighton for a week and the only way those figures are achieved is by adding in the earnings from the financial sector, now the earnings from the financial sector may travel through London but they aren't exactly earned there, they are earned in banks and mortgage brokers and stock markets and financial institutions all over the country but because money is intangible the earnings can be allocated to anywhere.

An anecdotal story I know but I know a financial advisor who works for one of the big banks, his parent office is London, He is paid from London, His earnings are part of London's earnings, His tax is part of London's tax take, He visits his parent office once a month...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

It all depends on whose and what figures you use. A for instance in one and the same article

The Pro Independents may agree with this:

If you add in a proportion of those revenues, in line with Scotland's share of the UK population, it makes very little difference to the overall story. But if you say that more than 90% of the oil revenues are Scottish, as Mr Salmond would consider geographically appropriate, then you get Scotland 'putting in' £48.1bn in tax revenues in 2009-10, not £42.7bn.

Put it another way: Scotland provided 9.4% of total UK revenues and got 'only' 9.2% of UK public spending in return.

The Better together would like this bit:

The basic facts are that Scotland accounts for 8.4% of the UK population, 8.3% of the UK's total output and 8.3% of the UK's non-oil tax revenues - but 9.2% of total UK public spending.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16477990" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So like most reports written by journalists and bean counters, you can take what you want from what they say and use it to support either side.

[fishtank]

The basic facts are that Scotland accounts for 8.4% of the UK population, 8.3% of the UK's total output and 8.3% of the UK's non-oil tax revenues - but 9.2% of total UK public spending.

I think that says it all really, You see you can't add in the oil tax revenue because it's not really Scotland's oil but nobody says to London...you can't add in the financial sector revenue because it's not really your financial sector.

[Acca Dacca]

Just think it's a bit much that the rest of the UK don't get a say in it too!

Why would the rest of the UK get to vote on whether Scotland leaves the union or not?
Would you accept the rest of Europe deciding whether the UK gets to leave the EU?

Certainly would. Our being in the EU affects them and whether or not Scotland is part of the UK affects all of the UK. I find it somewhat alarming that you as a CWU rep cannot see this ????

Then again it doesn't surprise me!

Are you thick? Why would the rest of the UK have a 'say' ( I can only assume by say you mean actual power they can act on as Cameron and cronies have had plenty to say ) on whether the Scottish people want to remain part of it or not? Are you suggesting the rest of the UK somehow forces Scotland to remain a part of it simply because it benefits them? That would go down well. Many scottish people have been trying for this democratic referendum for decades.( democratic being the key word here something I don't think you seem to understand since you think the rest of the UK should have the power to stop it ) and you think that the will of the scottish people should just be thrown out because it doesn't suit Westminster?

[simply_the_best]

Eight point swing to yes in a survation poll out today.

Just sayin'.

So it's just returning the same figures before the debates, survation regularly had the lowest NO leads along with panelbase.

The poll of polls regularly has NO in a double digit lead and the bookies have NO between 5 and 6 to 1 on, the only chance YES have is apathy but this looks like being a high turnout, so a bigger NO win



Vote NO.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

As an Englishman can I say good luck to the I can't get angry if anyone successfully escapes the clutches of the Westminster Bubble, but make sure that it doesn't start one in Edinburgh.

[dvbuk55]

I'm all for everyone escaping the clutches of Westminster and the public school glitterati who run the country BUT instead of having all these referendums like Free Scotland, Home Rule for Yorkshire etc why don't we just excommunicate Lunnun, stop giving them the money and have regional seats of Government who spends the money more equitably.

[Judgee]

Just think it's a bit much that the rest of the UK don't get a say in it too!

Why would the rest of the UK get to vote on whether Scotland leaves the union or not?
Would you accept the rest of Europe deciding whether the UK gets to leave the EU?

Certainly would. Our being in the EU affects them and whether or not Scotland is part of the UK affects all of the UK. I find it somewhat alarming that you as a CWU rep cannot see this ????

Then again it doesn't surprise me!

Are you thick? Why would the rest of the UK have a 'say' ( I can only assume by say you mean actual power they can act on as Cameron and cronies have had plenty to say ) on whether the Scottish people want to remain part of it or not? Are you suggesting the rest of the UK somehow forces Scotland to remain a part of it simply because it benefits them? That would go down well. Many scottish people have been trying for this democratic referendum for decades.( democratic being the key word here something I don't think you seem to understand since you think the rest of the UK should have the power to stop it ) and you think that the will of the scottish people should just be thrown out because it doesn't suit Westminster?

Are you thick? I want to vote to kick them out not force them to stay!

[iminavest]

if you flip the debate around with a no or undecided voter it always has the desired result. Try this next time you speak with a no voter, ask them how they would vote in this situation.....there can only be one outcome.

Imagine Scotland was already independent and we were about to have a referendum on whether to join a union with the rest of the UK.
Could the Pro-union side convince us that getting together would be better when we were told what would happen to Scotland after such a union? Some bullet points from the campaign…

-Your main Parliament will move 600 miles away, and your MPs will be in a tiny minority & will therefore have limited ability to effect policy on your behalf
-Scotland will get a government it didn’t vote for.
-All of your oil and gas revenues will be handed over to the treasury in London.
-Even though not 1 inch of track will touch Scottish soil your taxpayers will contribute £4.2bn to the HS2 project.
-Your taxpayers will also subsidise the crossrail project to the tune of £4.2bn
-The biggest nuclear weapons facility in Western Europe will be built on the river Clyde, just 30 miles from your largest city.
-Even though you only have 8.2% of the UK’s population you will contribute 9.9% of the UK’s total tax take yet will only receive 9.3% of that tax take back to spend in Scotland (you will lose £4.4bn per year to the UK treasury)
-You will devolve all of the economic levers you have used to shape your economy directly to London and will now only have control of 7% of your economy
-Even though 79% of your MP's voted against it we will privitise your publicly owned mail service
-Even though 91% of your MPs voted against the bedroom tax in your parliament, we will impose it.
-Even though 82% of your MP's believed that a VAT increase would be detrimental to your economy, we will impose a VAT increase.
-You will join a country whose health and education services are rapidly being privatised.
-Now and again you’ll get dragged into an illegal foreign war.
-An austerity budget will be imposed from London cutting jobs and threatening vital public services even though 81% of your MP's voted against the cuts.
-The financial regulation system will be so weak and so lax that your whole economy will be brought to the brink of collapse.
-The most weak and vulnerable in society, instead of getting the protection and support they deserve will be interrogated and humiliated in an effort to get them off the meagre levels of support to which they are entitled.
Who in Scotland would vote for such a package?
Who would vote for that union?
So why would anyone vote to remain in such a union now?
This is about democratic ownership, social responsibility and the fact that Scotland on its own will be economically stronger from day one of independence....."

[simply_the_best]

You don't have to IMAGINE that you ARE currently in a United Kingdom.

Every single point on that list is made on the basis of being a single Scotland. We are not. We are a United Kingdom. One which shares resources. The whole list has been written by a selfish moron.


Vote NO.

[simply_the_best]

Seems our School kids aren't fooled by Nationalist lies either....

[newtimes]

Impressive picture of universities and high schools voting "No", how many local authority secondary schools are there in Scotland, 365, how many universities 19. Tell me how many voted No.
Message for True Blue Terrier, if we get a Yes, please visit and bring that award winning Yorkshire beer up for a party.

[dvbuk55]

Impressive picture of universities and high schools voting "No", how many local authority secondary schools are there in Scotland, 365, how many universities 19. Tell me how many voted No.
Message for True Blue Terrier, if we get a Yes, please visit and bring that award winning Yorkshire beer up for a party.

He can bring it up anyway as a consolation prize

[speckledtangerine]

That's YouGov out with a poll. Not the most independence friendly outfit they recently had yes/no at 39/61% respectively.

Now 47/53%.

Peter Keller will be going spare.