The Null Device

Labour poised to lose Scotland

The Scottish parliamentary election is due in just over a month, and the Scottish Nationalist Party looks set to take the lead, with Labour being decimated:
Opinion polls show the SNP could take up to 51 of the 129 places in the devolved parliament, up from 25 seats at present, leaving Labour trailing with as few as 40 seats, losing 20% of its strength at Holyrood. That result would put the nationalists in a dominant position and the most likely party to form a ruling coalition with the Liberal Democrats, just before Gordon Brown, a Scottish MP, is expected to become prime minister in London.
A SNP-led government would make things interesting, as one of their policies is to hold a referendum on ending Scotland's union with England, a union which began 300 years ago. Could we see Scotland joining the EU as a separate nation, with a similar status to Ireland (outside of the Schengen treaty, but with no border controls with England)? If so, would an independent Scotland be likely to dump the pound for the euro?

There are 2 comments on "Labour poised to lose Scotland":

Posted by: Vance Sat Apr 14 13:35:56 2007

Hi Tony

Yeh, there is a good likelihood that SNP will finally gain a majority, and be able to introduce a referendum, within a few years. A significant number of respected academics have lent support to Alec Salmond's economic policies, and if and when an independent Scotland gets the windfall from north sea oil (which will be dragged through European courts for years, we suppose), prepare for some very angry and hateful English responses. North Sea oil has effectively paid out the dole money for England's benefits culture for over 30 years now. Talk about waste.

The vexed 'West Lothian question' on Scots MP's voting rights in Westminster has generated palpable fury amongst many English people. Some of the English commentators and media figures are visibly seething, scarcely able to contain their anger. As a Scot I have to say I enjoy it all immensely. These commentators, guys like Jeremy Paxman, become incandescent with fury at the thought of a thriving and prosperous Scotland, that has jettisoned itÂ’

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org/acb/ Mon Apr 16 09:33:07 2007

Didn't the government in London sit on plans for Scottish devolution (floated in the 1970s), a necessary precursor to secession, until they found Scotland's natural gas reserves running out? As such, will an independent Scotland have all that much in the way of natural resources for the south to envy?

Btw, I suspect Tony's too busy watching his back for Gordon to read this.