Let's Have Our Own Referendum Now!, Should Scotland Be An Independent Country? Options

[Bonny]

Oil Of Scotland

End poverty in Scotland - register to cast your vote in early 2014. We understand that many Scots avoid the electoral roll due to debt collection agencies etc using the electoral roll to track them down and demand they pay when they are unable to. In early 2014 it is important that all Scots register to vote as they are the people who would benefit most from Independence. As in an Independent Scotland we will have a chance to re write the way the unfair system works as it currently enforces poverty and does not make it worthwhile for low paid Scots to get a job.

The only way we as people will ever be given the right to vote on whether we remain part of the disfunctional EU, that costs each of us nearly £300 a year. Would be if we obtain Independence for Scotland as Westminster unlike Ireland would never give the people the respect of voting on the EU or the treaties rogues like Tony Blair signed on our behalf.

We believe that the SNP should declare that in an Independent Scotland the people of Scotland would be given a second ballot paper when they go to the polls 6 months after Independence is declared to vote on the Government who will govern Scotland. It may be a Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal, Scottish Green, Scottish Conservative, Socialist or SNP party who win this election for who will govern an Independent Scotland. This election is something that a lot of Scots do not understand is an intergral part of post Independence SNP policy. Yes Alex Salmond is a federalist but he is only one member of the movement for Scottish Independence.

In our global economy with its global corporations, the people of this globe have become but pawns in the great scheme of things. In an Independent Scotland we as a nation of down to earth, fair level headed people could champion the Global Trade Union. A Union that would correct the balance between rich and poor. As the powerful and rich in this World are few. The threat of Global industrial action by the many, would force them into correcting the balance. Osbourne claims he will make the rich pay ... how ? The only way to correct the imbalance is by a power shift. This need not be messy as we have the networks inplace to stand up to those who ravage the earth and its people for selfish personal gain.

Scotland is a very rich nation, with abundant natural resources and a small defiant population. A population that can make a difference in the World. The UK is the fourth largest nation in the World when it comes to the defence drain. Spending £62.5 billion (that we know about?) a year. (Hey why do you not get £10 billion out of that fund Mr Osbourne) However we are only the sixth richest country in the World. Germany spends less on defence than the UK. The UK also gives some £40 billion on overseas aid, when 250,000 Children in Scotland live below the poverty line. When the people of Scotland say YES in 2014 the World will be listening.

[Mrs L]

Sadly, no I don't think those of us living abroad should be able to vote in the referendum
Take care Ellen (Mrs L)

[PatBreslin]

To Bonny's posts I would add that in the light of a growing desire for full independence the last Labour government and the present coalition have dampened down the North Sea Oil industry using tax meaures and made it look worthless to scare us away from independence.
What's needed is a promise to invest in rigourous training for everyone in Scotland.


Prisoners voting is absurd. Incarceration means society has decided you are no longer a full member. No voting rights. Unless that position is changed democratically. Not by a judge in another country.

[Noonan McKane]

...
Oh, and lets not forget - fresh water, the commodity of the future.

We could finance ourselves solely on the income we earn selling water to drought-ridden UK. Unlike parts of England, when Scots drink a glass of tap water, we know it'll be the first and last time that water will be drank. I believe the average glass of London tap water has passed through a human being and been reprocessed at least 7 times? Correct me if I'm wrong...

You are, indeed. Quite wrong. Water is, sadly, finite. All our attempts to import it from other planets have thus far been unsuccessful, so we just use the same stuff over and over. (Google 'steam' or 'the water cycle' or 'the sun' or 'clouds' or something.)

[Noonan McKane]

You are, indeed. Quite wrong. Water is, sadly, finite. All our attempts to import it from other planets have thus far been unsuccessful, so we just use the same stuff over and over. (Google 'steam' or 'the water cycle' or 'the sun' or 'clouds' or something.)

...wait,though: If we sell ALL our water to drought- ridden UK, wouldn't they become flood-ravaged UK, and then we'd be drought-ridden UK? I dunno if I'm more worried about being ridden or ravaged, me. I suppose they could sell us it all back (after they've drank it and pissed it out 7 times, obviously) and we could become a kind of self supporting OPEC style group of water exporters or somesuch kind of thing....

[weecal]

Anyone living abroad pemanently at the time of the referendum should NOT get a vote.

[petunia]

I have no wish to vote in any election in Scotland I am a Canadian and have lived here many years I am a duel citizen of the U.K. and Canada so as long as I retain what I have and can visit Scotland when I wish that is all I want.

I don't think people who do not reside in a country and pay taxes should have a say in the running of it.

What about Scots who live in England, Ireland, Wales or parts of Europe??

[Noonan McKane]

Exact same thing, Petunia. You wouldn't expect to get to vote in the council elections for North Ayrshire if you lived in East Sussex, for example, so I suppose people who live in England shouldn't expect to get a say in what happens to Scotland, however much they feel they ought to.

Having said that, this referendum will decide whether or not the UK is broken up, and the UK has 4 parts (even though they are all essentially 'regions' now, and only people born before 1707 can remember them as 'nation states') so one might wonder why wouldn't people in Wales, NI and England be consulted over whether or not they want a part of "Great Britain And Northern Ireland" (to give the UK it's Sunday name!) removed? If Wales, or England were planning a referendum in 2014, proposing this exact same thing, I'd want to vote. I'd want to vote no, because an independent England or an independent Wales is just as potty a notion as an independent Scotland, obviously.

[Isobel]

I have lived in Canada since 1973, I have a Canadian passport , and I am a Canadian citizen.. I would still like to be able to have a vote about what is going on in Scotland. However I do realize that I no longer have the right to a vote.I honestly believe that's how it should be. Once I became the citizen of another country I gave up all my rights.

[Elma]

You took the words right out of my mouth Isobel. I have been in Canada since 1967 and a Canadian citizen since 1972. I would love to see Scotland as an independent country and voted 'yes' in the GG poll but realize that is an emotional reaction although if I still lived in Scotland I would vote YES...YES...YES

[Noonan McKane]

Elma, for goodness sake...why? Why would you 'love to see Scotland as an independent country'?

This isn't a rhetorical question. I honestly want you to tell me why you would love Scotland to be an independent country.

(PS I've lived in Scotland for as long as you've lived in Canada. Since the day I was born in 1967. I will die here. This is Scotland and this is Britain.)

[Catarina]

As a Scot, I have lived,and became a Canadian Citizen years ago..However. I would like to point out that it took me many years of residence in Canada to convince myself to become a Canadian Citizen.I am soo proud to be a Scot,from Glasgow.

As to your survey,re the question should Scotland seperate from England...I without hesitation,
voted...NO...then I thought to myself..."hey,you are not now,or in the future will be residing in Scotland,soo why should you even be given the privilege to vote?.

The answer to the above,is we face the same situation here in Canada....There is,and always has been,even violently,a Political force to declare Quebec a seperate Nation...

Look...My husband and I, have just arrived 'home in New Brunswick, after having visited family in Quebec, they,being in their early 40s,with young kids to offer an opinion as to..."seperation"....It was a resounding...NO.....Keep Quebec within Canada...

A UNITED KINGDOM,MUST BE AS THE WORD SAYS....UNITED...

PLEASE SCOTLAND .....STAY UNITED WITH ENGLAND.

[Oldsmiddy]

I did not vote, & my reason is, that although I'm still a Scot at heart, I left Scotland almost 50 years ago next month, & I'm now a Canadian Citizen, & I really don't think I now have the right to tell anyone who still calls Scotland home what to do. I personally think it's great for Scotland to have independance from England, & to have a say in their future, but I sincerely hope it would be beneficial financially & economically, but because of my absence for so long, I could not possibly offer a valid yes or no to a vote of independance. I still love the country of my birth, & my town of Coatbridge, which I haven't seen in a very long time, but still holds many pleasant & happy memories for me. Good luck for the future.

[ScotsmanfraeItal...]

Though now I'm far away, I'm still both Scottish AND British, I still feel being a Scotsman as one of the main reasons building up a true British citizenship, no mystery I've always been a unionist, a Labour unionist, and even if you told me a republic would be somewhat more democratic and "left-winged" I'd reply quickly: I live in a republic now and let me tell you... the UK's the more open-minded place I've ever been... Italy is no democracy, political parties rule over the people here, I don't want this to happen to Scotland, so I'd stick to the Kingdom and let the Queen be allowed not to pay taxes: it's always better than letting someone else do that (i.e. the Pope) and hence ruin your country's liberal and progressive attitudes...

Being a unionist does NOT mean being conservative at all, it doesn't even mean I'm Protestant (I may be Catholic, I wouldn't change my point of view), it doesn't mean "I'm in love with the English", oh not at all... Scottish and proud tae be, but if we do part company we're gonnae get intae troubled times, let alone I care for the Jack and that's enough fae me.

[angel]

As I have said before on this subject , make your government and politicians find ways to keep the United Kingdom together and not be looking for ways to break up the country .