UK News

Measuring up the Tartan curtain

Visiting Scotland this week to see Alex Salmond sworn in as first minister, the newspapers were full of talk about  “independence lite”. The idea was that an independent Scotland would be free to choose as from a menu, selecting which issues to manage itself and which ones to pool with the rest of Britain.

Listening to Salmond in Holyrood and speaking to him afterwards in his official residence in Bute House,  there was little sign of soft-pedalling.

Elected unopposed as first minister by MSPs at the touch of a button in the modern parliament, Salmond stood up and promptly added demands for control of excise duty, digital broadcasting and a say in European affairs to the list of powers he is seeking from Westminster via  the Scotland Bill.

In our interview, Salmond stressed that an independent Scotland would have its own forces and foreign policy and expect control of almost all of the oil in the North Sea.

The problem for parliament in Westminster is failure to grant Scotland additional powers could persuade more Scots to think that a breakaway is in their best interests.

The vote on May 5 has created a constitutional headache for British Prime Minister David Cameron. Freed from the spectre of the Alternative Vote, he now finds himself cast in the role of defender of the United Kingdom.

Salmond plans talks with George Osborne and Nick Clegg in the next few days, but says that Cameron will have to deal with the issues himself at some point.

Should Scotland become independent?

As Scotland prepares to celebrate 10 years of devolution on July 1, the question of whether the nation should gain full independence from the Union refuses to go away.

An opinion poll has found that 58 percent of Scots support the Scottish government’s wish to hold a referendum on independence in 2010.

This does not mean that the people of Scotland actually want to break free, however. The poll, carried out by ICM for the BBC, also showed that only 38 percent of the 1,010 respondents said they were in favour of Scotland becoming an independent country, while 54 percent said they would vote against the idea.

Respondents were also asked if they believed it was likely or unlikely Scotland would become a completely independent nation within 20 years, with 10 percent saying they thought it was likely and 28 percent quite likely. A larger proportion were not as convinced — 34 percent said it was quite unlikely and 24 percent said it was very unlikely.

The issue of Scottish independence is a hot topic south of the border too. Many feel that Scottish MPs should not be allowed to vote on laws that affect only England, while the multi-billion pound annual subsidy Scotland received from the Treasury also gets many people hot under the collar.

What do you think? Should Scotland separate itself from the United Kingdom? Would it be able to manage on its own?