I think it will largely be an emotional vote, but as Bloosmby has pointed out the no campaign have focused a lot on the negatives of independence rather than the positives of staying together. Scottish relatives have been keeping me up to date on things, and they seem to feel that the No campaign has rather blown it, Cameron et al. visiting didn't do much good at all, in fact it almost had a reverse impact. Their view is that it will narrowly go in favour of independence. It does look like it will be a huge turnout, in excess of 80%. If it ends up as close as the polls suggest I think it will be hugely divisive for Scotland for years to come.

Emotion plays a part, but I don't think many Scots will be voting entirely or mainly for purely emotional reasons.

On a global economic basis, I doubt whether anyone can predict the consequences of a "Yes to independence" vote. Nobody seems to be entirely sure whether an independent Scotland would be entitled to (or able to get) membership of the European Union. There are conflicting views about the value of the North Sea oil that still remains to be exploited off the Scottish coast.

On the domestic front, Scotland already has a free hand in many areas of public policy. The Scottish government and parliament can already decide how they manage their health service, their schools and universities, and so on. But their freedom is limited by the fact that taxation is still a central UK matter. Taxes are paid to the central government in accordance with Acts of the UK Parliament, and a sum (calculated largely on a population basis) is passed to the Scots for the functions that are proper to the Scottish executive. If the Scots were independent, they could levy taxes as they pleased and spend them as they pleased. This might have an appeal to some Scots whose social priorities may differ considerably from what they perceive as the ideals of all the main parties at Westminster.

Having been born and bred on the coast of the English Channel, I'm just about as remote from Scotland as you can get in these islands. I think that much of the Scottish independence movement owes its impetus to the decline of the UK on the world stage. England (which had subsumed Wales) and Scotland were united in 1707. The country went on to establish an empire over a vast area of the globe, and the Scots played a large part in that enterprise. How could a Scot in 1800 or 1850 or 1900 not feel part of a great British partnership? The decline of the empire has been accompanied by a decline in the traditional heavy industries such as shipbuilding, mining, iron and steel, which employed many Scots in the Lowlands. Once upon a time a Scottish shipworker or miner or steelworker might have felt himself to be part of a countrywide industry. He would feel much more in common with an English or Welsh worker in Portsmouth or Barnsley or Port Talbot than with a Scottish laird. Nowadays few people do this sort of work in Scotland or England or Wales, and so a Scottish worker probably has less reason to feel part of the UK. The rise of the Scottish Nationalists from the late 1970s onwards seems to parallel the decline of the real influence of the UK.

Maybe, if the Scots vote "Yes", the English will finally have to face up to their true status in the 21st century.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a comment so much from the "heart" from anyone on FT

I tend to agree with TabbyTom, though I feel sure that one way or another Scotland would manage to join the European Union. The key questions are the time-scale and what the EU likes to call modalities, that is, the mechanism(s).

Some sections of the media abroad are talking about a victory for the Yes campaign as the final collapse of the British Empire. I don't see it quite in those terms, though no doubt there would be moves in Wales to follow suit. (I imagine that in Northern Ireland the Protestant majority will, for the foreseeable future, be far too afraid of absorption into the Republic of Ireland to seek independence). However, the rest of the UK would suffer a very substantial loss of international status, far in excess of the loss of population involved.

A victory for the Yes campaign might also prove very disruptive in other parts of Europe, especially Spain, where it might encourage Catalan and Basque separatists. (I'll say nothing about Ukraine, where the separatists need no encouragement).

I'm not at all keen on referenda (except on minor local issues): some people will vote on matters other than - or in addition to - the actual question asked, perhaps in order to give the government of the day a slap in the face. In other words, a referendum gives an opportunity to register a protest vote.

I suspect that the historian Linda Colley was/is right in saying that British nationality/identity was something that was superimposed on English, Scottish (and Welsh) identity in century or so following 1707 - and that it was not done entirely effectively. For more about Linda Colley see these links, especially the second on her 1992 book Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, which has come in for criticism as well as praise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Colley

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britons:_Forging_the_Nation_1707-1837



Perhaps, but there will cetainly be a serious identity crisis - in Scotland as well as England and other parts of the UK.

considering that most of Britain's "colonies" have been independent for a LOT of years maybe it's time they accepted reality? Just sayin'. I don't mind the queen as our head of state (she's quite useless, politically, in our country, but is attractive in her old age and still looks good on our currency lol) but I'm pretty tired of people in Britain thinking we're just "uneducated people who eat roadkill" lol. Trust me, we have universities here every bit as good as Cambridge or Oxford. And sorry, but the Anglish "world reign" has been pretty much "over" for at least a couple of centuries lol. And I'm fairly certain that India (not to mention Africa) has more valid reasons for disliking the Brit "regime" than our country does.

If Scotland wants to "go it" on their own then good for them and I'm sure they'll find a way to make it economically feasible over time. It's their choice, after all, no matter what the ultimate outcome is.

I expect if Scotland votes Yes to independence, the sun will still rise in the morning and life will go on, perhaps in a different direction but it will continue. Having strong Northern Irish roots, I will feel utterly saddened if they leave the union - they'll be captaining their ship into uncharted territory but if that's their wish, then so be it.

Thank you all for a wonderfully informative thread.

You are of course both right Barbarini and Jakeroo. I find myself torn. My Dad, and therefore Grandparents on one side, were Scots and I spent many happy school holidays in Scotland and with my mother's side being part Irish, part Scots and part French I feel as though my family roots are more Scottish than anything else. I however, being in England, don't have a vote on this.

I can see why the Scots would vote yes, but I think there are a lot of people like me in England who have shared roots, and overall the two countries have so much mutual and shared history that a vote for independence will somehow diminish both of us.

Just to complicate matters (for some) more ... Irish nationalists in the North of Ireland (comprising practically half the population) tend not to regard 'Northern Ireland' (a name we don't generally use anyway) as a country; nor do we tend to regard ourselves (whatever the pragmatic nuances of the Good Friday Agreement) as being part of the UK.

We're Irish citizens, we live in a part of Ireland ('the North', 'North of Ireland', 'Six Counties') that was partitioned by force, and which will - sooner rather than later - be reunited with the southern part of our country by referenda.

However (to complicate things yet further), in the spirit of the Peace Process, we acknowledge that the other main half of the population in the North of Ireland tends not to agree with the above and does regard itself as part of the UK .... and we respect their right to believe that!

This can have unforeseen and unfortunate consequences. Last week the Ardbeg whisky distillery on the Scottish island of Islay declined my online order for two bottles of their new release, on the basis that I'd registered my address with them as being in 'Ireland' and they can only deliver whisky to 'the UK'. I guess - if the 'Yes' vote prevails shortly - that situation will have to change!!

dsimpy, alas, it's come to this - for the sake of whiskey, you may just have to bite the bullet and admit that you actually do live in Northern Ireland. Yes, it's true. Belfast is still in the North!

It'd take more than a couple of bottles of whiskey, Barbarini, for me to sell out my sense of identity!

At least a whole case of whiskey!

Good gravy dsimpy. I don't pretend to know a dang thing about Irish politics, but you can order Scotch through Canada if need be. Single malt Islay anything? yummmm.

"uneducated people who eat roadkill" - Jakeroo, is that a quote? If so, where is it from? And if not, where on earth did you get the idea that that's how Canadians are viewed in Britain?

I'd like to know that as well. I've never heard Canadians described that way; on the contrary, I thought we Brits rather admired them.

Same here, I've never heard that description before either

Yeah, that description is reserved for the American South, get your own.

Mehaul is right! Hasn't everybody seen Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies out on the highway shoveling up roadkill for dinner? She's our role model! ;-)

Granny did NOT eat roadkill! There were no roads near Sibley or Bugtussle. She shot her possums like any civilized person would. If I were a Scot, I would vote for independence just so my country could establish its own immigration policy.

The Scots want to join the EU so they wouldn't have control of that - less than they do now in fact because new states joining the EU have to abide by existing agreements whereas the UK was able to negotiate a bit before those agreements were signed.

Moreover, unless an independent Scotland sets up border controls on the Anglo-Scottish border, it will in practice have the same immigration policy as the rest of the U.K.

That raises an interesting situation John. Presumably the UK Border Agency will have no juristiction so perhaps illegals will migrate to Scotland as less likely to be caught and deported.

Daver--you obviously didn't see that movie scene with Cloris Leachman as Granny when she about put the beat down on some Beverly Hills matron because she was afraid the lady wanted her roadkill!

If the Jocks vote for Independence, should do wonders for unemployment, rebuilding Hadrian's Wall!

Lovely bit of artwork here, where an artist has taken verbatim quotes from a recent pub duscussion and attributed them to well-known people from Scottish history:


"Frequenting his favorite London pubs, the English artist Paul Davis asked Scottish friends and strangers what they thought about the impending referendum on independence from the United Kingdom. He matched their responses to limned images of a few great Scots, lending some historical heft and a touch of ventriloquism to the project..."


http://creativetimereports.org/2014/09/02/paul-davis-on-scottish-independence/

According to this BBC website the overall result is expected between 6.30am and 7.30am BST on 19 September:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29263022

This seems to be based on the assumption that no recounts will be necessary. Presumably it also assumes that there are no unforeseen hitches. (Large areas of Scotland are very sparsely populated and many ballot boxes will have to be transported over considerable distances to counting centres).

You know that this is something special when you read on the BBC News site that "The plane has landed in Benbecula" and then it seems there's fog in the Western Isles and if the plane can't fly the ballot boxes will go by fishing boat and that result will be delayed for three or four hours... and you think it's actually quite interesting!

It's also quite, quite weird to think I shall go to bed in one country but may wake up in another.