So we'll soon know how the land lies?
I've recently spoken to a variety of non-Scots from all walks of life and surprisingly a common theme emerges. Few really seem to care what happens. But I do. I hope all my Scots friends, and a majority of Scots, prefer to remain part of the United Kingdom rather than to cast Scotland adrift.
Alex Salmond attaches huge financial importance to the Scots supply of North Sea Oil and rightly so. But it would be catastrophically wrong to think that the rest of the U.K. would be much disadvantaged, financially or otherwise, by loss of direct access to that once valuable crude. Some say the Salmond Scots are making plans for refineries and chemical plants to process their crude rather than rely upon existing plants elsewhere in the U.K - but given the lack of available post- independence finance I wouldn't hold your breath! The loss of crude income is nothing in the overall scale of things U.K.
On a different tack there's lots of public reasons why non-Scot U.K. politicians would prefer to see Scotland vote "no." But talk to these politicians privately and you might detect a quite different agenda. Might they actually see the potential U.K. loss of a participant Scotland as rather desirable? Allies in the enemy camp, Alex?
The U.K., including Scotland, currently benefits hugely from invisible exports, and from being one of the major financial centres of the World. In significant volume these exports don't arise north of the England-Scotland border; Scotland is not a strong financial centre in World terms. Of course Alex Salmond and his enthusiastic cohorts would love Scots to believe otherwise. But worse still Scotland is unfortunately seen by many as an inconvenient net drain on the current U.K. economy. Imagine; could the majority of U.K. politicians privately recognise this perception? Might they also recognise that at grass roots level, maybe right, maybe wrong, many non-Scots have also long considered Scotland to be a financial drain on the rest of the U.K. believing it to have lived well beyond its means for years? The rest of the U.K. no longer perceives a majority of Scots as well-educated, hard-working, well-motivated and sober. Quite the opposite I fear.
But when all is said and done, these perceptions, right or wrong, are irrelevant. Quite simply it boils down to this. Does Scotland in fact derive net benefit from the U.K. economy or not?
Think about it. Look at the visible and invisible earnings in Scotland and compare them with the rest of the U.K; then look at who spends what! It's not rocket science !! Maybe that's why most of the non-Scottish bit of the U.K. is indifferent to the outcome of the Referendum? On the whole, economically, they really don't care if Scotland casts itself adrift. What a shame.
