looks like

[PetBazaar]

So, basically, only take the final step if everything is going well, otherwise back-pedal and leave the rest of the UK to clear up the mess created?

No. Take the final step when the time is right. Think New Zealand, gradually taking on more and more responsibility until it was independent in all but name.

Independence is now, I think, inevitable. I suspect it probably became inevitable as soon as devolution was granted in 1997. But the words of a certain Mr D Cameron in recent weeks have almost certainly accelerated the process.

[astral276]

No. Take the final step when the time is right.

Which is what I said. If the SNP screw up the Scottish economy then the time will not be right. So the SNP get the chance to try but the rest of the UK covers the risk of them trying and failing.

[PetBazaar]

If Cameron was really canny, he would offer Scotland complete fiscal autonomy - raise and spend their own money. Impose their own taxes, pay their own bills.
And make it very clear that Scotland will NOT be backed by the Bank of England, nor get a bail-out if they go broke.

Thus giving the SNP what they are asking for, and taking away their claim to victimhood, whilst saving the rest of us a pile of money.

I think N.Sturgeon will go very quiet.

But the Bank of England is the UK Central Bank, what you're advocating is effectively independence, not FFA.

FFA is basically raising and spending our own money, but still maintaining a central bank, and contributing to defence, foreign policy and UK pensions.

As for victimhood, I can only suggest burning the Daily Mail instead of reading it.

[PetBazaar]

Which is what I said. If the SNP screw up the Scottish economy then the time will not be right. So the SNP get the chance to try but the rest of the UK covers the risk of them trying and failing.

I'm not sure that it will be a case of trying, failing, and backpeddling though. More a process working towards their goal over a period of time.

How I see it unfolding now is constant agitation to have more and more powers transferred until ultimately there is little difference between the actual situation and being an independent country. I don't think it will take the form of if things are good keep going, if things are bad roll it back.

If it does start to happen, I can also see the North of England starting to make similar noises as they may find themselves in the position of being squeezed from both sides. At which point you've started down the route of a fully federal UK.

[astral276]

But the Bank of England is the UK Central Bank, what you're advocating is effectively independence, not FFA.

FFA is basically raising and spending our own money, but still maintaining a central bank, and contributing to defence, foreign policy and UK pensions.

As for victimhood, I can only suggest burning the Daily Mail instead of reading it.

Quite right. As long as Scotland remains a part of the union and using Pound Sterling then they have the same backing as any other member state of the union. While it may seem fun to watch the Nationalists crash, burn, and sink into their self-created mire it has to be remembered that they would drag down many Scots who support the union with them. For them I would feel great sorrow.

On a sidenote... I did notice that the main source of my Scottish blood did not buy into the SNP in the election.

[PetBazaar]

On a sidenote... I did notice that the main source of my Scottish blood did not buy into the SNP in the election.

The SNP are a bit of a political oddity. I've heard them described as a chameleon party in that, with the exception of independence, their stance changes to suit the mood of the population.

Some say that it's a bad thing as you never quite know what they stand for. Some like it as they tend to reflect what the population is actually tending towards. Independence is their ideology rather than right wing/left wing dogma, which isn't necessarily any better or worse. They lean left at the moment, but some of their actions are definitely centre ground. They are a bit Marmite, you either like them or you hate them, there doesn't tend to be a middle ground. They do probably attract more than their fair share of loonies, but that's not to say that their main support comes from anti English, Jacobite nutters. (although you'd never know that from reading the papers). They are, though, generally regarded by neutral observers as having been more effective in government than the original Lib/Lab coalition, and perhaps that's why folk have decided to give them a go at Westminster.

[squern]

Looks like N Sturgeon has taken the bait: She's now demanding tax-raising and welfare autonomy.

Dave should humm and har a bit, then reluctantly agree to it. Then sit back and wait.

[tonyreddevil]

good one