Mouser

Because they are Commonwealth citizens afaik.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Yes, I get that, but you are missing my point:

ALL Scots living abroad can vote, EXCEPT those living in England. Why?

And why should English people living in Scotland have a vote, if the above holds true?

Talk about fiddling the figures...........

Martin2005

Those are the rules agreed by both sides

RA Dunk

IMO only Scots living in Scotland should get the vote.

If anyone has upped sticks and left why should they if they no longer live here?

Mouser

I got that you got that!

As Martin said, terms were agreed.

SirFozzalot

Its so they have more chance of getting a yes vote by excluding those living in England!

It does make it sound very rigged to me. Surely it should be all Scots regardless of where they live, not pick and choose who can and cannot vote.

Dr Hu

Well the cross party 'you can **** off if you think your getting the Pound' specches today are a direct broadside to Salmond.... I still don't think it stands a chance of going through!

RA Dunk

Not really, English folks living up here have the right to vote as well and there are not many if any going to vote yes is there. so it kind of balances it's self out.

Anyway, Politicians on both sides of the border are *******. Selecting the better of two evils will be the hard part.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

So...so far:

Salmond says they will get straight into the EC. The EC says not so.

Salmond says they will be able to keep the £ and still have the shelter of the BoE. The government and the BoE both say no.

Salmond says they don't have to take on ANY of the national debt. Ther government and BoE say not so.

Someone is telling lies.............

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Oh, I get that, but it's so obviously rigged........

neil-h

Passing thought, what happens with all the Scots living in England if they get independance? Presumably they become migrants and hence have to apply for passports etc?

Martin2005

I don't think Salmond has ever said that Scotland doesn't have to take its share of the national debt - I might be wrong of course, but whenever I hear him speak on the subject, he always been quite clear that debt will have to be shared

Xx-IAN-xX

Illegal migrants at that

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Andrew Neil handing Nicola Sturgeon her **** on a plate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26175401

Every (hugely important) single question she is posed she cannot give a straight answer to.

If I was a Yes supporter I'd be worried, both by her party's lack of forethought around actually important issues, and having Ms Sturgeon as a representative.

RA Dunk

I dunno, Salmond has asked Camoron to a live debate on TV more than once and Camorons refused each time.

EddScott

Not that I really care but if Scotland isn't allowed to keep the pound, should it also be forced to keep the debt?

Seems a bit unfair. New currency, no debt, they could make themselves quite a nice little tax haven.

ScoobyWon't

Quick summary from an article published today:

So, overall, the situation is this: the only realistic option for an independent Scotland, if it wanted to be an EU member, would be for it to join the euro. Doing so would mean GDP lower on average by around €1 billion per year, with booms being more inflationary and busts involving more unemployment, because Scotland would have much less weight in or relevance to eurozone policymaking. That’s what “independence” means for Scotland in monetary policy terms.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance...what-it-means/

SirFozzalot

But why exclude them? I don't understand. Scots all over the world can vote, except if you are in England. I know that is what was agreed, but why?

RA Dunk

Who knows how these peoples minds work, there will be some devious, cunning, scheming plan behind it that's for sure, it will be for the benefit of someone.

jonc

So basically there's no plan B as they didn't think their plan A would actually be taken seriously. Still there's still a few more months left to thrash something out.

john banks

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...ning-1-3305302

Seems rather foolish to me. I suspect he has sealed his fate with this.

jonc

And this doesn't help his cause either...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...-new-lows.html

Miniman

iTrader: (2)

You can understand their reasoning though.

If they keep the pound they ultimately share the debt, if they split, they want assets to go with the debt (seems fair - I assume they are primarily talking about RBS), if they cannot have assets or the pound, then they leave with nothing (no assets or debt).

I think the middle one is what they will have to choose - even if they use a Scottish Pound, it won't be linked to the British Pound, but they will have debt and assets to go with it.

RA Dunk

We already have a Scottish pound that isn't recognised in England, so I guess it it woulden't be too hard to sever the link the the British pound?

Or would it?

EddScott

You can imagine the uproar. Scotland has a new currency, refuses to accept any debt, becomes a cold and wet version of Monaco and all the English politicians move there for tax reasons.

It would be like giving the entire Daily Mail reading population the coolade from Jonestown.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Some shops will take Scottish £ notes.

I can see Salmond's point: the UK government seem to want him to leave with nothing, yet still share the debt, which their own treasury has stated has acrrued to them.

And as for "the oil output is expected to fall to new lows " just in time for the vote....aye...right!

romford-boy

It is UK tender signed off by the Bank of England, it's just English shop keepers find it amusing to **** you off and not accept it.

jonc

I think it might be more to this than meets the eye. If Scotland did go independent and has no ties to the Pound Sterling, they then also lose their credit history. It will be a new country, new bank with a new currency and it is likely that should Scotland need to borrow money, and it will need to, with no credit rating or history to speak of, borrowing money from the international community will likely involve being charged high rates of interest for the privilege. This is why Alex Salmond wants to keep the Pound Sterling, Scotland will still be financed by the BoE, at least for the short term while they build up their economy and make preparations for another currency. After that, Scotland will likely ditch the pound as Scotland will never be truely independent if their financial policy is comes out of England.

romford-boy

This is why countries retain huge asset balances, and even though Gordon Brown tried to sell off our gold we still retain a huge quantity of gold. It is an underlying commitment to the currency insofar as investors know that sterling and the UK is safe, and if anything goes wrong they have alternative assets to call upon.

If the Scottish government created an all new currency they would have no substantial assets to underwrite it (they don't actually own the oil companies undertaking the drilling), so would have to use the Scottish tax payer as the governments hedge against default, which would mean they would have to commit to higher personal taxes and lower spending to ensure the currency remains viable. Even in the best case scenarios Scotland's borrowing would be very costly and everyone not on a fixed mortgage would see their annual mortgage repayments jump significantly.

neil-h

That's the really daft bit, there not Scottish enough to vote on independence and yet if it does happen you become Scottish by default.