As a Scottish person I ended up voting No last time because I wasn’t really convinced by the economic argument. The oil price going over $50 a barrel was the nail in the coffin for the North Sea oil too, although that happened a year or two after the indieRef vote.
I do think there is a possibility to create the “economic miracle” that the SNP are describing in an independent Scotland if we chose to become a tax haven like Republic of Ireland. Scotland has a small, homogeneous population of comparitively highly educated people, centralised around two cities which are 45 mins apart. These factors make it an ideal candidate for becoming a tax haven, however I’m not convinced that is what people who support independence would want or be voting for in a hypothetical referendum. I suppose all of this is a hypothetical given that another vote is unlikely to happen for at least a decade or two.
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Maybe if the YES vote were aligned on the tax haven benefits like Ireland enjoys then it might win next time around? It would capture the “free us from the English” contingent as well as the “I don’t want to have to pay tax” contingent.
But yeah… unlikely another referendum anytime soon.
There are loads of unpleasant practicalities to think about like splitting up the electricity grid and other issues that didn’t get much airtime. Brexit brought a few of them into focus but the whole thing would be staggeringly complex.
Are you an economist?
If not, dinna fash yourself about the economics. Any understanding you have is likely surface level at best.
Countries are not like businesses or households. We don’t have to balance the budget in the same way. A deficit now may result in a surplus later. Countries go up and down and it doesn’t matter so much because there are perpetual.
A yes or no vote should be based upon who you believe is best suited to look after Scotland’s interests. Who is best suited to decide it’s day to day running and what is deemed acceptable in society or not.
We’re a highly developed country with a highly educated populace. We’re not all suddenly going to starve if we become independent.
Since the end of WW2 to now, do you believe Westminster have done right by Scotland and had it’s interests at heart? Read through the history, from Wilson to Thatcher, Major to Blair, Cameron, Johnson, and Truss, to Starmer now. Do you believe the country has been well run in that period? Compare it to the living standards of Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and Denmark. Similarly located countries with similar sized populations with similar amounts of education. Compare their living standards to ours.
I’m not telling you which side to pick, just some things to think about when deciding.
I did Advanced Higher Econonics (and got a B) so I have some understanding of it!
Edit: If you are reading this and are not Scottish, we do our highers in the penultimate year of school and these are like our A-levels and then there’s an option to do Advanced Higher in your final year which is roughly equivalent to a first year uni module.
