Kind of, yes. Scotland has been a Labour stronghold since about the 1950s or so. Without the Scottish MPs they would find it harder, though not impossible, to win elections.
However, that’s as things stand now. What would happen to Tory popularity in the rUK after a hypothetical Scottish vote for independence is, of course, unknown.
Unionism is in the Tory party’s DNA, so they would be in the interesting position of greatly increasing their parliamentary majority, at least in the short term, at the expense of one of their founding principles.
Cameron is not really a Tory, though (and hated for this by the fossils on his backbenches), or a man unduly troubled by principles. So I have no doubt he’d be quite prepared to take things in his stride - (picture David Cameron weighing up power versus principles, it is to laugh). He wouldn’t get to do that, though, because the old guard in his party wouldn’t wear an independent Scotland without major challenge to his leadership.
All hypothetical stuff - interesting to speculate but I don’t think he’ll have to cross that particular bridge.
It’s the standard far left accusation against anyone involved with Tony Blair’s government - Iraq War = murder.
He’s just denied (again) that he’d resign. This is good politics, because if he did make this a resignation matter then a lot of wavering Scots would be happy to take him up on his offer.
But, as Busy Scissors says, losing Scotland would be seen as a catastrophic failure on his watch and a challenge would be highly likely. Similarly, Milliband could also be in the frame: Better Together has been much more of a Labour than a Tory operation and he is just as guilty of following complacency with panic.
Reminds me of the old political gag: “Senator Smith spent the afternoon wrestling with his conscience, and won.”
Here’s former PM Gordon Brown’s (himself a Scot) Better Together speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J39bBV7CBJk
Agree on all points, although even if the vote is for No, as seems likely, they’ve come so close to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory that I don’t think anyone associated with the Better Together campaign will have much to be proud of.
This may have already been asked and answered, but…if the Scots vote “No”, what happens to Salmond and the SNP? Wouldn’t a “No” vote amount to a vote of no confidence, especially if it were by a big margin of victory? Could he be considered as having lost his mandate, and if so, what would he try to do? Other than “independence” and “no nukes”, what else does the SNP have to offer voters?
If Scotland votes no, Salmond remains First Minister until he resigns or fails to win a majority at the next Holyrood election. It would not be a vote of no confidence - the referendum was only part of what he and the SNP were elected to do.
ETA: Sorry, meant to add that regardless of the outcome, I suspect he will soon step down in favour of his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon.
Something I’ve been wondering:
Is there any legal requirement that the UK repeal the 1707 Acts of Union and pass a bill granting Scotland independence in case of a “Yes” vote, or is it just something expected to happen?
Also… is there any latitude for the Queen to act to prevent this directly if she so desired?
I’m just wondering if this is kind of similar to a US state voting to secede; they could vote to secede all they want, but Congress and the President don’t have to (and wouldn’t) recognize it.
I think the fact that this referendum has legal force with the blessing of both Westminster and Holyrood makes any legalistic objection to it irrelevant and probably inflammatory.
The Edinburgh Agreement on Independence committed both parties to carry out and respect the referendum. Of course either side could renege but this would have a political cost. The Queen can only act on instruction of Cameron; she will not act.
The SNP has provided good government as a majority administration and coalition partner for seven years. Nearly fifty percent voted for it in 2011!
What has the SNP done for us:
Well, we’re nearly there. I’ve given up watching the news. I’m wondering what on earth is going to be on my Facebook feed once this is over.
I voted by post a couple of weeks back. The only decision I have now is whether to try and get some sleep early on, or just to stay up - my local pub is one of a handful that have actually been granted a 3am license for the occasion so we can start to watch the results come in.
Ha, I’m half-expecting to see posts on the lines of “Oh sorry, while I’ve been posting nothing but endless “Yes” links for the past year, I forgot let everyone know I’ve just given birth to twins” 
My FB feed splits about 50/50, with the “Yes” folks more strident and the “No” folks more outright obnoxious.
Here’s CNN.com on HM and the Scottish vote: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/17/world/europe/scotland-queen-vote-foster/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Which does agree with what I have said.
Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t clear. I didn’t mean “what happens to the Salmond government constitutionally”; I was asking what the political repercussions of a “No” vote are. Independence is the Scottish National Party’s raison d’etre; seems to me that they’ve got a lot of political credit riding on this referendum, no? (I mean in terms of party politics, as opposed to “the future direction of Scotland” that everyone north of the Tweed has riding on it)
Totally trivial, but surely y’all have got some good fish-related jokes based on “Salmond” and “Sturgeon”…
Okay, I’ll take your word for it. I can see how my comment could be read as a dig at the SNP, but I was really asking what else they stand for, besides independence? I’m an American, albeit of Scottish descent; I ain’t got a dawg in this fight.
Politically, the repercussions for Salmond will be that he tried and failed. As I said, he’ll probably step down regardless of the referendum result. The SNP will continue, and will probably remain somewhat popular since they are to the left of anyone in Scotland except the Greens.
And I don’t have any good fish jokes, but then I do lack imagination in that regard.
They tried to privatise Scotland’s forests and whored themselves to Donald Trump. That is what they stand, or bend over, for.
Well, today’s the day. I am terrified of what the result might be.