You mean, like, people who want to restore the Stuarts to the throne? It’s not something I’ve noticed, no.
No one north of Hadrian’s Wall is champing at the bit for King Franz?: Franz, Duke of Bavaria - Wikipedia
Looks like post #61 answered your question.
I think most folks would either wish to keep the existing UK monarchy or do away with it entirely.
Humor. It is a difficult concept.
Didn’t the vote to create the Welsh Assembly pass with somewhere between 50 and 51 percent of the vote - and when there was talk of the Conservative majority in the House of Lords killing the bill, Prime Minister Blair pretty much threatened to get rid of the House of Lords entirely (I think the quote was, “We have the votes of the people; you have the votes of nobody” - i.e. “Refresh our memories: where does your mandate to effect legislation come from again, exactly?”)?
Especially if it’s not funny.
But I appreciate your effort for covering up that you did not know the Jacobite pretender is King Francis aka Franz, Duke of Bavaria.
More generally I see these sorts of tribal exercises as distractions from far more important matters such as securing greater economic prosperity, opportunity, freedom and achieving personal and collective excellence. Having your very own postage stamps, paper bills and UN seat really isn’t especially important.
Well, Idi Amin’s got a lot of kids out there - surely one of them would inherit the title of King of Scotland.
More seriously, the current Governor of the Bank of England has been pointing out that if Scotland wants to keep using the British Pound as currency it comes with a lot of strings attached. However, setting up their own is a recipe for destroying their economy, and they can’t join the Euro without first having their own currency. Oopsy.
The House of Commons can override the Lord anyway, under the Parliament Act, so there’s no need for threats. The worst the Lords can do is delay.
I disagree.
Labour won the 1997, 2001 & 2005 elections.
1997 Election with a majority of 179.
2001 Election with a majority of 167.
2005 Election with a majority of 66.
Number of Scottish seats Labour won in those years
1997 : 56
2001 : 55
2005 : 41
The Labour party doesn’t need Scotland in order to win a UK General Election.
For the next election it might make a difference but not necessarily.
Personally, I’ve got my fingers crossed that, if Scotland does get independence, English voters will move towards the left anyway.
What makes you hope that they would? The general impression is that Scotland is to the left of England. I don’t buy it myself, though.
What makes me hope they will is that I think the voting habits of the average English person are too right-wing. What makes me think they will? Well, nothing much. It’s something I want to happen, but wouldn’t argue about how likely it is because I have nothing to go on.
This ignorant American thinks the Scottish devolution referendum of 1997 handled the issue nicely. If a subsection of the country has different preferences for governmental activism than the majority, then federalization makes some sense. Then again as an American I would say that.
Anyway: Q: How has the new Scottish parliament used their powers of taxation since their establishment in 1999? If their populace enjoys more extensive public services and correspondingly higher taxation than the rest of the country, then it seems to me that we’ve witnessed a more successful matching of preference to policy.
ETA: Also, jeez Scottish nationalists, can’t you wait at least 20 years before proposing another change?
Complex questions. The Scottish Parliament (as established following that 1997 referendum) is not really a federalised government. It could be dissolved by Westminster in an Act of Parliament (the “Fuck the Scots Act 2016”), whereas I understand the the US federal government has no power to unilaterally dissolve a state.
The Scottish Government has the power to vary national tax rates by +/- 3%, but has not used this power as yet. However, it does have discretion to spend the block grant from Westminster as it chooses, and this means it can, to some extent, have different priorities. The practical effects of this? I dunno, really. I mean, Scots don’t pay NHS prescription charges, and the SG has used some of its funding to freeze the Council Tax we pay annually to local governments (I can go into this more if you like, but it’s kinda…arcane). Also, Scottish students don’t pay tuition fees to Scottish universities. Maybe there are other examples, but they escape me for now.
On a political note, every major UK party that contests elections in Scotland supported devolution in 1997 except the Conservatives. So it wasn’t merely a policy of Scottish nationalists - Labour and the Lib Dems are solidly unionist.
If I lived in Scotland, I’d be for independence. The Condems seem determined to destroy the country, and I can totally understand Scots wanting to get out of that.
OTOH, I’m generally in favour of fewer bureaucratic levels. It’s unclear if this would lead to less or more, but more seems more likely.
One point - students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have the same rights re tuition fees as students from not only Scotland, but also from anywhere else in the EU. I find that really odd, and perhaps Scottish independence would fix it.
If I understand it correctly, if Scotland were to become independent and then join the EU, they would be obliged to extend their free tuition fees for students to everyone in the EU, including the UK.
Yes, but that’s an if, depending on the terms for Scotland rejoining the EU. It does still seem likely. It’s not a big thing - it just grates on my sense of fairness that, in Scotland, everyone in the the EU can get tuition fees paid, except for the students from other parts of the UK, even though their parents pay more towards those subsidies and the extant buildings, etc, than anyone else in the EU apart from Scotland.
Article from the BBC on this topic.
The gist of it seems to be that the Scottish Government wishes to maintain the status quo post independence, but the EU may not permit that.