The issue of Scottish independence has been much in the news recently. But,
as Tim Black argues here, while Salmond claims to be campaigning for Scottish freedom, in practice he is busy extinguishing freedom on the ground.
Since its establishment over 10 years ago, the Scottish Parliament has certainly made use of its devolved powers. Indeed, there’s barely an area of private and public life north of the border in which members of the Scottish parliament (MSPs) have not had a significant impact. Impressive is not the word; repressive is more accurate. In fact, informed less by the electorate than by the clamour of campaign groups and myriad professional bodies, the Scottish government has shown itself to be a world-leader in some of the pettiest, mealy-mouthiest authoritarianism around.
If Scotland does become independent and/or Salmond manages to get his minimum pricing bill through I can't wait to see the size of the new Carlisle branch of Tesco.
ReplyDeleteThere's already a massive ASDA right next to M6 J44 on the north side of Carlisle ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes they would cross the border but for how long.
ReplyDeleteUsually it's one or two years before the latest WHO, EU, "stooge UK" parliament follow suit as well.
If an independent Scotland were to take the euro, the way it's (the euro) dropping in value there might be a possibility of cross border trade coming from England if the exchange rate keeps falling as it is doing.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about the mealy-mouthed, nanny-statist Tartan Tories. I'm fairly sure their idea of Scotland is not what William Wallace or Robert Bruce would have wanted.
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