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A Neat Solution to the West Lothian Question
In two years time Scotland will hold a referendum about dissolving the Union. It is not yet known what questions will be put to the Scottish people and there is the usual political malarkey about the questions, but it is clear that the referendum will be about independence.
The Scots think that they can make a good fist of running their own affairs. They seem to make a good job of running Scotland, which has free university education for Scots and free prescription services and better elderly care services than England. They stoutly reject the allegation that these services are paid for by a subsidy from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although to my simple mind it is hard to see how this could happen without a subsidy when these services are especially expensive in the rest of the United Kingdom.
An independent Scotland would be entitled to some of the oil and gas resources off the coast of Scotland and England but not as much as the Scots think they should get. There would be problems sorting out EU membership, a problem as to the currency that Scotland would adopt and even a problem about how Scotland would pay its share of the BBC licence fee. As well as assets to divide there are liabilities to divide. There would be many problems.
There will be savings, if the Scots can be canny instead of the profligacy that they showed three hundred years ago in the Darien adventure and more recently in the running of some of the UK’s largest banks. With a peaceful neighbour Scotland (which has already ditched its nuclear power industry which would have wasted money long into the future) could also ditch an army, a navy and an air force, except perhaps for some small military brass bands and pipers for ceremonial purposes. The savings would be huge.
However, if the Scots want their independence they should have it. Generally small countries are easier to govern properly than large countries and independence within the European Union would probably be good for Scotland, if they get the government right. England would have to be wary of Scotland competing with it in terms of a tax regime; lower VAT and lower corporation tax in Scotland would pose a problem for the rest of the United Kingdom.
The greatest advantage would be the gain for democracy. An independent Scotland could be much more democratic than the rest of the UK; there would be, I hope, no Scottish equivalent to the House of Lords, a legislative chamber to which politicians appoint their cronies and political allies, and none of that hereditary nonsense of someone being allowed to make up laws simply because he was born to a particular family.
There would be better democracy for England and Wales too. No longer could Scottish MPs affect legislation that exclusively affects England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It would be a neat solution to the West Lothian Question, and come to think of it, the East Lothian Question and all the questions from North and South Lothian too.
Filed under: climate change Tagged: democracy, Scotland, scottish independence, West Lothian Question 
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