Unit 3: Thinking Report
‘Scottish independence’
Lauren Pratt – 1200370

As the SNP came to authority four years ago there has been a surge of interest across the country. Becoming independent will mean the people who care most about Scotland will be taken the decision about our future.
A debate was presented by Stewart Hosie, a Member of Parliament for Dundee East, who was in favour of the motion besides Jenny Marra, who was the second presenter, who is a member of the Scottish Parliament for Dundee North East, Scottish Labour, was in opposition to the motion. Stewart Hosie gave an analytical, quantitative and fact driven argument. Jenny Marra gave a biographical, personal and historical argument. Both played a conception of their audience as largely conservative. In the debate ‘It is time for Scotland to become independent,’ presented on the 17th of September at University of Abertay, Stewart Hosie stated that for many countries, independence is taken for granted, and Scotland should be given that opportunity also. The biggest part of his argument was a number of statistics which he used to show the sustainability and competency to succeed of an independent Scottish nation by use of taxation, and by exploitation of the North Sea. He encouraged that large manufacturing plants should be returned to Scotland, and through these opportunities, this nation would thrive if no longer dependent on the rest of the UK.
On the other hand Jenny Marra took a less statistical approach, making it easier to follow her argument. She believed that Britain is able to achieve within many areas which would be impossible for one of the states alone. Furthermore the UK is one of the most effective political unions in the history of the world. Jenny repeated the phrase ‘Sharing together, stronger together ‘to establish the importance Scotland’s relationship is with the rest of the UK and therefore believes is their interest to remain in the union. Jenny finished her argument by emphasising that the SNP had 80 years to vote whether Scotland would become independent, however this has not succeeded.

There are many factors that need to be considered when deciding whether or not becoming independent is the correct decision; currency, tax, jobs, environment and pensions are all the aspects that the Scottish individuals need to contemplate;

The SNP, as a historic pro-Europe party, has always had a policy of joining the EU. However, because of the state the euro is currently in, they no longer want to join the European common currency, and instead want to use the pound sterling. On the other hand, opponents point out that this would hardly be independence, as they would simply have to follow Westminster and Bank of England policy, and would have no control of crucial exchange rates. Therefore even if an independent Scotland did join the euro, this would simply transfer monetary power from London.

Latest figures for total tax revenue from ‘YesScotland.net’ indicates that the country contributes £2.7 billion more in tax than it receives from Westminster, which emphasises that it is £1,000 for every Scottish family. This means they would not have to increase taxation. However, this figure varies from year to year and is dependent on the price of oil. If oil prices fall, as North Sea oil also starts to run out, therefore Scotland would be left with a black hole which would have to be filled with other forms of taxation. Our country severely depends on the oil industry to make most of its incomes but when that’s gone independence won’t be serene. For the last forty years the oil industry has made up a large portion of British income but with supplies subsiding what will we do then?

Another point that Jenny Marra stated was an overall reduction in those out of work in the UK, yet an increase in Scotland. Nationalists claim in the UK figure is skewed by the 100,000 temporary jobs created by the Olympics. Whilst the UK is cutting spending to reduce the national debt, an independent Scotland would borrow more to invest in creating jobs. In the short-run, it would increase the level of national debt. Furthermore, the UK government state the current cuts are necessary to reduce national debt, something which will help the economy recover. Spending more on organisation projects would simply require more borrowing and increase the size of the debt.

Expanding on Stewart Hosie in the debate, an independent Scotland is committed to ending Scotland reliance on nuclear power. The SNP has ambitious targets for Scotland to generate most of its electricity from renewable sources. They want to invest in “carbon capture” which they believe will make Scotland a world leader in clean power. Reliance on renewable sources like wind and tide will mean more intrusive wind turbines and tidal barriers. This will damage the Scottish tourism industry. It will also affect the loss of nuclear power stations when they reach the end. The UK government believes that nuclear power is still the safest and cleanest form of energy.

In the news article, supporters of independence say an independent Scotland would be better placed to fund pensions and welfare. Their analysis shows the size of Scotland’s pensions spending was 15.1% of Scottish revenues, less than the 15.7% for the UK as a whole. The total social and welfare expenditure accounts for 41.9% for Scottish revenues, less than 43.2% for the UK. Moreover, others claim that these figures are based on the revenues from North Sea oil, and with these expected to fall, Scotland’s social and pensions spending would become too expensive. Many scots also work for companies based or headquarters in England. It is undefined whether they would pay pensions to people in a foreign country. On the other hand, Scotland also has a greater percentage of people in need of social services than the rest of the UK, which will put an increasing load on Government revenues.

Overall, would our economically challenged country really be able to stand on its own two feet against the others? We can’t afford to become independent therefore; it’s just not the time for Scotland to be fighting for independence. A campaign for our own government might be realistic if we didn’t have the problems that we have today. In my opinion when the economic climate is fragile Scottish independence is an uncorroborated waste of our energy, time and money.

References

Gunn, C. 2012. The biggest questions about independence from both sides. The Sunday Post. Oct 21:p.4-5

Yes. 2012. Answering your questions about an independent Scotland. [Online]. Available from: http://www.yesscotland.net/questions [Accessed 27th November 2012]