why do the Scottish want Independence?

Answer 1

Every time I try to answer this question, I get a violation notice - so read my answer quickly!

England and Scotland have been a United Kingdom ever since England ran out of kings and we had to borrow a Scots one. It's only since we subsequently started having German ones that the Scots decided they wanted independence. That died down a bit when they found they could make a lot of money dressing George IV up in plaid and selling him haggis, bagpipes and all the associated "heritage".

Once oil was discovered in the North Sea, the Scottish Nationalists were invented. Now we've got Scots running all 3 main political parties in England (and at least one of the loony ones), the Scottish Nationalists are the dominant force in Scotland.

It's difficult to see exactly what the Scots could gain by independence. There's hardly any oil left and most of the remaining gas is Norwegian. Scotland is heavily subsidised by both England and Europe so there would be some heavy duty negotiating to do. No-one's agreed that an independent Scotland could join the EU and being excluded would be very expensive.

Then there's the problem of who is Scottish. If you take the football definition that anyone born in Scotland or who has a parent of grandparent born in Scotland is a Scot (including me!) there are more Scots in England than there are in Scotland.

Answer 2

I'm fed up answering questions about this. In short I would simply say that some of the answers here suggest why Scots want independence, but as someone pointed out there seems to be more support for it south of the border than in Scotland.

I support independence of course.

Answer 3

Actually, as a percentage, more English people want Scotland to be independent than Scottish people.

Answer 4

They don't want to be ruled by London which is fair enough. As someone already said I too live in the North East of England and feel let down by the government in London.

I would point out However just a few things that Scots would lose if they went independent.

The Pound

Free university education (funded by the English)

Free Prescriptions (funded by the English)

Defence (Yes plenty of brave Scots in the forces and thank you for that but they would have to fund their own forces)

Police (mostly funded by the English)

Hospitals (No More NHS, which is mostly funded by the English)

Social Security (Funded by the English)

Education (Funded by the English)

The list goes on and on and on....

It seems to me Mr Hammond is living in a dream world and should wake up to the fact that dreams don't and sometimes even can't come true.

Answer 5

Mitch856 must be from another planet!

The English are telling them what to do? I seem to recall Gordon Brown is a Scot!

A (very aggressive) scot told me he hated the english, he hated how 'the government' told him what to do from hundreds of miles away who have no idea about Scotland.

I did my best to reason that i live in the north east, also being told what to do from hundreds of miles away by people who have no clue about this area.

Old know all has got it bang right, they might moan and say they want it but in the end, they just can't afford to go it alone.

Answer 6

Because they don't want to be British. Just like the people of Quebec don't want to be Canadian. They see their culture and way of life as completely different than the rest of the country they are incorporated (unwillingly) into.

Answer 7

No idea. Probably fed up with us English folk asking them what they've got on under their kilts.

Answer 8

Because they are tired of being ruled by England and being told what do and when to do it by the English ..

Answer 9

Doesn't everyone?