Introduction. Background Of Scotland’S Union With The Uk.

Taub’s argument against the probable Scottish independence is based on beliefs that independence would expose the country to big, unnecessary risks. These risks would emanate from things the country would lose from the process of cessation from the United Kingdom and those attributed to being independent upon the completion of the cessation. While Taub’s article provides significant insights on the cons of Scottish independence, an in-depth analysis shows that it is biased and not objective. Article Summary

In 2014 however Scotland showed that there was indeed a large amount of voters who believed that Scotland would benefit from exiting the United Kingdom and since then the debate still continues with the SNP pushing for a second referendum.

On September 14th, 2014, the people of Scotland had the chance ‘of a lifetime’ to vote on whether they wanted Scotland to be an independent country or to stay part of the United Kingdom. As the ballot papers were being counted, thousands stayed up late waiting nervously to see the outcome. The Scots voted against being separated from the union and soon after it caused riots in Glasgow’s city center. To this day, Scotland hasn’t been the same, and the once friendly nation is now split into unionists and nationalists. Even though the majority vote was no to independence, still the people of Scotland and its party leaders are hoping for another shot at independence. So the question is, did the people make the right choice, or would Scotland be a more prosperous nation by standing alone? Scotland should be given the chance to function on its own without the influence of other countries. With an independent Scotland’s wealth and if it is controlled by the right political party. It has great potential that could benefit the Scottish people massively.

Scottish Independence - Good or Bad Scotland is at a turning point. The 300-year old Union is some say no longer fit for purpose. Some say it was never designed for the 21st century world and it is well past it's sell by date and is holding Scotland back. The Scottish people voted to move forward, with a new, more Scottish approach from an SNP government. But many oppose these views saying that Scotland needs the rest of the UK and that the economic and social problems caused by independence would be catastrophic to the relationships between Scotland and the rest of the UK. In any case the government has published a white paper setting out a vision of independence and responsibility in the modern world. But is this idea beneficial to our country?

Although complete sovereignty wasn’t lost over Scotland, the NO vote did cause parliament to devolve some power it held. This is not the first time sovereignty has been lost through Scottish referendums. In 1998 the Scottish parliament was re-established: The Scotland Act established what matters were to be devolved and what matters were to be reserved by Parliament. Devolved matters included health and social care (for example free nursing care for the elderly) and education (for example tuition fees). Reserved matters included defence, foreign policy and the constitution (the UK still controls Scottish independence, as it has the power to over-rule the referendums) Theoretically, Westminster could repeal the Scottish acts. This imbalance of power can cause some policy divergence, for example Scotland passed a law banning smoking in public places before the UK.

This therefore brings power closer to the Scottish people, through the Scottish Parliament, but in hand it takes power away from the English people. This may be because there is no purely English devolved body in comparison to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly. Power is also brought closer to the people as devolved bodies can hold referendums; however, on the other hand, they are limited on what they can hold referendums about.

Within the United Kingdom, a recurring issue has been raised regarding the political position of Scotland and how the Scottish Parliament could better govern the country. To establish whether the quality of life could be improved for the Scottish people, key events, devolution, and the Scottish Parliament must be evaluated and analysed. The argument for greater power in decision making and the ability to implement change for the citizens of Scotland, has been central to Scottish politics for some time.

Originally Scotland had a very weak economy around 20 years ago but it has slowly strengthened every year since then. This has made people who are anti-independence and the UK admit that Scotland could survive on its own now with its improved economy (ASCHERSON, 2014). The economy is just one reason Scotland wants to break away. England lately has been making laws and policies that Scotland disagrees with. Also Scotland doesn’t feel as united with England and the rest of the UK as it once did. Slowly Scotland has been becoming more focused on their own country and not England or Great Britain as a whole.

Scotland, who long had dreamed of their independence, suddenly saw a golden opportunity. The oil, could give them the money it would take to “survive on their own” without being controlled by England. Scotland got inspired by the Scandinavian countries, which only consists of five million habitants, but still are one of the world’s most successful countries, especially Norway with made a fortune on their north-sea industry. Scotland’s dream wasn’t realistic, though. The union ended up splitting the money, and Scotland started to dislike being in union with England even more when they have an open chance to succeed if they were on their own. The fact that Margaret Thatcher wasted a lot of the North Sea oil revenues on paying for tax cuts and unemployment benefits when it could have been used to rebuild industry or national infrastructure, didn’t help on the Scott’s anger.

During 1714 George Lockhart memoirs were published which blamed over 30 Scottish people of accepting bribes from Queen Anne during the Union Treaty negotiations between both England and Scotland in 1706. Robert Burns then later immortalised these events in his poem “such a parcel of rogues in a nation” which claimed that Scotland had been “bought and sold for English gold”. This outtake has persisted so much that it was used for the subject of Christopher Whitley’s seminal work during 1994. This essay will look further into how bribery and persuasion affected Scotland’s decision during 1688 until 1707.

Scottish devolution was defeated in the referendum and the two biggest parties campaigned for “No”. The SNP considered the results as a victory for devolution but was against the referendum as they were campaigning about the complete independence.

Discuss how rising oil prices might affect the macroeconomic performance of an economy. (25 marks)

What would our economy run on? Our country can’t depend on oil, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to stand on our own feet with just oil. We have whisky, tourism, and textiles and banking, though many banks would have left Scotland if we were going independent. This wouldn’t be sufficient for Scotland to run on. Wood Mackenzie, which is a worldwide company which supplies data, analysis and advice in oil, gas, coal, energy and metals, estimated that production and revenue from oil would decline in 2018, but after recent events this has already begun, as a barrel of oil is sitting around 60 pounds, which is very low if you considering the all time high in 2008 when oil was sitting at 150 pounds a

The SNP believes Scotland has the resources to break free from English rule and develop their own nation. After the 2011 Scottish parliament election Alex Salmond remained First Minister of Scotland. Salmond called for an independence referendum to be held on the 18th of September in 2014. The referendum asked a simple yes or no question “Should Scotland be an independent country?" The result was a 55% no vote and a 45% yes vote with an 84.59% voter turnout (Results). With the election of Nicola Sturgeon, the current First Minister of Scotland and SNP party member, there could be another independence referendum around the corner. But, just because there might be another vote does not mean independence is a sensible idea. Scotland has intertwined itself nicely with England and the other countries of the United Kingdom over the past 300 years. One of the most difficult problems for independence is the fact that Scotland uses the same currency as the other members of the United Kingdom, the pound. Mark Carney, The governor of the Bank of England, has said, “A currency union is incompatible with sovereignty." A currency union is when two or more states share the same currency without having further integration. If Scotland left the UK and was not able to use the pound they would have to get their own currency. Having to make a new currency would mean that all

The oil-rich Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, was for many decades considered among the wealthiest nations in the entire continent. While having the largest proven oil reserves in the world has often proved a tremendous boon for Venezuela, the very black gold that has been the cause of its success has also proven to repeatedly be its kryptonite. Over half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product stems from petroleum exports – which equates to approximately 95% of total exports. It is really not too hard to imagine what drastic consequences shifts in global oil prices could have on the economy.