h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Now we're no longer with the BBC, I'm not sure what the rules are on this sort of thing, but I really only want to know:

Who is eligible to vote in the Scottish referendum? I read just now that it is "residents of Scotland". Note: not "Scottish residents".

That would include people of other nationalities. English, Welsh, American, Polish?

OK - if not American or Polish, who are presumably not on the electoral roll (despite being, strictly, "residents of Scotland"), how many *English* people live in Scotland, and, presuming they would vote "No" (which may not be a given), how many of them are there and would that have an effect on the outcome?

And what is the anticipated participation? No doubt more than an election, but is it something that people are really bothered about?

Oh, it's *undoubtedly* something they are bothered about...

Anyone who is resident in Scotland and is on the electoral register can vote. This includes students, immigrants and even people like me accidentally born in England...

About 10% of the population here were born in England. Scots are actually very tolerant of immigrants generally.

I thought that was about it. It will be very interesting to see the results and the concentration of Yeses and Nos as spread about the country.

If Westminster play the lets look after the south it will be interesting.
Deny the use of Stirling
Close the borders to free travel as per Shengen agreement
Take over the oil paying the Scots a percentage OR remove the rigs they belong to England.
Buy power from France rather than Scotland.
Shut down the Health service Police and fire services.

They could be in for a very rough time

Deny the use of Stirling? But I live there. Why would England make me homeless in the unlikely event of a Yes vote?

Close the borders to free travel? Fill your boots - I think that goes under nose cutting and face spiting, especially as there is no problem between Norn Oirelan and Eire.

Take over the oil? Really? You and whose army - considering Scotland would have the UN and the US on her side (the rigs are mainly Yank owned and operated).

Buy power from France? You do realise that will make your TV sets reek of garlic?

Shut down the emergency services? What, those services that have been devolved for years?

Bob - have you been indulging in a little liquid refreshment?

No but they have all been suggested as possabilites by the press and oil won't last much longer the Arabs have been trying to cut their reliance.

Africa and India have reserves large enough to make the price fall there are oil fields reporting falling profits.

The propasal that the NHS in Scotland should should be paid for by the Scots has been already been made.

The English currency is not currently on offer to Scotland as no agreement has been worked out.

Scotland will have to fund its police and emergency services and may well face border controls. Immigration control is a big issue in the south.

All this has been stated by various government spoksmen all financial and administrative ties will be cut. Even the chief of B and Q announced today there will be higher prices in Scotland. Buying south of the border will only weaken the Scottish economy.


It is not going to be easy to Scotland but half the voters want freedom from Westminster so is going it alone is more costly than they think.

Remembr Scotland was in serious trouble after the Drian scheam disaster and asked/begged for union with England England funded the Scottish recovery.

History has a habit of repeating itself.

Just for the record I hope Scotland is not sacrificed to fulfill a political dream.

Scotland and ths Scots are to important.

The debate has taken a strange fantasy turn in England.

The same could be said of Scotland its never wise to believe what politician's say, follow what the bankers say the value of the £ is falling its cost us all.

To be fair KB I don't think people in England care at all we are not involved it might be the end of the Labour party though.

No, the same couldn't really be said of Scotland.

And here was me thinking that the £50bn in taxes raised each year in Scotland paid for services. Clearly I was wrong and the English have been paying out of the goodness of their hearts all along

I suspect the question of the Scots keeping Stirling might well be answered in Brussels...

Yet another one of those points that's never been clearly answered by the YES campaign... What happens to Scotland in terms of the EU...

There are a couple of countries in Europe who don't want Scotland to be able to keep its membership of the EU and want it to have to apply for independent membership (this is basically because they don't want to set a precedent... They've got their own problems with regions wanting to become independent).
Now, according to the EU, if a country wants to join the EU now, they've got to agree to use the Euro...

The Yes campaign's been pretty quiet about that one.

50 billion but that could well not be enough to run the state and set up up a new infrastructure and duplicate the fiscal and state administration required. And that of 50 billion there is a considerable contribution made by industry by way of taxation. Some of this may well move south. The current national system evens out the costs going it alone way increase living costs in Scotland.

There is more to this than the good of the Scottish naiton there is a lot of power and prestige up for distribution amongst the potential rulers of the new state who will need paying. That's a bill that can't be sent south.

The Republic of Ireland and the UK have freedom of movement without passport controls. Any suggestion of Scotland joining leaving that club is just anti-separatist noise.

Currency union is a different question - both the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England have ruled it out. Scottish banknotes right now are backed by actual cash deposits held by the Bank of England. If the BoE refuses to hold those cash deposits, then the whole Scottish pound thing falls down.

I have been trying to work out why the BoE is so certain about rejecting currency union and it probably is to do with interest rates. The UK is one of the world's largest and stable economies with an excellent track record of paying off debt. The BoE sets its "bond" interest rates really low because the money markets will lend anyway. Scotland will be a very small economy and relatively unstable and will need higher interest rates to attract cash. The BoE cannot set two interest rates, one for the country of which it is the central bank, and another for the country it isn't.

I wish those voting in Scotland all the best in their decision!



PS: If anybody has a better clue as to what is going on here, I am all ears.

Well, neither the UK nor Ireland are in Schengen anyway. I imagine an independent Scotland would prefer to join its neighbours in the Common Travel Area.

TRiG.

Who can vote...British Citizens, Irish Citizens, British overseas territories "subjects", EU Citizens, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian Citizens, if they are resident in Scotland.

Shaun Connery does not get a vote even though he is SNP MP for Marbella nor does Mel Gibson even if he paints his arse blue and rewrites history.

I'd like to know how much Alex "McShrek" Salmon paid David Cameron to say he will be "heart-broken" if Scotland leaves the Union - most scots would vote to have their genitals sandpapered if it made Cam-moron cry.