Don't let me be last Queen of Scotland: Monarch in talks with PM over UK break-up

UK Mirror ^ | September 7, 2014 | Jason Beattie and Victoria Murphy

[C19fan]

The Queen is said to be privately horrified at the prospect of Scotland voting for independence from the UK.

It is believed the referendum – which could make the monarch the last Queen of Scotland – dominated her discussions with Prime Minister David Cameron on his annual visit to Balmoral at the weekend.

The growing panic over the break-up of the UK was fuelled by a YouGov poll which put the nationalist Yes campaign ahead by 51% to 49%.

Buckingham Palace aides said the Queen had asked for daily updates on the state of the campaigns.

[C19fan]

Wonder if Scotland will bring in the Jacobite claimant. That would be Franz Duke of Bavaria of House of Wittelsbach.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Doesn’t want Balmoral Castle to slip out of her grubby paws.

[Jim Noble]

No person living in Scotland who claims Scots nationality and who is eligible to vote in this referendum has a 6x great-grandparent who was not born a UK subject.

That being the case, it is absurd that 9% of the UK population can dissolve the union over the objections of the remaining 91%.

By the way, are "Scots" who were born in Pakistan or Malawi allowed to vote on dissolving the UK?

[Jim Noble]

Oh, also, if the referendum wins 51-49, that means that it's not 9% of the UK population which is being allowed to dissolve the UK, but rather 4.59%.

The whole concept is absurd.

[b4its2late]

I heard on Breitbart this weekend that the break off is being led and pushed by a bunch of leftists. Go figure. And Scotland is where the UK’s nukes are kept.

[UKrepublican]

Most of us British citizens have resigned our self to the fact our light on the world stage is all be extinguished.

With that being the case, it is the benefit to people such as myself that Scotland goes, in the same way people on this board often ponder the political benefits, i.e. a shift to the right, should parts of the north east cease to be part of America.

I’m undecided on the issue, I would rather have a United Kingdom, but in actual fact there could be some immense benefits to being rid of the Scots and their socialist, militant union ways.

[Wallace T.]

You could make the same argument about the secession of Ireland from the UK ninety years ago, or the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Many Catalonians would like to secede from Spain, even though it has been part of Spain for a longer time than Scotland has been in the UK. National boundaries are not sacred. In our own case, I would welcome the secession of the states north of the Potomac and east of the Alleghenies, and of the three West Coast states and Hawaii.

[sauropod]

My understanding of the SNP is that they are repulsively Leftist (worse than the Labour Party if you can believe that).

I have been following this and the argument that the First Minister has been making is that independence is good for jobs (IOW not a freedom issue).

This is not a valid, rational reason for Independence.

However, I do think Independence might be good for Scotland.

I also live in a State where the urban population centers dictate what the State does and what the level of taxation is. I also am tired of not having a voice in our government. I do understand the desire for Scots to be independent.

[Paine in the Neck]

Oh, also, if the referendum wins 51-49, that means that it's not 9% of the UK population which is being allowed to dissolve the UK, but rather 4.59%.

The whole concept is absurd.

And yet, that a mere parcel o' rogues, for English gold, sold Scotland into union in the first instance is not absurd?

The tragedy, alas, is that independent Scotland is likely to be a socialist basket-case.

[Jim Noble]

You could make the same argument about the secession of Ireland from the UK ninety years ago,

Except that Ireland never accepted Union. As soon as the Act of Union (1800) was passed, it started to cause trouble. Militant resistance happened both before and after 1800, and grew more powerful, along with political resistance during the 1800s. The "Irish Question" dominated elections from the 1860s through 1914, and precipitated major and lasting constitutional reforms in a failed attempt to contain it and bring the Union to a successful, peaceful state.

None of that is true of Scotland.

[Jim Noble]

or the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s

All bad, IMO. In fact, the progressivist, Wilsonian triumph that led to the dissolution of the four great empires after 1918 caused a bloodbath which is still going on, 96 years later.

Obviously, the fall of the communist government in Russia was, on the whole, a good thing. However, "national self-determination" is far from a good thing, since it uses the appearance of popular sovereignty to in fact empower progressivist, transnational organizations and individuals who are deeply evil and wish the destruction of our Republic.

[Jim Noble]

And yet, that a mere parcel o' rogues, for English gold, sold Scotland into union in the first instance is not absurd?

Romantic nationalism was a bad idea when the Germans first thought it up, and it still is.

There is no person now living in Scotland who can demonstrate an injury from the 1701 Act of Union, even going back six generations.

Therefore, the status of the Union should be up to all enfranchised persons now living in the Union.

[Red Badger]

This is just a practice run. The UK isn’t really the target, the US is.
Breaking up the US one state at a time is the real objective. They will use the Scots as guinea pigs to see what works and what doesn’t, then apply that to the next secession movement, be it Wales, or Wyoming..........................

[junta]

Big deal, an island country ran by lunatics eager to abolish its nations with open borders luncacy and the multi-cult.

[blindsangamon]

According to Ancestry.com, I’m descended from some obscure 16th century Scottish king. This makes my daughter a princess (a fact which she has never doubted.) If there is an opening for Queen of Scotland, I think she has a pretty good claim.

[CodeToad]

Then give the crown to Charles, he’s a queen.

[montag813]

[Timber Rattler]

More likely she’s worried about her favorite family hide-away estate, Balmoral.

[riverdawg]

Scotland has its own parliament and a large degree of “home rule” already. An independent Scotland will be a socialist welfare state, at least in the near term. The two big issues that will have to be negotiated with Westminster if there is a break-up are (1) who gets what share of the tax revenues from (declining) North Sea oil extraction (Scotland is not going to get 100%) and (2) what is going to happen with UK military bases and personnel now stationed in Scotland, most notably at the submarine base Clyde at Faslane (they are not all going to be absorbed into an independent Scotland; for one thing, the Scots couldn't afford them and, for another, don't want the nuclear subs).

Then, of course, there is the important decision regarding currency. Scotland could decide to stay on the pound, go on the euro, or start its own currency. Under the first two choices, Scotland would cede much of its newly gained independence to others, with great economic risks (see southern Europe). The third choice wouldn't be very different from the first two; Scotland is a small, open economy, so its exchange rate would be determined primarily by the balance of payments, changes in government debt, and relative money growth.

[HamiltonJay]

I could be wrong, but if Scotland does leave the UK, it cannot keep the pound if it wishes to join the EU. They could if they remain independent, but if they go to join the EU, they would not be allowed to keep the pound as currency and would have to take the Euro.

I admit I am not up on all the particulars, but at first blush, this doesn’t seem all that well thought out.