Posted on 09/19/2014 1:13:03 AM PDT by Fenhalls555
Alex Salmond today admitted defeat in his battle for Scottish independence, as almost two million people voted to remain in the United Kingdom.
On the worst day of his political life, the First Minister tried to put a brave face on the electorate’s crushing verdict, claiming that it showed only that a majority had decided ‘at this stage’ not to become an independent country.
But with all councils declared, No had secured 55 per cent of the vote, a 10-point lead which will trigger speculation about whether Mr Salmond can survive as leader of the Scottish Nationalists.
The Queen has been ‘closely’ monitoring the outcome of the vote, and is expected to issue a public statement welcoming the survival of the 307-year Union later today.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It becomes obvious that Crimea had every right to a vote for independence and must be recognized by the world.
Mmm.. I wish I could see it like that. If the vote had been Yes, Scotland would have become a socialist state overnight. I was a unionist, but as the campaign progressed the real fault lines showed themselves - now in sadness I wish they had gone, though it would have been a disaster for them.
No good will come of this. I expect to witness the politics of division and progression of liberal-leftism within the UK grow apace.... as if it needed any further impetus.
A sad day.
So when will Crimea have an actual vote, instead of choosing between “yes” and “yes?”
Wonder how that 'Free Tibet' movement is doing...
No. GBP tanked on word of a poll showing Yes jumping ahead suddenly. As Westminster moved to try and turn public opinion around and subsequent polls shows that the NOs were still ahead (that one poll was probably just wrong) everyone backed away from the ledge and GBP rebounded.
Being a Texan, the results are a bummer.
But in the grand scheme of things that’s a small percentage of people living in Scotland and an even smaller percentage of the total population of the UK.
Over 4.75m people live in Scotland (though BBC figure put it at just over 5m, the election figures do not support this claim) the 1.6m that bothered to register and then go out and vote yes is actually just a third of the total population living in Scotland. It’s less than 2.5% of the total population of the UK.
More people live in North West England (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire & Lancashire) at 6.8m than live in Scotland. It’s been a hell of a lot of expense for just 1.6m people and Salmond has got the devo max he wanted but Westminster originally said he couldn’t have.
Or the impact of keeping the pubs open all night long !
Hang Over!
Which was a pretty suck strategy bybthis clown who wanted to be King of Scotland.
Scotland is the most left-wing part of the UK. They don’t have one single Tory MP and the Conservative Party barely exists at the local level; voter turnout is usually low because there’s nobody to vote for, just as with the GOP in New York. A lot of people (Conservatives) seem to have turned out to vote “No” who probably hadn’t voted in years.
The Scots have had a terrible effect on UK politics for a long time, dragging the UK even more leftwards, and that won’t stop. However, there’s now a movement in England (as part of the UK) to stop the Scots from voting in English elections, that is, things that don’t affect the UK but are local issues, such as welfare and other policies. So that would be good!
Also, maybe this will give a little more courage to the Scots. Glasgow, which is a hole, is the only city that voted “Yes,” and it’s not exactly a shining example of urban Scotland.
Sooner or later, it’s going to happen.
A federalist approach for the UK would indeed be beneficial. The promises of additional autonomy Cameron extended to the Scots should apply to Wales as well.
That's exactly what I thought the results would be before recent polls showed it tightening, yesterday I was expecting "no" to win a squeaker. Cameron celebrates a decision that saves him from going down as the PM that lost Scotland, but also decreases his chances of reelection.
I guess Idi Amin won't go down as the last King of Scotland (provided that the Queen is not in fact immortal, able to die only if Sean Connery cuts off her head).
“The current situation is absurd with Scottish MPs voting on English matters at Westminster.”
I think that will soon change, with Scottish MPs prohibited from voting on “English only” bills. Cameron said as much, when he promised greater Home Rule for both Scotland and England.
You mean more loot from the productive members of the UK.
I thought that NO would win with 54%-56% even before yesterday’s YouGov poll. It’s easier to tell a pollster that you favor independence than actually to do it in the voting booth when you have no idea what currency you’d use, whether your biggest banks would leave, exactly what oil and natural-gas rights you’d have, etc.
BTW, before everyone declares YouGov to be a top-notch pollster, let’s keep in mind that the problem of self-selection faced by Internet pollsters diminishes quite a bit when you have an election with 85% of eligible voters turning out (as opposed to maybe 35% as we’ll see in the U.S. this November).
So they finally wised up, 239 years later?
Cameron is the leader of the “conservative” party in the UK.
He’s pro-abortion and pro queer “marriage”. His “conservative” party legalized queer “marriage”. With conservatives like England has who in the world needs liberals. Just call him the Mitt Romney of Great Brittan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.