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The UK faces break-up

NeutralCitizen

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Mar 16, 2011
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Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Gus O’Donnell asks whether the Union can survive increasing pressure for Scottish independence.

Sir Gus, who is the head of more than 440,000 civil servants in England, Scotland and Wales, says the future of the Union is one of several “enormous challenges” facing the political establishment in the coming years.

The admission from such a senior non-political figure that the break-up of Britain is now a real possibility is likely to push the issue up the political agenda.

“Over the next few years there will be enormous challenges, such as whether to keep our kingdom united,” he warns officials and politicians.

The remarks in today’s Daily Telegraph are Sir Gus’s final public comments before he steps down as Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service on Jan 1.

In the exclusive article, Sir Gus also warns that Britain faces major challenges as its economy falters and says that the Civil Service has to overcome its own “cultural inertia” to help lead Britain out of the economic downturn.

Some Conservative ministers have accused officials of hampering pro-growth policies and Sir Gus says: “It is not enough now for the civil service simply to respond to a dampened economic climate; it needs to become a central part of its recovery and growth.”

He suggests that MPs are too keen to make new laws to deal with problems, increasing the burden of red tape. Instead, he encourages ministers and civil servants to take more risks, so that officials can “learn from failure”. “We must be more creative and innovative in the way we solve problems without always resorting to the creation of new rules,” he says.

Sir Gus nominates as one of the proudest achievements of his 32-year career his role, while at the Treasury, in helping to keep Britain out of the euro, against the wishes of Tony Blair, who was prime minister at the time.

He says: “I am proud of the thorough, evidence-based analysis that was carried out under the last government, which resulted in the decision not to join the euro. Without that, the challenge would be substantially greater.”

Sir Gus’s comments about the Union highlight the fact that British voters and politicians are facing serious questions about the future of the UK as a single country.

Alex Salmond’s Scottish Nationalist Party dominates the Scottish parliament and has promised a referendum on independence before 2016.

When the nationalists won a resounding victory in the Scottish election in May, David Cameron promised to fight “with every fibre” to keep Scotland in the Union.

Ministers are now gearing up to tackle one of the long-standing anomalies raised by the creation of the Scottish parliament: the so-called West Lothian Question.

The question relates to the fact that MPs representing Scottish seats can vote at Westminster on issues such as health and education in England, while English MPs have no similar say in Scotland.

After repeated delays, the Government this week confirmed that a commission to examine the West Lothian Question will be set up in February and report in 2013. It could lead to the first change in the voting rights of MPs since the Act of Union in 1707.

In opposition, a Conservative review led by Kenneth Clarke, Justice Secretary, drew up plans to restrict Scottish MPs’ right to vote on laws that affect only England.

Defenders of the Union have struggled to agree on how to respond to Mr Salmond and his referendum plan.

Mr Salmond has suggested he could pose a three-option referendum, offering Scots the options of the status quo, outright independence or remaining in the UK but increasing the devolved powers of the Scottish parliament.

Mr Cameron has recently established a Cabinet sub-committee for senior ministers to consider the Government’s approach to a Scottish referendum.

It is understood that some ministers are supporting the third option, to give Holyrood more power. But others believe that handing Mr Salmond more power could ultimately lead to full independence and want to change the law to restrict the referendum to an “in/out” question. There is also a split among Unionist parties over who should call the referendum and when.

Some senior Conservatives want Mr Cameron to seize control of the agenda and call a Scottish referendum himself, allowing him to dictate the timing and terms of the debate. Labour says that could trigger a backlash from Scottish voters.

Whenever the vote comes, Unionists face a huge challenge against Mr Salmond’s well-funded and organised independence campaign.

Mr Salmond has already appointed Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster group leader, as his independence campaign director and is on course to raise a £4  million fighting fund.

Colin and Chris Weir, the couple who won £161 million fortune playing the Euromillions lottery, have donated £1 million. Edwin Morgan, Scotland’s former national poet, left £918,000 in his will.
 
How do our uk members see this ? what happens if Scotland leaves the United Kingdom, is it a real possibility ?
Oh yes, the Scots have always been the 'rebellious' one throughout history. I think if they go then all of the other countries will go as well, disintegrating down into their respective countries. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
I read somewhere that the rest of the UK would benefit economically if Scotland split.
Of course, if the split did take place ties would be extremely close. I wonder if the Queen would remain head of state?
I also think that the military would still draw from all nations.
 
Oh yes, the Scots have always been the 'rebellious' one throughout history. I think if they go then all of the other countries will go as well, disintegrating down into their respective countries. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
I read somewhere that the rest of the UK would benefit economically if Scotland split.
Of course, if the split did take place ties would be extremely close. I wonder if the Queen would remain head of state?
I also think that the military would still draw from all nations.

I hear if they want to secede will they still be in the EU ? and do they get 1/4 of the UK's military or something ? How much does the UK economy lose if they leave ? and if they really want to leave when do you think it will be ?
 
Well first of all in the global world we live in the UK is significantly less important than it used to be. this would have been more big news if it had happend lets say 50 years ago. It is more than possible and also likelly that Scots will eventually get or go for independence, their needs to be a fuse or catalyst to achieve this and salmond is a clever cookie who is biding his time for the right time/issue. Bear in mind that the ruling coallition has few scottish mps and after the next election i would expect that the few lib dem scots will find their share of the vote decimated. The tories have never recovered in scotland since thatcher days and are unlikely to do so. I live near leeds however i worked in london for some time. There is a north/south divide in england which gets wider as you go more north.

this absurd notion that uk is better off cos it stayed out of europe is ridiculous. I believe that without the safety of being the reserve currency which the US dollar has its absolutly stupid and ridiculous to thing we are better of just cos of quantitive easing. Every country that has ever tried this has ended with confetti money.

The english have allways tried to play this role of keeping europe weak or almost thinking of themselves as 53 states of america. Believe you me when the us dollar hits the tipping point one of the places outrside america that wil suffer will be UK in a big way. but enough about UK. good look Scotland the brave lol

---------- Post added at 05:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:28 PM ----------

Oh yes, the Scots have always been the 'rebellious' one throughout history. I think if they go then all of the other countries will go as well, disintegrating down into their respective countries. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
I read somewhere that the rest of the UK would benefit economically if Scotland split.
Of course, if the split did take place ties would be extremely close. I wonder if the Queen would remain head of state?
I also think that the military would still draw from all nations.

she would remain the queen of scots as well unless they declared themselves as a republic
 
the general public arent much bothered if scottland stays or goes...
on government level they are concerned but hushing it up and downplaying the extent of the issue.
scotland has less opulation and lots of offshore oil and for that reason they thonk that remaining in the union will harm them financially.
they have full autonomy i/ their finances and have their own law making assembly and their bank which issues the scottish pound was bailed out by British money or it had collapsed.
but the thing is that MI5 is too cunning and resourceful and will.vome up with a way to chanve sclttish peoples opinkon.
 
I hear if they want to secede will they still be in the EU ? and do they get 1/4 of the UK's military or something ? How much does the UK economy lose if they leave ? and if they really want to leave when do you think it will be ?

yep they would be part of eec. as far as the uk economy goes you mean a quater of the debt lol

scots foreign policy will be more like irelands prob less pro american
 
What will Scotland gain by indepandance from Great Britain. They will become a weak country by quitting British & will still be dominated by British. So in my opinion they should remain part of GB.
 
I hear if they want to secede will they still be in the EU ? and do they get 1/4 of the UK's military or something ? How much does the UK economy lose if they leave ? and if they really want to leave when do you think it will be ?
I suppose yes they will still be in the EU. In terms of military, I am not sure. Scotland only has 5 million people, maybe the Scots would still contribute towards a UK army?
I don't really know the figures but Scotland still gets free medicine, much lower uni fees etc which England and Wales do not have. If they left then we would have to stop paying for that.
When? Well it would take years to implement and I dont think a referendum has been organised yet.
 
What will Scotland gain by indepandance from Great Britain. They will become a weak country by quitting British & will still be dominated by British. So in my opinion they should remain part of GB.

i think snp would beg to differ with you. Some could say that about pakistan being formed out of india lol

---------- Post added at 05:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:39 PM ----------

So scotland leaving the UK is a good thing it seems from most members opinion.

i believe in the right to self determination. if you go back far enough you will see that their integration was somewhat bloody into UK
 

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