Posted June 6, 200619 yr Should the British Isles be split up & should Scotland & Wales become independent from England? Would Scots & Welsh welcome independence, or do they prefer having their own Parliment, but still part of the Uk?
June 6, 200619 yr I am English, and I think if we all became fully independant England would be fine. I personally would prefer to stay as the United Kingdom but I wouldn't bother that much if we did become indepandant. Northern Ireland would erupt into more chaos -_- Scotland and Wales would love to be free from the United Kingdom, however if it happened they would never cope. I mean a government of Wales? :blink: It wouldn't work I don't think. Don't quote me on that though! ^_^ Doubt it will ever happen anyway though.
June 6, 200619 yr why wouldn't Wales be able to govern ourselves? Remember - Wales was living independently AND speaking a language when the rest of the British Isles were living in caves and grunting. And also - at least Wales can build a football stadium... and we're even kind enough to let you lot borrow it all the bloody time. If Wales had been free from England, the coal industry, for one thing, wouldn't have been decimated by Thatcher during her dictatorship - and we wouldn't have been forced to live under Tory rule for the whole of the 80s - same with Scotland. The bloody English put her in - not Wales and Scotland, remember.
June 6, 200619 yr why wouldn't Wales be able to govern ourselves? Remember - Wales was living independently AND speaking a language when the rest of the British Isles were living in caves and grunting. And also - at least Wales can build a football stadium... and we're even kind enough to let you lot borrow it all the bloody time. If Wales had been free from England, the coal industry, for one thing, wouldn't have been decimated by Thatcher during her dictatorship - and we wouldn't have been forced to live under Tory rule for the whole of the 80s - same with Scotland. The bloody English put her in - not Wales and Scotland, remember. Fair enough yeah, just seems weird with Wales and Scotland having a government that's all.
June 8, 200619 yr I'm not going to comment on Wales as I don't live there and wouldnt be so presumptious as to make sweeping statements on whether the Welsh people want independence or not. Thats a matter for them. What I would say though is that Wales seems to have quite a large English population. I dont know what the percentage would be but it must be high enough to have an impact on any future Referendum on Independence. ( The devolution vote was quite close wasn't it?) As for Scotland- Where do I start? :unsure: Do most Scots support total independence? It's very marginal. Opinion polls show it usually hovers around the 50% mark ( except during World Cup coverage when it's about 95% :lol: ). So in Scotland you have 3 Unionist Parties and 1 Separitist Party. If 50% of the population support independence you would expect the SNP to get 50% of the vote. But they don't. They get about 25-30% tops and less in the Central Belt. So why is this? The crazy thing is that a large minority of Labour voters actually support full independence. So it begs the question why are they consistently voting for a Unionist Party? I have no idea. I really believe a lot of it is to do with the fact that if you live in industrialised Central Scotland your family background is 'Labour'. Your mammy voted Labour so you vote Labour too. Another complicating factor is that the Catholic Church historically backed Labour and 'persuaded' their flock to follow suit. The only way Scotland is ever going to get a Referendum on Independence is if the SNP get a majority of seats. And the only way that will happen is if voters in Central Scotland desert Labour for the SNP. And I see no sign of that happening. The Labour Party has actually been the barrier to Scottish Independence for decades ( not the Tories who are an irrelevance up here anyway). What will be very interesting is if and when there is a Tory Govt at Westminster and a Labour Govt at Holyrood. You would expect major disagreements and increasingly divergent policies. As the gaps grow ever wider the sense of 'separateness' is bound to grow. We would be a United Kingdom in name only. The logical next step would be Scottish Independence. But I wonder if it would work out that way. Labour after all is a strongly Unionist Party. Would Labour members at Holyrood pass legislation likely to jeopardise the Union they so love? Interesting times ahead ( but not until the Tories get back into power). :rolleyes: Edited June 8, 200619 yr by jupiter9
June 8, 200619 yr I don't see the point, they're doing well enough being part of the UK. daddy agrees.....
June 8, 200619 yr if we should've done it at any time, it should've been the 80s.... now, well..... I agree - a bit pointless. Until, of course, the English vote in another fascist government.
June 8, 200619 yr I'm not going to comment on Wales as I don't live there and wouldnt be so presumptious as to make sweeping statements on whether the Welsh people want independence or not. Thats a matter for them. What I would say though is that Wales seems to have quite a large English population. I dont know what the percentage would be but it must be high enough to have an impact on any future Referendum on Independence. ( The devolution vote was quite close wasn't it?) As for Scotland- Where do I start? :unsure: Do most Scots support total independence? It's very marginal. Opinion polls show it usually hovers around the 50% mark ( except during World Cup coverage when it's about 95% :lol: ). So in Scotland you have 3 Unionist Parties and 1 Separitist Party. If 50% of the population support independence you would expect the SNP to get 50% of the vote. But they don't. They get about 25-30% tops and less in the Central Belt. So why is this? The crazy thing is that a large minority of Labour voters actually support full independence. So it begs the question why are they consistently voting for a Unionist Party? I have no idea. I really believe a lot of it is to do with the fact that if you live in industrialised Central Scotland your family background is 'Labour'. Your mammy voted Labour so you vote Labour too. Another complicating factor is that the Catholic Church historically backed Labour and 'persuaded' their flock to follow suit. The only way Scotland is ever going to get a Referendum on Independence is if the SNP get a majority of seats. And the only way that will happen is if voters in Central Scotland desert Labour for the SNP. And I see no sign of that happening. The Labour Party has actually been the barrier to Scottish Independence for decades ( not the Tories who are an irrelevance up here anyway). What will be very interesting is if and when there is a Tory Govt at Westminster and a Labour Govt at Holyrood. You would expect major disagreements and increasingly divergent policies. As the gaps grow ever wider the sense of 'separateness' is bound to grow. We would be a United Kingdom in name only. The logical next step would be Scottish Independence. But I wonder if it would work out that way. Labour after all is a strongly Unionist Party. Would Labour members at Holyrood pass legislation likely to jeopardise the Union they so love? Interesting times ahead ( but not until the Tories get back into power). :rolleyes: Scotland will never vote for full independance now, if they were ever going to do it it would have been in the 80's when Thatcher was at her peak, and labour was at its weakest(well apart from central Scotland who would vote for a stuffed animal if it was a labour candidate). Nah it will never happen, not in my lifetime. ;)
June 8, 200619 yr Personally, Im all for Wales and Scotland having full independence if they hold a fair democratic referrendum and the idea wins over the majority of voters.
June 8, 200619 yr I've decided now I think it would be better for us all to be one - United Kingdom or all to be fully independant - England, Scotland, Wales, NI. I don't care which, but at least then we could be referred to as the same country in national things, instead of sometimes being England, sometimes United Kingdom and sometimes Great Britain. ^_^
June 8, 200619 yr I've decided now I think it would be better for us all to be one - United Kingdom or all to be fully independant - England, Scotland, Wales, NI. I don't care which, but at least then we could be referred to as the same country in national things, instead of sometimes being England, sometimes United Kingdom and sometimes Great Britain. ^_^ but then again, if the EU get there way we will all be europeans under one flag and we will lose our separate identity. :angry:
June 8, 200619 yr but then again, if the EU get there way we will all be europeans under one flag and we will lose our separate identity. :angry: And our Gold reserves will be shipped to Belgium! :o :angry:
June 9, 200619 yr To be completely honest, as a member of the general public, I don't mind either way. I agree with jester when he says that if the majority vote for independence from each country then so be it; let them have it. However, as the Govenment. You let the other countries go, you loose power. I call myself English, not British, not from the United Kingdom. I find it ludicrous that people get annoyed when I dont say British. Likewise I call Scottish people Scottish, the Welsh Welsh, and the Irish Irish. Now sod off. lol.. What are people's thoughts on what Mayor Ken (I live in London) said about the Scottish the other day? Did anyone hear?
June 9, 200619 yr my 2 pet hates, which would both make my Room 101 are both American related. Firstly, the ignorant way Americans constantly refer to anyone from Great Britain as from 'England'.... HOW rude is that? In response, if this happens to me, I ask them if they're Canadian - ALWAYS does the trick. Secondly is the bast*rdisation of the English language by the Americans..... putting 'z's in words etc. Lazy English is what I call it.....
June 9, 200619 yr Plus my MS Word keeps reverting back to US English as it's dictionary default language. I blame the Americans for that alone. It's terribly irritating. The thing is that Americans don't actually have any history of their own. The modern country as we know it has only been since 1776. Kinda ironic that Americans flock to us for our history when they spent all that time and effort to become liberated from British rule.
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