Scottish Independence free essay sample

Scotland is at a turning point. On 18th September 2014 a referendum will be held asking voters a simple yes/no question: â€Å"Should Scotland be an independent country? † It has become more apparent that Scotland does not benefit from being part of the union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland and as a consequence of this many people agree that Scotland would be better off as an independent country. Some say the union is no longer fit for purpose and it is holding Scotland back. But many people oppose these views saying Scotland needs the rest of the UK and the economic and social factors of independence would be too great to deal with. Independence for Scotland means that we will have the right to make our own decisions about the future of our own country rather than those decisions being made by politicians in London. In this essay, I will present a fair conclusion by weighing up the arguments for and against Scottish Independence. We will write a custom essay sample on Scottish Independence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The relationship between Scotland and its larger neighbour have always been difficult, especially during the â€Å"wars of independence† led my William Wallace and then by Robert the Bruce. After many cross-border disputes, including when Scotland was defeated by the English in 1513 at Flodden, the Scottish and English crowns we united in 1603 when King James IV of Scotland became monarch of the British Isles. The 1800s saw Scotland’s economy booming but proposals to give Scotland some form of â€Å"home-rule† was continually unsuccessful until 1999 when a Scottish parliament was re-established. The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, and the SNP unexpectedly won an historic grand slam forming the first majority government in the Scottish parliament despite the Scottish system being set up to prevent a party gaining a majority and the only majority government in the whole UK enabling Mr Salmond to demand an independence referendum. Moreover independence would enable Scotland to become more successful. One of the main reasons more and more people are supporting Scottish Independence is the great economic benefits it would have. The similarities between Scotland and Norway for example; both having relatively similar populations and large oil, gas and renewable energy resources; show how different Scotland would be if it had control over its own economy. Both countries discovered oil in the North Sea at the same time but couldn’t have spent the money they made in more contrast. The British government under Margret Thatcher used the money they made from oil and gas to close down the coal and shipbuilding industries in the 1970s and 1980s which caused widespread poverty and unemployment in Scotland and Northern England while the Norwegian government used the profits they made from the North Sea more wisely to fund a pension fun with ? 300 billion. While independent countries were able to spend their profits from oil and gas on beneficial strategies such as creating one of the best pension schemes in the world, the British government spent Scotland’s profits on funding unemployment. With this worrying knowledge it’s difficult to see why anyone would want to support the union. I would like to take a different angle from it now. In addition, I strongly believe that Britain is arguably structured on extremely undemocratic principles. Why hasn’t the union worked? How is it at all democratic for the UK to have an unequal proportional electoral system in place where nearly 400 seats in parliament are taken up by England and Scotland with 59? Doesn’t seem fair. A good illustration of this is in the House of Lords where there are 26 seats taken up by bishops just because they are members of the church of England nevertheless the Scottish parliament uses a much more democratic system which doesn’t reserve places for members and appoints members using a proportional electoral system. Becoming independent would therefore arguably be a step for democracy and for the health and recovery of its economy. The majority of laws which are put in place in Scotland are decided and passed in Westminster by English politicians who will not be affected by these laws and are intended primarily for England without much consideration for Scotland. At present Scotland has a government that runs lots of Scottish affairs but has one hand tied behind its back with ones not in their control – such as taxation and fiscal policies. Although Scotland already has control over its own parliament and legal system, it still has no control over its own defence and security. My favourite news recently is that nuclear warheads were transported through Glasgow even though MSPs condemned strongly against this and without informing the local authorities. The MoD recently carried out a mock-emergency exercise which took them five hours to complete the task and if something bad had happened with just one of those warheads Glasgow would be uninhabitable for years and years. All of the UK’s nuclear weapons are kept in Scotland even though most people in Scotland are against them; polls show 70% of Scots want it gone yet the UK government force it on Scotland and it is not up for debate. Independence would see the nuclear weapons gone and therefore the country as a whole would be safer. On the topic of safety, the Scottish government intends to keep Sterling as Scotland’s currency – although the SNP were originally in favour of the Euro but with the Eurozone problems it now proposes safer implications to keep the pound. It is becoming increasingly A lot of these â€Å"questions sceptics† are asking of the yes campaign ahead of their vote but why aren’t they asking the same questions of the government in power just now? I suggest that this is because people are selfish, they don’t want changes to happen when they don’t know exactly what it will be like. Tell that to the children living in poverty in your own country. If things stay as they are just now, by 2020 100,000 children will be living in poverty in Scotland – 4 times the population of the Western Isles. Contrary to this and despite the evidence in to show that independence would be beneficial to Scotland there are those who are still unconvinced. Many people consider unity as strength; together with the UK, Scotland is part of a rich, powerful and influential state and therefore believe that becoming independent would arguably significantly decrease Scotland’s influence and global presence. Equally a large number of people regard independence as a huge economic gamble. There has been speculation over how Scotland will survive if we no longer have access to the British â€Å"money pot† especially during the tough times of recession and rising unemployment.