Your Money and How They Spend It

gailey_2

I caught half of it and did wonder

Should all northsea oil belong to scotland.
if scotland went independant could we survive without north sea revenue equally could scotland survive without any subsidies from westminister which is what that annoying alex salmond suggested.
Hubby just said maybe we should give up scotland let them sort themselves out.
Think they have high public sector so maybe if they controlled their own pot then they too would have to make cuts and charge tuition fees.

Always suspected devoloution was trouble.
Annoys me im half hour from welsh border yet they get free prescriptions!

One thing that did make me think is

wales/north had the pits/steel
the they closed
and over the last 20years the public sectors has provided all the jobs
now we want to cut back on public sector then those areas will be disproprtionatly hit.

whats the solution, what jobs do they have?

whats cheaper benefits or creating jobs?

Noticed the last lot gave scotland a lot of defence contacts.
plus if scotland had been independant at time of crunch who would have saved their banks?

oh well chancellors speech tuesday something to look foward too!

martyn4764

vivatifosi wrote: »

That was followed by a look at Morpeth, where the colliery closed, the manufacturing jobs went, and now over 50% work in the public sector.

And when asked who was going to pay for these public sector jobs:

"You and me"... said the MP to the BBC journalist

:eek:

Going4TheDream

gailey wrote: »

Should all northsea oil belong to scotland.
if scotland went independant could we survive without north sea revenue equally could scotland survive without any subsidies from westminister which is what that annoying alex salmond suggested.
Hubby just said maybe we should give up scotland let them sort themselves out.
Think they have high public sector so maybe if they controlled their own pot then they too would have to make cuts and charge tuition fees.
Noticed the last lot gave scotland a lot of defence contacts.
plus if scotland had been independant at time of crunch who would have saved their banks?

oh well chancellors speech tuesday something to look foward too!

According to UK government estimates only about half of the reserves of oil in the North Sea have been extracted so far, which means that there is still enough to support a population of just five million people. So ABerdeen house prices will keep on going up I suppose for some time yet!

An international convention has determined that the North Sea north of the 55th parallel is under Scottish jurisdiction, which means some 90 per cent of the UK's oil and gas reserves are within Scottish waters.

As far back as 1975, experts recognised that oil could make an independent Scotland one of the richest countries in Europe. A government report saying as much was labelled incendiary, classified as secret and hidden away for 30 years until it came to light at the end of 2005 as a result of Freedom of Information legislation.

In addition to oil Scotland has as much as 25 per cent of the EU tidal and wind resources, which if managed properly could deliver a second energy windfall for the country.

Scotland produce many quality food items, beef, raspberries, salmon/sea food for example and obviously Whisky,

They have beautiful scenery and countryside, historical sites, which bring tourism.

For a small country they have a lot to offer and when you consider smaller countries like say Malta which have the population of Edinburgh run successfully, why wouldnt Scotland?

I would ask the question more what would it mean to England if they were to leave the union?

Generali

Going4TheDream wrote: »

I would ask the question more what would it mean to England if they were to leave the union?

Fewer abusive drunks in London shop doorways.
A make-work scheme for unemployed Northerners rebuilding Hadrian's Wall.
An end to Labour Governments in the UK.

Does the SNP still want to join the Euro?

Going4TheDream

Generali wrote: »

Fewer abusive drunks in London shop doorways.
A make-work scheme for unemployed Northerners rebuilding Hadrian's Wall.
An end to Labour Governments in the UK.

Does the SNP still want to join the Euro?

So not all bad then?

To be honest I am not from Scotland so I don't follow the whole independence thing closely and I understand it is a lot more complicated than just saying that they produce lots of things etc, but my understanding is that they do believe they should join the Euro if they gain independance.

It is also suggested that they would have a shortfall of about £6bn a year to be raised which would likely have to be through taxation possibly making companies see them as less attractive and unpopular with voters.

Without the loss of the drunks etc, (although I think England have enough to make up the shortfall!) I really do wonder how it would affect the UK and perhaps also the UK relationship with Europe

chewmylegoff

If Scotland became independent, even if it had the potential to become massively rich on the back of its oil (which it may or may not have depending on whose made up figures you believe), the politicians would p1ss it all up the wall, and nothing would really change for the man on the street. They'd still blame the english for everything and carry on pretending to hate us.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

chewmylegoff wrote: »

If Scotland became independent, even if it had the potential to become massively rich on the back of its oil (which it may or may not have depending on whose made up figures you believe), the politicians would p1ss it all up the wall, and nothing would really change for the man on the street. They'd still blame the english for everything and carry on pretending to hate us.

They should volunteer to become a colony of Norway and have their oil reserves managed by sensible people.

The programme was ok. I'm not a fan of gimmicky graphics to visually illustrate quantities and there was a bit too much of Nick Robinson's face.

It's all very well saying we want honest politicians; if they did actually speak the truth (eg to bluntly say that the taxpayer is funding an awful lot of public sector non-jobs, but on balance this is preferable to unemployment) nobody would vote for them. We get the democracy we deserve.

Wookster

Without Scotland, we wouldn't have had to bail out any banks. I would love to see how Alex Salmond would have managed to backstop them without English support.

vivatifosi wrote: »

Closing hospitals would save money and they would be run more effectively, but its a sacred cow.

To me, this is a huge sin. Politicians should be making these tough decisions, selling them and taking on the union gob-sh!te about how 50,000 jobs will go.

paulmapp8306

The Government should give the unions a choice. Job cuts or wage cuts. The3 cant have both - unless they fund them themselves !! Unfortunately - however nice it may be - you cant employ people, and pay them a decent wage, if the work isnt there or the bill is too much.

kabayiri

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

The Government should give the unions a choice. Job cuts or wage cuts. The3 cant have both - unless they fund them themselves !! Unfortunately - however nice it may be - you cant employ people, and pay them a decent wage, if the work isnt there or the bill is too much.

What you are saying in effect is that we have failed in the aspirational goal set out by Gordon Brown and others. That is, to create a high value economy - they called it knowledge-based.

This aspiration set the target and justified the 50% in higher education endeavours.

It's an extremely bitter pill for the public to swallow the line that we can never be high value like Germany.

I think it's the governments job to explain this 'reality' to the working masses, not the Union leaders.