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NS&I say Scots won't be able to hold premium bonds or other accounts if independent?
Comments
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Spare a thought too for Royal Mail who will find they lose a swathe of their infrastructure as it is taken public again (north of the border). Then were warned of this possibility, but didn't seem to think it worthwhile mentioning in their prospectus.
You're aware that Royal Mail only have three mail centres (out of forty-something) north of the border, no manual data entry centres (MDECs) to process poor quality items (keying is done in Plymouth, Stockport, and Stoke), no international hub (carried out at Heathrow Worldwide distribution centre), and the system to run the mail centre sorting machines and MDECs is contracted to a US company in Portsmouth? In practice the "swathe of their infrastructure" is a few Solyistic iLSMs that wouldn't work without Royal Mail support, some sequencing machines (ditto), some buildings, and not a lot else? It wouldn't be a functioning postal system unless you consider going back almost to manual sorting as 'functioning'.
But, hey, sounds good until you look at the detail
edit to add: also, I can say with conviction that a large percentage of Royal Mail senior management would regard trading three mail centres and some MPUs for responsibility for the Highlands and Islands as an extremely good deal for shareholders ...0 -
There are lots of costs and pitfalls associated with separating two very integrated countries but the advantage is in the opportunity to create something new in Scotland, that's why I support independence.
Scotland might be one of the wealthiest countries in the world as the SNP are fond of stating but it's stalling, held back by too much socialism.
I believe an independent Scotland would be forced to deal with these issues and additionally would focus more on growth.
Northern England & Scotland are dominated by the success of London. It is fantastic that London is so successful, I do not begrudge that but the northern regions are suffering a brain drain as a result.
I think an independent Scotland could be of benefit to the whole of the North of Britain (Scotland & Northern England).
Of course it will also be sad to see 300 years of tradition challenged but then again we're not going far.
It's a shame that Devo-max (federalism) wasn't on the ballot box because that would have been my preference but in its absence I'll be voting yes to independence.
Why do you think the brain drain will reduce after independence and the election of a unrestrained socialist government?
have you not noticed that London is stuffed with french, germans, spanish, romainians, latvians etc from all the independent countries?EU tariff on agricultual product 12.2%
some dairy products 42.1% cloths 11.4%
EU Clinical Trials Directive stops medical advances0 -
CLAPTON I'm not a fan of the SNP and I'm not a nationalist, but the SNP aren't socialist, they're a broad church of different political persuasions that ebbs and flows their policies opportunistically.
Policies like free student education for Scots only and free prescriptions were introduced in a failed attempt to drive a political wedge between Scotland & England.
The can reverse the brain drain by introducing tax incentives that will entice industries in areas Scotland is strong such as Fund management/financial services, Medical research, games industry, IT.
They could create an 'Offshore' centre in Edinburgh for instance that will compete with Luxembourg, Jersey etc.0 -
On the Political wwedge issue, the SNP are till trying that in the campaign they are waging; people should be careful what they wish for. It works both ways.
On the Financial Services issue. These will remain in a Separated Scotland? I had not thought of that as a possibility. You really think so?
Coming, sort of, back to the thread, but not totally; This report, Win independence but lose the lottery, gives some indication of the likely resistance to Scotland joining the EU from the Spanish. They really don't want to give any encouragement to Catalan ambitions to sparate from Spain.Union, not Disunion
I have a Right Wing and a Left Wing.
It's the only way to fly straight.0 -
CLAPTON I'm not a fan of the SNP and I'm not a nationalist, but the SNP aren't socialist, they're a broad church of different political persuasions that ebbs and flows their policies opportunistically.
Policies like free student education for Scots only and free prescriptions were introduced in a failed attempt to drive a political wedge between Scotland & England.
The can reverse the brain drain by introducing tax incentives that will entice industries in areas Scotland is strong such as Fund management/financial services, Medical research, games industry, IT.
They could create an 'Offshore' centre in Edinburgh for instance that will compete with Luxembourg, Jersey etc.
Why can't the Scottish government introduce tax incentives now?
They have tax raising powers that they have never used.
I would say it is naive in the extreme to think that people will flock to Scotland to invest savings in Scottish financial institutions after the experiences of 2007/8 and looking at Iceland and Ireland.
As for encouraging tax evasion by companies like Starbucks, Amazon and other international companies, it is a very dangerous game and will soon be stamped upon by the EU.EU tariff on agricultual product 12.2%
some dairy products 42.1% cloths 11.4%
EU Clinical Trials Directive stops medical advances0 -
Scotland might be one of the wealthiest countries in the world as the SNP are fond of stating but it's stalling, held back by too much socialism.
I believe an independent Scotland would be forced to deal with these issues and additionally would focus more on growth
It's a shame that Devo-max (federalism) wasn't on the ballot box because that would have been my preference but in its absence I'll be voting yes to independence.
Scotland is held back by too much socialism? And you really think that will change with independence? If anything I think it will be worse plus all the unknown costs of setting up could cripple the country for years to come.
The one country that won't be held back by socialism is England. Without Scottish labour MPs it seems unlikely they would ever form a government again.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
Quite a powerful argument in favour of a Yes vote IMHO
If England had a vote then they may set Scotland free for that reason.
But we're getting away from the question....
Ultimately like any divorce the winners will be the lawyers and it's going to cost both sides a lot of money to separate.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
Just mentioning this in the context of the Premium Bonds and other NS&I products, but ISA's can only be held by UK Residents. Since Scotland won't be a part of the UK (according to the SNP), Scottish residents will have to have their ISA's converted to ordinary savings accounts.
It's all a huge mess which will make two countries who currently work synergistically to mutual advantage, poorer.0 -
Don't forget it will be an EC border with the controls that go with it.Do you want your money back, and a bit more, search for 'money claim online' - They don't like it up 'em Captain Mainwaring0
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