Guest post from Brian.
I hope Rosie’s Scottish readers won’t mind an Englishman offering his opinions on the future of Scotland.
I take the view that if the majority of Scots wish for independence then they should take it: sovereignty is not dependent on the consent of others. Equally, if England decides that the former United Kingdom requires retrenchment to the line of the River Tweed and Solway Firth that too is valid.
Much hot air is expended over the argument that Scotland would or would not be financially self-sustaining. The argument revolves around the structure of the present day Scottish economy. But as independence is a future aspiration, it makes more sense to set out what kind of country and what standard of living Scots desire and plan backwards from there.
It has been done before with considerable success in the Far East. Since gaining independence from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore (Please click through the link and read the Wikipedia article) has increased its per capita income from $511 to $42,000 by investing in its people’s skills and making business easy. Of course, no economy or system of government is perfect but Singapore, with some adaptations to the Scottish way of life, is, I suggest, a model to be seriously considered. It’s so good that I want England to import and enact the successful lessons it has developed over only 46 years.
Independence, standing on one’s one two feet as a nation, is a difficult task but those Scots who have travelled around the world with such success will tell you that any journey is possible with a good map. It’s in England’s interest for an independent Scotland to be successful because we can sell you more stuff.
Good Luck and Bon Voyage!
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