Scottish Independence Talk

[RanelaghScot]

Anas Sarwar, who believes that the House of Lords should be abolished and replaced with an elected Senate, is about to become a member of Burnham's cabinet by taking up a seat in the house of lords.

"bought and sold for English gold"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce970y1n7plo

[daviebee]

1 hour ago, RanelaghScot said:

Anas Sarwar, who believes that the House of Lords should be abolished and replaced with an elected Senate, is about to become a member of Burnham's cabinet by taking up a seat in the house of lords.

"bought and sold for English gold"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce970y1n7plo

 

Edited July 21 by daviebee
Fck knows what happened there.

[RanelaghScot]

After being told he's not getting a referendum John Swinney absolutely belted oot God Save The King

 

 

[Freeedom]

Hate to say I told you so. 

[scotlad]

We're fucked, aren't we? 🤦‍♂️

[Toepoke]

On 7/24/2026 at 1:09 PM, RanelaghScot said:

After being told he's not getting a referendum John Swinney absolutely belted oot God Save The King

 

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't....

 

 

[hampden_loon2878]

On 7/25/2026 at 10:28 PM, Toepoke said:

Damned if you do, damned if you don't....

 

 

Why would the snp leader care what a unionist press say?? He’s a Judas, along with sturgeon and her cable 

[scotlad]

11 hours ago, hampden_loon2878 said:

Why would the snp leader care what a unionist press say?? He’s a Judas, along with sturgeon and her cable 

He shouldn't, but he probably calculated that not upsetting the unionist press - which makes up the vast majority of the press in Scotland - would make for a quieter life than upsetting the remainder of the SNP's support, similar to how Denis Healey, when running for the Labour leadership in the early-1980s, concluded the right wing of the party would have no choice but to vote for him as "they had nowhere else to go" (this was shortly before a bunch of them left Labour to form the SDP!). We'll see how that plays out longer term for Swinney and his party though.

[RanelaghScot]

Craig Murray just published an article on his route to independence. 

I'm just reading through it now, this is my favourite part where we blockade military bases still loyal to the rUK however I fear it's a little too South American revolutionary for the electorate of Scotland that can barely be bothered voting:

 

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/07/scottish-independence-set-the-date/

[Caledonian Craig]

On 7/28/2026 at 10:23 AM, scotlad said:

He shouldn't, but he probably calculated that not upsetting the unionist press - which makes up the vast majority of the press in Scotland - would make for a quieter life than upsetting the remainder of the SNP's support, similar to how Denis Healey, when running for the Labour leadership in the early-1980s, concluded the right wing of the party would have no choice but to vote for him as "they had nowhere else to go" (this was shortly before a bunch of them left Labour to form the SDP!). We'll see how that plays out longer term for Swinney and his party though.

There are floating voters/don't knows etc that need to be won over too. This approach does improve the chances of converting them to Yes rather than pushing them away.

[hampden_loon2878]

22 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

There are floating voters/don't knows etc that need to be won over too. This approach does improve the chances of converting them to Yes rather than pushing them away.

Spews weakness 

[Caledonian Craig]

21 minutes ago, hampden_loon2878 said:

Spews weakness 

And you do also realise how many potential Yes voters are royalists? Plus he is head of Scottish Government, Scotland being the host nation of the Commonwealth Games. What sort of a horrible image would it give to Scotland him courting controversy by what would be seen as openly disrespecting it.

As an earlier poster stated he was in a no win situation. Damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

And did it spew weakness when Alex Salmond sang 'God Save the Queen's in 2011 at a royal engagement? 

Edited July 31 by Caledonian Craig

[Ally Bongo]

Maybe .... just maybe ...the SNP can be rid of the Sturgeon cabal/effect 

https://www.thenational.scot/news/26439195.john-swinney-responds-nicola-sturgeons-election-campaign-attack/

 

[kumnio]

4 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Maybe .... just maybe ...the SNP can be rid of the Sturgeon cabal/effect 

https://www.thenational.scot/news/26439195.john-swinney-responds-nicola-sturgeons-election-campaign-attack/

 

Personally, I think that the SNP need to get Geoff back into the party, and into a position of power, whatever that may be.

 

[scotlad]

There's a rumour doing the rounds that Nicola Sturgeon is going to leave the SNP to join the Greens!

(I don't know if it's the Scottish Greens or the English/Welsh Green party, since she now apparently stays in London).

[Saint4805]

On 8/6/2026 at 3:19 AM, scotlad said:

There's a rumour doing the rounds that Nicola Sturgeon is going to leave the SNP to join the Greens!

(I don't know if it's the Scottish Greens or the English/Welsh Green party, since she now apparently stays in London).

I'd guess she'd stand in England which avoids a showdown/debate with an SNP candidate at a by-election.

Gone are the days when scandals end political careers. You just need to look at Farage and his party stacked with tax dodging failed Tories with questionable foreign donors. Same with Mandelson and Rayner who gets parachuted back into Govt months after her stamp duty affair. Yes she got cleared in the end but the whole thing still stinks.

 

Edited August 8 by Saint4805

[Ally Bongo]

 

[RanelaghScot]

I see it was GERS day yesterday, house jocks' favourite day to tell everyone that the union has been so successful because it has made us a total basketcase living off of English handouts and we must continue within the union so we can continue to live off of London.

They then post comparisons telling everyone that small independent nations don't have deficits which is why we, as a small nation, can't be independent.

 

 

[King Of Paisley]

12 minutes ago, RanelaghScot said:

I see it was GERS day yesterday, house jocks' favourite day to tell everyone that the union has been so successful because it has made us a total basketcase living off of English handouts and we must continue within the union so we can continue to live off of London.

They then post comparisons telling everyone that small independent nations don't have deficits which is why we, as a small nation, can't be independent.

 

 

Try telling a thick as pigshit House Jock that Scotland has no deficit because the SG has no borrowing levers. Its like my building sociery telling me I'm in arrears whwn I haven't taken out a mortgage!

And the Brit media/commentators conveniently hide the fact that the Fraser Of Allendar Institute repeatedly tells these arseholes that the figures tell us nothing about what our finances would look like in an independent Scotland. Anyone with half a brain would know GERS is simply a political tool conjured up by Ian Lang to make Scotland look bad when there was serious demand for self government. If we were such a basket case we'd have been cut adrift decades ago. Oh, and coincidentally, Burnham wants to grant licences in the North Sea. I wonder why that is then.

I think its long overdue that the SG commissioned a counter report on the potential state of play post independence.

We've been gaslit for far too long

 

 

 

[Clyde1998]

37 minutes ago, King Of Paisley said:

Try telling a thick as pigshit House Jock that Scotland has no deficit because the SG has no borrowing levers. Its like my building sociery telling me I'm in arrears whwn I haven't taken out a mortgage!

And the Brit media/commentators conveniently hide the fact that the Fraser Of Allendar Institute repeatedly tells these arseholes that the figures tell us nothing about what our finances would look like in an independent Scotland. Anyone with half a brain would know GERS is simply a political tool conjured up by Ian Lang to make Scotland look bad when there was serious demand for self government. If we were such a basket case we'd have been cut adrift decades ago. Oh, and coincidentally, Burnham wants to grant licences in the North Sea. I wonder why that is then.

I think its long overdue that the SG commissioned a counter report on the potential state of play post independence.

We've been gaslit for far too long

The Scottish Government doesn't have most major economic levers at present.

Simply on taxation, the Scottish Government has no powers over: corporate taxation; inheritance tax; VAT; excise duties; motoring taxation; national Insurance; capital gains; income tax on savings and dividends; and the personal allowance.

Even the IFS notes:

Quote

The figures released today are based on the current constitutional settlement and tax and spending policies, and look back at the 2025–26 financial year. Scotland’s larger notional deficit largely reflects UK government decisions – most notably, the relatively generous funding provided to the Scottish Government via the block grant – rather than economic or budgetary mismanagement by the Scottish Government. Indeed, as it stands, the notional deficit has little if any bearing on the Scottish Government’s finances: it is subsumed within the wider UK fiscal deficit, which the UK government needs to borrow to cover.

That's without noting the only 'areas' of the UK which outperform Scotland consistently economically are London; the South East of England (which includes Brighton; Reading; Southampton; Milton Keynes and Oxford); and the East of England (which includes Watford; Luton; Ipswich; Norwich; and Cambridge). That's to say, London and it's immediate surrounding area.

(Population share of North Sea revenues is being used in the figures above)

There's also the obvious point that independence would naturally allow and lead to different fiscal policies. Would an independent Scotland need to spend as much on defence when compared to our population share within the UK for example?

[King Of Paisley]

6 minutes ago, Clyde1998 said:

The Scottish Government doesn't have most major economic levers at present.

Simply on taxation, the Scottish Government has no powers over: corporate taxation; inheritance tax; VAT; excise duties; motoring taxation; national Insurance; capital gains; income tax on savings and dividends; and the personal allowance.

Even the IFS notes:

That's without noting the only 'areas' of the UK which outperform Scotland consistently economically are London; the South East of England (which includes Brighton; Reading; Southampton; Milton Keynes and Oxford); and the East of England (which includes Watford; Luton; Ipswich; Norwich; and Cambridge). That's to say, London and it's immediate surrounding area.

(Population share of North Sea revenues is being used in the figures above)

There's also the obvious point that independence would naturally allow and lead to different fiscal policies. Would an independent Scotland need to spend as much on defence when compared to our population share within the UK for example?

With regards to defence, wouldn't Scotland be a Crown Protectorate similar to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands?

[Clyde1998]

23 minutes ago, King Of Paisley said:

With regards to defence, wouldn't Scotland be a Crown Protectorate similar to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands?

I guess in practice, rather than any formal arrangement.

There's a good chance it will be similar to the situation with Ireland (at least in the initial years of independence), where the UK is effectively responsible for Ireland's air and sea defence.

[scotlad]

They've got a bloody cheek to crow about how useless, poor and generally shite Scotland would be if it left the UK, since we're currently still in the UK and living through the future unionists wanted us to vote for in 2014. At best nothing has improved (apart from the fortunes of our football and rugby teams) and at worst virtually everything meaningful has gone south at a rapid rate (no pun intended).

Apart from being invaded by aliens, just about every scare tactic the No campaign came up with has came to fruition (and there's still time for those little green men to arrive yet). Maybe an independent Scotland would have been worse still, or worse in a different way, but what we have now compared to even twelve years ago is nothing to boast about.

[phart]

2 hours ago, scotlad said:

They've got a bloody cheek to crow about how useless, poor and generally shite Scotland would be if it left the UK, since we're currently still in the UK and living through the future unionists wanted us to vote for in 2014. At best nothing has improved (apart from the fortunes of our football and rugby teams) and at worst virtually everything meaningful has gone south at a rapid rate (no pun intended).

Apart from being invaded by aliens, just about every scare tactic the No campaign came up with has came to fruition (and there's still time for those little green men to arrive yet). Maybe an independent Scotland would have been worse still, or worse in a different way, but what we have now compared to even twelve years ago is nothing to boast about.

Very fair point!

[Caledonian Craig]

Also unionists ignore who created GERS and why? It was brought in by Tories in the early 1990s and was put together in such a way as to make devolution (the threat then) and independence as unpalatable as possible. They specifically chose stuff to lump into it to concoct it. 

That says it all.