A question for Scottish ABers

[chakka35]

On the Today programme this morning Alex Salmond once again spoke of ‘Scottish oil’ which, of course, does not exist; it is UK oil.
If the Scots get a referendum on independence it will have to be made clear to them before they vote exactly how much of the North Sea will be, by international convention, Scottish waters, and which oil rigs that will encompass (ignoring for the moment the fact that much of the infra-structure does not belong to Scotland anyway).

What I’d like to know is what Scots people imagine at the moment will become Scottish oil if and when independence comes. What are they expecting?

[Old_Geezer]

Don't fret; it'll all be extracted and sold by then :-)
Problem solved.

[Quizmonster]

I'd imagine that - like most independent states which border a sea/ocean - a line would be drawn from where the land-border between them ends out into the sea at some sort of agreed angle...perhaps a straight-line continuation of the last stretch of the land one.
Were that to be the case, there wouldn't be a lot of oil in "England's bit" of the North Sea or - for future reference if applicable - the North Atlantic!

[R1Geezer]

Usual Bowlocks, they don't own the North Sea, do they?

[R1Geezer]

They'd be absolutely raving to go for independence. It's well known that a Scot gets 130% of what someone in England gets so do they want to take a massive cut in standard of living?

[DTCwordfan]

and then there is the question if the Islands want independence from the UK - if they don't that would really decimate the so called "Scottish" reserves as the international line would run parallel between the JoGroats and the Orkneys......for 100 miles.....

[DTCwordfan]

and one has to project the line of the England Scotland border out into the N-Sea up to the median line - given the angle of that, it slices a huge chunk of the N Sea off to England, though the fields now in that part of the N Sea are in their heyday.....(until new recovery techniques like microwave usage to recover more droplets comes into play)

[Euphemia]

Perhaps England would be well rid of Scotland?

[anneasquith]

if i was english id not be bothered if/when they get independence, as so many are complaining about how much they get from the government...

[albaqwerty]

Perhaps Scotland would be well rid of England.

According to half the tripe that is posted on here regarding this matter the sooner the better.

[mike11111]

I'm tempted to agree with Euphemia, but reality indicates otherwise. Under no circumstances will a majority of Scots people vote for total independence, they are too canny for that; they know which side their bread is buttered. Also, all the historical reasons for incorporating Scotland into the UK (or Ireland for that matter) no longer exist.

[anneasquith]

quick alba.......... lets get out of here !!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[paddywak]

I wonder if all these people who want independence have thought what their taxes will be like to pay for all the free education, perscriptions etc when your average English mans taxes are being spent where they should be, in England

[Euphemia]

.... and the Kingdom of Fife might well want its independence and that might complicate things further DT

[ixion]

Scottish Independence is only a matter of when not if.......from the comments on here that will suit everybody!

[mike11111]

I rather suspect that if a referendum were held on this question in both England and Scotland, the answer would be a large "Yes" from England and an equally large "No" form Scotland. Time will tell.

[DTCwordfan]

I would accept the separation of the Kingdom of Fife and move to Crail tomorrow...love it there - useless info, its mkt square is the same size as Dusseldorf's - they thought that it would become a major port to Scotland (and St A as capital).....glad to see they had poor town planners back then as now!

[KARL]

The sea/ocean territory allocated to an independent Scotland would generally follow the same rules as with all countries by the sea and Scotland would acquire/retain the areas currently claimed and held by the UK - as far south as the Scottish/English border and half way toward Northern Ireland. Mineral and other rights would attach to this and, while infrastructure owned by private/privatised companies would remain in their hands, the Scottish Government would have 100% control over legislation and regulation, taxation and all else, including even nationalisation if that were decided upon - precisely as the UK Government currently enjoys. It would be Scottish oil, no longer UK oil simply by virtue of legal power through sovereignty. This is not some fantasy but a simple fact and if independence comes about there will not be much in this area that needs any degree of clarification. If/when Scotland becomes independent then so too, to a substantial degree, will England and in the opinion of quite a few not before time because as an operational unit the UK is somewhat past its use-by-date. Much has been said how the mind-set of empire still holds back those countries which make up the UK, both individually and collectively. Most of the posts on this thread point to what is a long-standing sore in the UK: Too many among the English see the Scots (and the others too) as foreigners of sort (or worse) and the Scots have sensed this for centuries and resent it. The English may well be forced by Scottish independence to look objectively at themselves and instead of blaming others for their woes and griping about "ungratefulness" by those allowed to sit at their table will instead for once have to correctly evaluate their place in the world as a rather small and not as important nation as they have hitherto seen themselves. Maybe then they will stop wasting their efforts in supporting a fantasy of a world power that grossly overspends on military toys and overstret

[KARL]

......and overstretches itself in foreign adventures. By the same token, it will probably do the people of Scotland no end of good to be responsible for their successes and failures and they too will have to see themselves in the harsh light of day, and in all probability will develop a more efficient society and one of greater unity and sense of purpose too - just like England if this comes about.

[mike11111]

But if the far northern islands opt for union with Norway rather than Scotland, won't that complicate matters?

[ixion]

Spot on KARL