Scottish Referendum....

[ToraToraTora]

if they vote yes then do you think they should be allowed to vote in the general election next year?

[mushroom25]

Gromit
//A 1 year timescale seems very optimistic and is coming from the SNP. I think most people assume it will take longer than that. //

I think maybe the attention of Wharton (and others on this site) needs to be drawn to the article you've linked to - their attitude on previous threads has been that the razor wire will be erected at the border on the day after the result is announced.

[johnk]

No other nation outside the UK can.

[Quizmonster]

For pity's sake, it is agreed that the process of separation will obviously take some time; eighteen months to two years has been suggested. Thus, Scotland - in the event of a vote for independence - would still be a part of the UK until September 2016. Consequently, it is equally obvious that the residents of Scotland must still play a part in the 2015 general election, otherwise they will have been totally unjustifiably disenfranchised.
What nearly everyone also seems to forget is that Alex Salmond will not automatically become the Prime Minister of Scotland. There will have to be a general election in Scotland to decide which party is to govern there; we might even see a Tory MP or two elected there! Maybe the Conservatives might actually WIN...who knows?
When that election takes place, perhaps there should also be one in the rest of what is currently referred to as "the UK". It is so called because two separate kingdoms - Scotland and England - joined together to create it. Neither Wales nor Ireland were kingdoms at the time, so, if Scotland leaves, I cannot see how the rump can possibly go on being called "the United Kingdom". If a couple get divorced, neither of the pair can any longer be referred to as "the Smiths", can they?

[jno]

Baldric, Northern Ireland isn't part of the UK, is it? It's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, currently.

I think emmie's right: the UK came into being when Scotland joined England in 1707 (Wales doesn't seem to count for these purposes). When one person leaves a two-person club, the club is indeed dissolved.

[jno]

see, I type so slowly that Quizmonster has made my point for me.

[ToraToraTora]

well if they do go for it then the SNP will have done it's job and have to disband, lest they be called the SSQP, Scottish Status Quo Party! Wharton will be out there on day 1 putting up the razor wire with his face painted blue!

[jno]

there will still be Scottish Nationalists, as no doubt there will still be English nationalists. Quite what their USP will be for a single-issue party that's won its single issue, who knows?

[Uriah Heep]

"The Smiths" Quizmonster. Now there was a band!

[jno]

does Bill Medley call himself the Righteous Brother?

[Quizmonster]

TTT, there can easily be a party called the Something National Party or the National Something Party, as is the case in many countries. They don't have to be trying to create an actual nation. France, for example, has a National Front and let's not forget that Germany had a National Socialist Party at one time!

[Quizmonster]

Goodness me! Where the heck did all you lot come from in only seven minutes?

[jeffa]

How many kingdoms are there in the United Kingdom?

[Svejk]

Time you apologised to emmie, 3t? Now you've been shown you were in the wrong.

[Wharton]

....and Wharton knows where to get the razor wire. If you've ever been to Faslane you'll know what I mean :-)

[Baldric]

From Wikipedia, Northern Ireland,

///The Ireland Act 1949 gave the first legal guarantee that the region would not cease to be part of the United Kingdom without the consent the Parliament of Northern Ireland///.

[jeffa]

Yes, Baldric, but if the United Kingdom no longer exists, there's not a lot the parliament of Northern Ireland can do about it :-)

[Baldric]

Jno, FYI, from Wiki on UK, I suggest you read it slowly,

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain (a term sometimes also loosely applied to the whole state), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another state: the Republic of Ireland.

[Baldric]

Jeffa, the UK is alive and well atm, and I suspect it will take more than a Flounce by Scotland for it to cease to exist, it will just become a little smaller!

[jeffa]

But how can it still be called the *UNITED* kingdom? With which kingdom will England, the principality of Wales and the province of Northern Ireland be united?

[anneasquith]

'' the UK is alive and well atm '' is it ?