The Union Flag And Scottish Independance

[Retrochic]

Question asked by 13 year old son and I don't know the answer....If Scotland wins Independence will they have to produce a new Union flag (Union Jack) ?

[Zacs-Master]

Do you mean will the remaining union countries have to have a new flag? Scotland has the Saltire.

[scooping]

We'd have to take the Saltire out.

[New Judge]

No we would not.

The design of a nation's flag is a matter for that country. If Scotland leaves the UK they will have no say over the design of the flag of the UK and as far as I know they do not have sole rights to the use of the Saltire (especially when it is incorporated in the Union Flag.

The UK may choose to redesign its flag (though personally I doubt that it would) but there would be no necessity to do so.

[vulcan42]

I don't see why there has to be any change. At the moment the "blue part" is a saltire representing Scotland, if the they get their independence it no longer represents Scotland and therefore could mean anything. It could stay on the flag and represent the sea that surrounds us.

[Gromit]

We can have anything we want or don't want on our flag. There is no element of the Welsh flag on it and that doesn't seem to matter, so if there were a bit of residue St. Andrew flag there, it wouldn't really matter.
Countries that have long since gained independence like New Zealand and Australia still have the Union flag. It would be a pointless waste of money to try and change it, easier to adopt St. Andrew as George's assistant.

[douglas9401]

If Scotland wins independence, vulcan42, the sea won't surround you, it'll enclose you on three sides.
We may dig a trench to allow the waters to enclose you to the north though, eventually.:-P

[maggiebee]

Don't think so, we will proudly fly the Saltire as we do at the moment. Can't think why anyone would want to redesign the Union flag.

[Zacs-Master]

Douglas, you already have the Caladonian canal and you won't have enough money to undertake such a monumental civil engineering exercise.

[douglas9401]

Slightly further north than we might like it, ZM, We'll just have to get some cheap spades and get on with it by hand ro save a bawbee or twa.

[Zacs-Master]

Ha ha. We'll give ye a haaaand laddie.

[vulcan42]

Thank you douglas you are of course correct. I was a little confused when I wrote it, the music on my enclosed on three sides sound system was too loud. :o)

[Wharton]

The Jolly Roger would look nice above Westminster :-)

[baza]

^^^ seems like a lot of rogering already going on in Westminster.
If you take out the blue bits and leave the red bits on a white background , then we can forget about those north of the border.

[whiskeryron]

//The Jolly Roger would look nice above Westminster :-)// with a pic of DC wearing an eye patch & shoulder Parrot.

[ToraToraTora]

yeah I agree gromit, leave asis, no point in taking out the Scot bit. So the answr for the 13 year old is "no but we can if we want".

[sp1814]

...but won't UK have to be changed to SUK (Semi-United Kingdom)?

[ToraToraTora]

no, 8% may be leaving, it will still be the UK.

[Quizmonster]

The name, UK, has nothing whatever to do with percentages. In 1603, when the Union of the Crowns happened in the person of James VI/I, only two kingdoms were involved, Scotland and England. The name created then for the new entity, Great Britain, was later extended to become the United Kingdom (UK).
It is a mystery to me how the rump of that UK - which is what would be left if Scotland were to vote 'Yes' next month - could possibly still be called "the United Kingdom", given that one of the only two kingdoms involved would no longer be a part of it.
I think it should be called The Rump!

[New Judge]

Surely, QM, it's a matter for the UK what it calls itself. If the Scots choose to leave they no longer have any say in the matter.

There are numerous countries across the globe whose names bear no resemblance to reality. For example, who would imagine that the Democratic Republic of Congo is either Democratic or a Republic in anything other than name. Similarly the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (which is the bit in the north) can hardly warrant its grand title. Iceland is scarcely more a land of ice than much of the UK is.

There seems to be this misunderstanding that an independent Scotland would have a say in how the "Rump" of the UK conducts its affairs should they choose to quit the union. They believe they will demand a currency union, will have an influence over what the UK's flag looks like and now even what the UK will call itself after they have left. I believe delusions of grandeur are at play here. Once they've gone, they've gone. Former members of a club have no say over the club's affairs once they have resigned.

Oh, and unfortunately I happen to agree with jordyboy - it ain't gonna happen because most Scots know on which side their bread is buttered.