Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Nigel Farage Speaks in ThinkScotland on UKIP Scotland
Nigel Farage has an article up at ThinkScotland
It was only a few months ago that Salmond and his fellow plastic Independence crew had to acknowledge the role of the EU on the future of Scotland at all when Mr Barroso brought into the independence debate the possibility of Scotland having to reapply to join the EU. The europhile SNP had assumed, at least publicly, that despite the original application to join the EU being done by the United Kingdom, his desire to break up the UK would not have any legal implications on international arrangements.
Barroso's statement was unpleasant news for the SNP which for years has suppressed debate on the EU and where Scotland's real future lies. And it's a debate which no one has dared to bring into the political mainstream and take up the arguments with Salmond and his colleagues. Real issues like excessive regulation and membership fees hindering economic recovery, immigration and the impact on public services or the greater role the EU are taking over defence policy.
Because the real significance of Scotland breaking away from England, Wales and Northern Ireland and reapplying to join the EU as an independent country would be the very great possibility of joining the Euro. It's the deal that all countries since 2004 have had to agree to: sign up to our club late in the day and you sign up to all of it. It's why Eastern European countries have given up their own monetary independence and joined the doomed project despite the cataclysmic effects it has had on other countries in the eurozone like Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. It was a legal obligation not a choice by an informed population which led Poland to give up the Zloty for a currency which is destined for disaster.
Read the whole thing here.
With my natural modesty I have added this comment.
"A "Yes" campaign problem is that all of the party grandees in it (UKIP have been openly excluded from the campaign) are committed to the EU. This means they dare not use many of the most unarguable arguments on Scottish "independence in Europe". Not only would we be stuck with a commitment to join the Euro our proportion of the remaining debate would be up for grabs; we would probably have to accept the Shengen Agreement on immigration (which in turn means border posts at Berwick); and the end of the social chapter opt outs which it has been calculated would cost 1.8 million jobs (proportionately that would be 150,000 jobs here).
Because these arguments are verboten to the Yes campaign their opponents are not under any pressure to explain what the concomitant gains would be - if any can be identified."
It was only a few months ago that Salmond and his fellow plastic Independence crew had to acknowledge the role of the EU on the future of Scotland at all when Mr Barroso brought into the independence debate the possibility of Scotland having to reapply to join the EU. The europhile SNP had assumed, at least publicly, that despite the original application to join the EU being done by the United Kingdom, his desire to break up the UK would not have any legal implications on international arrangements.
Barroso's statement was unpleasant news for the SNP which for years has suppressed debate on the EU and where Scotland's real future lies. And it's a debate which no one has dared to bring into the political mainstream and take up the arguments with Salmond and his colleagues. Real issues like excessive regulation and membership fees hindering economic recovery, immigration and the impact on public services or the greater role the EU are taking over defence policy.
Because the real significance of Scotland breaking away from England, Wales and Northern Ireland and reapplying to join the EU as an independent country would be the very great possibility of joining the Euro. It's the deal that all countries since 2004 have had to agree to: sign up to our club late in the day and you sign up to all of it. It's why Eastern European countries have given up their own monetary independence and joined the doomed project despite the cataclysmic effects it has had on other countries in the eurozone like Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. It was a legal obligation not a choice by an informed population which led Poland to give up the Zloty for a currency which is destined for disaster.
Read the whole thing here.
With my natural modesty I have added this comment.
"A "Yes" campaign problem is that all of the party grandees in it (UKIP have been openly excluded from the campaign) are committed to the EU. This means they dare not use many of the most unarguable arguments on Scottish "independence in Europe". Not only would we be stuck with a commitment to join the Euro our proportion of the remaining debate would be up for grabs; we would probably have to accept the Shengen Agreement on immigration (which in turn means border posts at Berwick); and the end of the social chapter opt outs which it has been calculated would cost 1.8 million jobs (proportionately that would be 150,000 jobs here).
Because these arguments are verboten to the Yes campaign their opponents are not under any pressure to explain what the concomitant gains would be - if any can be identified."
