As a mainly left leaning socialist country, I really see no benefit for the Scottish in remaining part of the right-wing neo-liberal UK. Economically they will be fine as they are, after all a developed western country. They have all the institutions and infrastructure in place. Anyone who thinks their country will somehow collapse and need bailing out is either scaremongering or ignorant. If I was Scottish I would be insulted being told what basically amounts to "You couldn't go it alone, you're too small and unable to stay afloat without us".
I have yet to see one solid case as to way the the Scottish should remain part of the UK. In fact it's the rUK that has more to lose, decreased world presence politically and economically. That's why they are so nervous and against it. They don't give a fuck about Scotland only their own interests.
This whole pound debate is also a joke. Salmond repeatedly said that Plan B is in their manifesto. Which it is, along with plans C, D & E. The reason the No campaigns has chosen to place all their eggs in this one basket shows they have no other relevant points to make. Outside of nostalgic sentimental drivel like shared history and culture.
The first point you make is a bit weird. I'm a Welshman (well, half Australian half Welsh), and a left-leaning one at that, so I'm not speaking from an English perspective or a Conservative one, but my experience is that Scotland is not really significantly any more left than the rest of the United Kingdom - polling consistently reveals this, and I think someone has provided a specific link in a post just above me. As a whole, I actually think the political leaning of the United Kingdom is mildly towards the left. This is the country that helped give birth to the international labour movement and still fosters institutions like the NHS and the BBC. The problem isn't the United Kingdom, it's more that the political dynamic of the United Kingdom is really heavily weighted towards the Home Counties. It's not Scotland that's getting fucked over by England, it's Scotland and Wales and Yorkshire and the North-west and the Midlands getting fucked over by the political centrifuge of the south.
Now, I'll admit that's problematic, and I hate it too. But I just don't see how Scotland leaving really improves the situation. At the point Scotland leaves, but stays in the pound and tries to stay in a common market with the rUK, which it will have to given the rUK will dominate it economically, it won't really be meaningfully independent, in the sense that it's monetary policy and financial regulations will still be decided almost entirely by London and the Home Counties, as it was before. Yes, Scotland will have control over education and healthcare and policing and so on, but... in every meaningful sense, it already has full control over all those things because of the devolution process. All of the main complaints Scotland levies (too rightwing, too neoliberal) are economic, and Scotland's independence just won't meaningfully shift that status quo because their economy is just going to dwarfed by the rUK and basically permanently in its orbit.
So what does? Well, the strangest thing is how Scottish nationalists cast it as "us vs. them", because I feel it completely undermines the political scene in Scotland. They have allies - the Welsh, the Yorkshiremen, the Cumbrian, the Cornishman, the Brummie, the Geordie, the Mancunian and all of the other peoples of the United Kingdom who dislike the Home Counties domination. I think a much more successful future for Scotland lies in remaining inside the United Kingdom, but in spearheading a movement for change amongst this group. In fact, that's already happening behind the scenes - Glasgow is the nominal head of the current group of major British cities petitioning central government for more local powers. The end result of this is a Scotland which gets the maximum amount of influence over both economic and governmental policy, insofar as that as part of a bloc of the peripheries, it exerts a lot more clout than it would otherwise. I feel like an independent Scotland would simply be doomed to be the Norway to the European Union - still having to abide by every regulation the EU passes and still totally at the whim of the decisions made in the Common market, but with absolutely no influence over what those regulations and decisions are.
Seems to me like the Welsh have it more or less right - push for devolution, but at the same time take places like Cardiff and ally them with Manchester and Liverpool and push for a balanced United Kingdom. Hefyd, peidiwch byth â gadael dyn y tu ôl i, rydych bastards. Beth ddigwyddodd i undod Celtaidd?
