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| Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister |
I mentioned only a fortnight ago that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was my politician of the year 2011 because he has a clear vision to get Scotland out of the United Kingdom and become independent. This week, he has announced there is to be a referendum for the people of Scotland to decide if they too want to "do it alone" as the expression would say. This would occur in autumn 2014 leaving Salmond and his ministers over two years to cover everything that needs discussing in order for this to become a reality.
Why does Alex Salmond want Scotland independent? As far as the people of Scotland are concerned, they are clearly unhappy about the latest situation at Westminster. Mr. Salmond is part of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and people prefer him to lead the country outright rather than David Cameron. In the general elections almost two years ago, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats gained 12 seats between them out of a possible 59, 11 of which were the Liberal's meaning the Tories had one seat to their name in the country, coming from the 'Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale' constituency - situated south of Scotland. Placing that region aside, the rest of Scotland must be bothered by what has been going on at 10 Downing Street where the coalition government are making cuts from almost every department. Between the 2010/11 and 2014/15 financial years, Scotland will face real cut terms of 12.3 percent which means only £3.7 billion is available to them in the meantime. Although their financial secretary John Swinney said in a statement last September when announcing the Spending Review, "we will make the very best use of the constrained resources available to us", Scotland would be understandably upset about the current state and will be hoping for a change of some sort.
This proposal by Salmond has not gone down well in Westminster. All three major political parties have united, disapproving of the SNP's plans. Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg was said to be confused when he met Scottish First Minister during Friday's press conference in Ireland. "I think it's time for Alex Salmond to explain to people what on earth he means by independence. He's spent his whole political life campaigning for it and yet he hasn't got any answers for very, very simple questions," Clegg said during the conference while Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne expressed his dissatisfaction of the whole thing, "The SNP is going to have to explain what its plans are for the currency of Scotland [...] Alex Salmond has said Scotland should join the Euro. That is not the currency I'd be wanting to join at a time like this," he said to ITV News. The topic was raised during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday as David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband agreed that Scotland must not be independent with the Prime Minister saying "Let's keep our country together".
Not just England but Welsh politicians have also looked at the referendum in a different perspective to the Scots. Carwyn Jones, their First Minister has said radical changes must be made in the political system by getting more Welsh and Northern Irish politicians involved in Westminster. Jones adds by saying UK needs to follow United States' example by initiating a senate. Scotland and Wales I know definitely work in this format during their political discussions and it seems to have worked and doing the same at the House of Commons could work. Another criticism aimed at the Scottish independence idea is the date. George Osborne has said it should have taken place in 18 months time and others say that 2014 is far too long in modern politics to make the public to consider something as big as this.
Despite those emphasising their discomfort over the thought Scotland could leave the United Kingdom, it is out of their hands. Salmond insists the decision will be down to the Scottish public and the Scottish public only. No doubt, Scotland need to work very closely with the British government and have to think about how they are to handle any situation given to them. Some say Cameron must resign if he fails to keep Scotland part of the UK but if that is the case, it would show great weakness on the Conservatives' behalf. I feel he mustn't resign under any circumstances as it would give his replacement a much bigger task, to clean up the mess that Cameron has caused. I am in support of Scottish independence and waiting until 2014 is sensible, appropriate and perfect timing to set out a wise plan which gives the public in Scotland a clearer mind over their options. Scotland, I feel are financially prepared. They have positive links with Scandinavian countries which Westminster should take note and have proved they can be careful spenders, hence why Westminster wants to cling on to Scotland.
The British government are in a fragile position right now and I completely understand where they are coming from. They are still contemplating whether they should be part of the European Union and while that is happening, Scotland wants to be out of the UK. I wouldn't want to be put in Cameron's boots but I agree with Nick Clegg, Alex Salmond needs to tell us more about his plans but that is why the referendum is to take place in more than two years from now. And I agree with Osborne too, nobody would want to be joining the Euro now with the situation still in dire straits. France on Friday downgraded their credit rating by one notch from AAA to AA+ making the Eurozone crisis more of a crisis than it should be. However, a lot can change in two years. The Euro could be saved by 2014 - not saying it will but it can be. The British Pound to Euro has increased in recent days with £1 equating to €1.20 which is better than €1.05 like it has been last summer so it is not all doom-and-gloom at the moment.
Nevertheless, I am sure that Scotland would remain strongly connected with Westminster and their decision to hold a referendum has certainly sent alarm signals to Wales and Northern Ireland who, I'm sure have had enough of their funding cut which has affected health and employment in the countries. Perhaps in the next decade or two, they could consider being independent but not yet. Post-2014 could be the start of the end to Great Britannia and maybe it is inevitable.
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