Chris Deerin on the arguments around Scottish Independence

Not that often that a Conservative commends an article in the New Statesman, though it does happen - they have some very good journalists and publish some very thought-provoking articles,

And one such example is Chris Deerin's piece on the position of the parties in Scotland, the prospects for another Independence Referendum, the likely arguments and what traction they might have.

It's called "A Kingdom of Fragments" and you can read it here.



Scottish Independence is not inevitable, but those of us who value the UK need to make a positive case for the union.

I think Chris Deering understates the extent to which Independence could be an economic catastrophe for both Scotland and Northern England - the arguments for and against are similar to those relating to Brexit but in my humble opinion the economic arguments against Scotland Independence are objectively much stronger than those against Brexit. For a start while the UK was one of the largest net contributors to the EU, the Scottish government is running a huge budget deficit funded by the UK. Also the rest of the UK takes 60% of Scottish exports on the Scottish government's own figures, which is significantly higher than the EU's share of British exports and three times the EU's share of Sottish exports (just 19% on, again, the Scottish government's own figures.) 

But Deerin may well be right that this won't have the same traction it did in 2014. "Project Fear" was actually the name the "No" campaign didn't want to be known by in the first independence referendum, even though that didn't stop them winning. Fear is no foundation on which to build a case to hold a nation together..


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