Scottish independence will break the current status quo we have in the rest of the UK. Under FPTP, Labour will either have to lurch considerably toward Tory politics, or face being in perpetual opposition. Neither of these prospects will sit well with Wales and the North.
The resulting disquiet in these areas will inexorably lead to one of three outcomes: (1) PR-style political reform; (2) region-based federalism or (3) breakup of the Union as a whole. The presence of Scotland is currently balancing the political will of the country -- under perpetual Tory government, Wales and the North face a bleak future -- not because of any left-right argument, but because the Tories are so fundamentally tied to centralism of power at all costs (which has resulted in Scottish nationalism in the first place).
Scottish independence will break the current status quo we have in the rest of the UK. Under FPTP, Labour will either have to lurch considerably toward Tory politics, or face being in perpetual opposition. Neither of these prospects will sit well with Wales and the North.
The resulting disquiet in these areas will inexorably lead to one of three outcomes: (1) PR-style political reform; (2) region-based federalism or (3) breakup of the Union as a whole. The presence of Scotland is currently balancing the political will of the country -- under perpetual Tory government, Wales and the North face a bleak future -- not because of any left-right argument, but because the Tories are so fundamentally tied to centralism of power at all costs (which has resulted in Scottish nationalism in the first place).
Labour lurch towards Tory policies? I can hardly tell the two parties apart already. Take away the rhetoric and they stand together on most major areas.
It's all a game. Whoever you vote for, you get a government of pro-EU public school educated professional politicians that support big business globalisation.
Scottish independence will break the current status quo we have in the rest of the UK. Under FPTP, Labour will either have to lurch considerably toward Tory politics, or face being in perpetual opposition.
Not necessarily:
"Scottish MPs have NEVER turned what would have been a Conservative government into a Labour one, or indeed vice versa ... on only TWO occasions, the most recent of them being 38 years ago, (1964 and the second of the two 1974 elections), have Scottish MPs given Labour a majority they wouldn’t have had from England/Wales/NI alone." http://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/
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That puzzled me too at first, but clearly it's percentages of voters, not numbers of MPs!
The resulting disquiet in these areas will inexorably lead to one of three outcomes: (1) PR-style political reform; (2) region-based federalism or (3) breakup of the Union as a whole. The presence of Scotland is currently balancing the political will of the country -- under perpetual Tory government, Wales and the North face a bleak future -- not because of any left-right argument, but because the Tories are so fundamentally tied to centralism of power at all costs (which has resulted in Scottish nationalism in the first place).
Labour lurch towards Tory policies? I can hardly tell the two parties apart already. Take away the rhetoric and they stand together on most major areas.
It's all a game. Whoever you vote for, you get a government of pro-EU public school educated professional politicians that support big business globalisation.
"Scottish MPs have NEVER turned what would have been a Conservative government into a Labour one, or indeed vice versa ... on only TWO occasions, the most recent of them being 38 years ago, (1964 and the second of the two 1974 elections), have Scottish MPs given Labour a majority they wouldn’t have had from England/Wales/NI alone."
http://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/