Scottish Secession: A Narrative Win for Better Together

On Sunday, Critical Mass shared something from the Better Together campaign's Facebook page, and I immediately loved it, because it's absolutely dead on. The Scottish National Party and its leader, Alex Salmond, are responsible for convincing Scots (not to mention the rest of Europe and the rest of the world) why Scotland would be better off as an independent state. Thus far, many relevant individuals have raised one issue or another, and their questions and/or concerns have yet to be addressed in any substantive manner. One of the biggest recent issues has been the SNP's claim that Scotland will continue using the British pound, without any corresponding influence on the administration of the pound. First Minister Salmond, his subordinates, and their supporters in the general public answer such questions with vague appeals to patriotism, rather than detailed explanations.

Later, I saw this article: Shell boss: Scots should stay in UK. The tagline reads: "The chief executive of the oil company Shell says he would like Scotland to 'remain part of the UK'." It seems significant to me that the Scottish nationalists see themselves as a potential petrostate on the order of Norway or Sweden, but the actual energy companies think that secession is a bad idea.

E posted this article, too: 5 Reasons Why Scottish Independence Would Be A Disaster.

As I keep writing this post (this is technically now an update, I find more and more items of note to post. For example, the BBC reports that Scottish independence: Citigroup says formal currency union 'unlikely'. Notes the Better Together campaign...

A new report from Citigroup says it is "astonishing" that Alex Salmond has failed to spell out a Plan B on what would replace the Pound if we left the UK.

The report goes on to say that 'Scotland's fiscal deficit was "now significantly above UK levels" because of a recent fall in oil revenues.' This is likely to be confirmed by the Scottish Government's own figures next week.

Alex Salmond wants us to take a big leap into the unknown, but it's a risk we don't have to take. As part of the UK we have the strength, security and stability of the Pound, and can take advantage of North Sea revenues without putting our public services at risk.

In case you're interested (and on Facebook), you can subscribe to Better Together's Facebook page. In the interest of balance, you can also subscribe to the Yes Campaign. I remain skeptical of the proposed Scottish secession referendum, but I'm also willing to be convinced that the SNP has a plan and a justification for secession. The wait continues, and the SNP is running out of time to convince me or anyone else.