BenderRodriguez wrote:
^
In your opinion Marcia, what are the chances for a new referendum in Scotland (especially since the EU more or less openly invited you to join them) and what do you think the results would be? What seems to be the local reaction?
Thank you
(I'm sorry for your distress, here in Europe we're all still confused and shocked. You have a very beautiful country, btw)
Those who voted Yes for an independent Scotland in September 2014 have been shouting about a second referendum ever since then, and so they are now clamouring for it even more loudly now. I voted No to Scottish Independence and I voted to remain in the EU. In both cases we benefit from the pooling and sharing of resources, and I cannot understand why Scottish Nationalists fail to see that it is really just a matter of scale. If it makes sense to them to stay within the larger political, economic and cultural grouping that is the EU then why not want to stay within the smaller political, economic and cultural grouping that is the UK. I asked a Yes voter that question tonight, and his reply was that Scotland has more in common with the social and political values of Europe than with the "little Englanders" south of the border. We are living on myths about ourselves, and creating more all the time. 38% of Scots voted to leave. That's a significant minority, and the campaign was, even though many deny it, about immigration. As I said to my friend earlier, we're not as lovely as we like to think we are.
Economically we benefit significantly from EU membership as we do from being part of the UK. It costs more to provide the same services in Scotland than in England because of the relative sparsity of our population and so on. All through the campaign for Scottish independence and ever since, those who want it, simply dismiss legitimate concerns about how it work as "project fear" and with other simplistic though-terminating cliches. The Independence referendum was, and continues to be, hugely divisive in Scotland and I am really fearful for our future.
I think many people who voted to leave didn't fully understand what the EU is about and the many different ways in which we benefit. No system is perfect, but it was so much better than this. I don't even think the politicians who campaigned for us to leave the EU thought that they would actually succeed, and I don't think they have a plan for what happens now.
It's disastrous.
Edited to add: I've not had the heart, or the time really, to watch much news today and I hadn't heard that the EU were open to us remaining a part of it. However, even if that were the case, which I am doubtful about, it would be enormously complicated, as Pluto has already said, and I don't know that it would even be possible.