Euro Madness

Unlikely as it seems Scotland's opposition parties - Labour, Tory and Lib Dems - appear to have fallen head over heels for a new political poster boy, the 11th President of the European Commission - Jose Manuel Barroso.

JMB (for short) has offered his considered view that Scotland will be outside of the European Union and its treaties - if the country votes for independence in 2014.

Which I think is bonkers - I have to say.

And I speak as a someone who is sceptical about the need for independence - because as I have said many times before I think the best outcome is a stronger Scottish Parliament - one with the power to run Scotland's economy instead of having no option but to follow UK policies laid down by Westminster.

To my mind the headlong rush of Scottish Labour, Tory and Lib Dems parties to embrace the twisted logic of JMB seems rather silly to me - because what the EC President says makes no kind of sense - and his ham-fisted, 'spanner-in-the-works' intervention seems likely to backfire.

Seems yo ne that if the Scottish people vote for independence - that is not the same thing as voting to leave the European Union (which lots of swivel-eyed Tory MPs in England would like to do, by the way).

In which case the Scotland people retain the same rights as other European citizens - while new arrangements are put in place through a process of negotiation with the Eropean Union and the Westminster Parliament.

Whatever that is it's not rocket science - and it's not the end of the world either.

Great Danes (3 November 2012)

I heard a Danish professor on the Good Morning Scotland (GMS) radio programme earlier today - Michael Herstfeld, if I caught his name correctly - who made a very telling point about the increasingly ludicrous debate about Scotland's future in Europe.

The quietly spoken professor pointed out that when Germany expanded its national boundaries to become a larger European state - by absorbing the old failed state of East Germany - no one gave two hoots about its status within Europe.

No one said a word about a greater Germany being forced to re-apply for membership of the European Union (EU).

Seems to me that exactly same logic must apply to Scotland if the country votes for independence 2014 - because that would simply have the effect of making the UK a smaller state - whose former member countries (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) would then have to sort out their future relations with the EU.

But to say that as a consequence of voting for independence - Scotland or anyone else would be thrown out of the EU seems complete nonsense to me or to put it another way - desperate scaremongering of the worst kind.

So I take my hat off to the Danish professor - he has cut through all the nonsense from the No campaign which is becoming increasingly hysterical.

Scotland in Europe

I am a very logical person normally - which is why I'm having some trouble with this wholly manufactured row about the future of Scotland in Europe.

Seems to me that if Scotland votes in favour of independence in 2014 then the UK - as presently constituted - no longer exists.

In which case all four current member nations/countries of the UK - Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland - must continue as members of the European Union (EU) - or we're all out on our ear together.

And if the latter - then we would all need to apply to join the EU club again - and at that point I think England would have a big problem, not Scotland - because of the influence of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) south of the border.

But to say that Scotland would somehow be out on its own seems completely laughable and ludicrous to me - no more than silly scaremongering of the worst kind.

I'm a sceptic on independence as I've said before on the blog site - many times.

My favoured option was an second question on the referendum ballot paper - proposing more powers and much greater economic independence for the Scottish Parliament.

Yet all these negative scare tactics by the Better Together or No campaign - are beginning to annoy me and get right up my nose - if I'm honest.

Some of these spokespeople have taken to praying foreign politicians in aid - such as the Spanish Foreign Minister who allegedly said the other day that Scotland would have to go to the back of the queue - if we Scots vote for independence.

Now what's it got to do with Spain - given that the Scottish and UK governments have both agreed to have a democratic vote and to respect the outcome of the 2014 referendum.

Well what is has to do with Spain is politics - of course.

Because the national government in Madrid is getting it in the neck from the people of Catalonia - who in increasing numbers are demanding their independence from Spain.

But as things stand a referendum on independence is unlawful under the Spanish constitution - so the Spanish Foreign Minister is simply sticking his oar where it doesn't belong.