Pound Tumbles On Report Scotland May Hold Second Independence Referendum

zerohedge.com ^ | Feb 26, 2017

[Helicondelta]

From the Sunday Times:

Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May are heading for a showdown over who has the right to call another independence referendum and when it should be held.

As the prime minister prepares to head north to speak at the Scottish Conservative conference this week, it has emerged that the SNP government raised the issue of a second referendum at a private meeting with her administration on Wednesday.

The first minister looks set to call a vote by the Scottish parliament — following next month’s SNP conference and triggering of article 50 — to strengthen her mandate to stage a second referendum. At her party conference, Sturgeon is expected to call for Holyrood to have the right to call a referendum.

While there has been no official statement from UK officials in this late hour on Sunday, the prospect of even more politcal chaos, not to mention the sudden possibility of Scotland declaring independence has sent cable into a tailspin, with sterling plunging 70 pips in thin trade, sliding below 1.24 on the news.

[Ford4000]

Right. They will trying to join the EU just as everyone else is bailing out.

[Timocrat]

If they break away, they will do fine, like Norway.

From the Glasgow Herald last year:
The Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (GERS) report showed Scotland’s share of North Sea revenue fell 97 per cent last year, from £1.8bn to just £60m.

On the upside, the onshore economy grew £1.9bn last year, offsetting the drop in oil revenue, however spending rose by £700m, meaning a deterioration in the overall picture.

The total difference between Scottish tax income and public spending, assuming a geographical share of North Sea oil and gas revenue, was £14.8bn, a deficit of 9.5 per cent of Scottish GDP, compared to £14.3bn and 9.1 per cent in the previous year.

The UK deficit in 2015-16 was less than half that, at 4 per cent of GDP, a figure that has improved for three years while Scotland’s deficit has worsened for three years.

There is now very little tax revenue of any note from the Scottish North Sea. Almost all of the majors have left or sold their interests in the North Sea. The big fields to the west of the Shetlands are marginally economic at $50 oil. Funnily enough the Shetland Islanders don't want Scottish independence. Supposedly England has large deposits of natural gas which can be developed by fracking so Scotland would be leaving the UK when the income from those deposits would becoming on stream.

The Act of Union 1707 was a great deal for Scotland which was essentially bankrupt at the time because of the Darien Expedition.

The Scottish nationalists are a bunch of romantic socialists.