TO ASK OR NOT TO ASK -

THAT IS THE QUESTION..

As if there wasn`t enough fuss going on anyway, we now have a lot of fuss about the  referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom.  In the blue corner we have UK Prime Minister David Cameron using the powers of the Scotland Act of 1998 to dictate the timing and the wording of any referendum.   In the other corner we have Scottish Nationalist Party leader and First Minister Alex Salmond saying that it`s no business of the UK Government to interfere with the referendum process north of the border.

It`s all about timing, positioning and preference with Cameron wanting a swift and clear decision one way or the other - a yes/no vote - but Salmond wanting to delay the vote until he thinks he might win it later in the parliamentary term and wanting to have a `maybe` option as well.

Now something in this whole business puzzles me.   At the moment we have a United Kingdom comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland - all in it together, together as one,  one big happy family.  If one of those constituent parts wants to leave, then surely natural justice dictates that the other parts might want to have a say as to whether they are happy about that.   

I see no suggestion that the good folk of England, Wales or Northern Ireland are going to be included in a referendum about Scottish independence but I think it`s pretty clear what the outcome might be if they were.  For example, at the moment the Scots enjoy things like free home care for the elderly, free higher education, free public transport for pensioners and £400 per head more spent on them by the NHS than in England.   And these things are not paid for by the taxes raised in Scotland while England also provide the subsidy for the higher rate of NHS spending.

So, if against this background a referendum were to be held tomorrow, I`m pretty sure the English would vote in favour of Scottish independence, as they are fed up with paying through the nose for those services enjoyed by the Scots but denied to themselves, whereas the canny Scots, realising they`re on to a good thing, would probably vote to stay within the United Kingdom, however disunited it might be.

Sometimes it`s better not to ask the question if you know you won`t like the answer.