July 6
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Dear Sir,
I read the letter from Samuel Laird last week regarding a change of citizenship for Scots in the event of independence from the UK
I am indigenously English, so I hope he won’t mind my two pen’orth. A quick online check reveals that anyone who wants to reside in Spain must have a TIE unless they are an EU or Schengen area resident, so an independent Scot could still apply. Having lived here for more than 15 years, I am also disenfranchised, so good luck with anyone from anywhere in the UK who can get the politicians to keep their promises over this issue. It seems that the right to vote, especially in Scotland, is residency based, not nationality based, again good luck with this one ready for the next referendum
Independence seems to be like Brexit, about a 50/50 split, so half of the country at least won’t get what they wanted. Independence from London or England whether for the Scots, Welsh or Irish seems more an emotive than a pragmatic cause, heart over head. Leaving aside the Irish issue, which is far too thorny, I get this, as do many folks in Northern England who also feel disengaged from London, but as with Brexit, be careful what you wish for
Mr. Laird’s comment “Perhaps the English would be happy to wave farewell now that the oil has dried up” did annoy me a tad. What kind of people would we English be if we said that we had rung Scotland dry of oil and the Welsh of coal so they can bugger off? Come on! The whole UK benefited. We didn’t wave goodbye to Cornwall when the tin mines closed. We have lived side by side in relative harmony on the isle Great Britain for hundreds of years, we have worked together, fought common enemies, laughed and cried with and at each other whilst sharing a common language and in many ways a common culture. Each region has its idiosyncrasies, and long may they continue, but we are better together, surely?
Regards
Graham Shelton
