Well. it depends whether or not you include or exclude oil and gas. http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-who-loses-if-scotland-goes-it-alone/6524
Well it is their oil and gas if you follow international law and they're an independent country. It is a very short term gain though in the long term future of a country dependent on fossil fuel
So long as they take a proportion of debt and not start out debt free then I couldn't actually care less to be honest.
I don't really care Hemsio. It takes all my energy keeping my own head above water. Though I don't see division as any progressive way forward for the UK.
To be honest no. There are so many figures thrown about by the different sides and so many different ways of calculating it. I read a pretty convincing piece which said given the fact that oil and gas prices will continue to rise due to them becoming a scarce commodity, then Scotland is a net contributor and will continue to be. Until the gas and oil runs out. Which is why I think the economic argument for independence seems to me to be quite short termist. Personally, as someone with Scottish heritage I hope they stay as part of Great Britain. The key argument for independence to me though would be that the whole of Scotland always overwhelmingly votes for parties of the left, but for half the time they get a party of the right ruling from Westminster. Which must be pretty frustrating and seem quite undemocratic. Particularly as the right then don't have to really worry about doing anything that benefits Scotland as they will never win any votes there, and therefore focus their polices on being beneficial to their traditional supporters in England. I'm still amazed that Salmond has been bullied out of devo-max by Cameron. This seemed to be the ideal outcome for the SNP. More independence, more money, but the ability to blame Westminster for everything that goes wrong.
Re Navy bases etc I'm sure they would "rent" the facilities to us if the price is right - similar to US air bases in England - it keeps jobs in Scotland too. The big problem if they do become independant is how do we get the Tories out of power here following independance? Some English people would seriously have to think about whether to vote instead of relying on certain (mostly) northern and Scotish seats to keep them out.
Re: Re Navy bases etc True - I'm seriously considering emigrating to Scotland if they get independence!