Scotland can't afford to be independent

"Scotland can't afford to be independent". The above statement is simply incorrect. Scotland can 100% go it alone. The point, however, is that Scotland is 100% better off within the UK - politically, economically, and socially. The following information is taken from: http://calumjc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/is-scotland-better-off-in-or-out-of-uk.html There are many common misconceptions surrounding the debate on Scottish independence. Nationalists claim that Scotland has been subsidising the rest of the UK for years. Some unionists (although not the majority) claim that Scotland needs the UK to survive. Both of these claims are absolute nonsense. Firstly, the Scottish budget has a ran a £41 billion deficit over the last 30 years, even including ALL oil and gas revenues from the entire UK; and a paper by Oxford Economics describes Scotland as a "net drain on the exchequer." This is based on the fact that Scotland spends around £11 billion more than it provides to the Exchequer, in addition to having a relatively lower tax base. The vast majority of spending in Scotland (87%) is financed by Westminister's bloc grant, while the remaining is raised through local taxes. Moreover, both the Barnett formula (the official basis upon which public funds are allocated to the devolved UK territories) and the data show (here and here) that Scotland receives a much higher level of public spending per person than in both England and Wales, while Northern Ireland receives the most. Thus, Scotland is NOT 'subsidising' the rest of the UK. However, to suggest that Scotland could not survive as a separate nation is equally incorrect. Scottish GDP in 2010 was £118 billion, and the average wage for the country is £20,200. Scotland has a range of resources at its disposal should it become a separate country - a financial sector, world-class universities, whisky exports, and of course North Sea oil. Scotland is also an attractive tourist destination, bringing in around £4 billion per year. If Scotland did break away from the UK it would obviously lose its bloc grant from the UK Treasury (20% of Scottish GDP), but it would receive in full its geographical share of oil revenues (between 12% and 18% of GDP, depending on oil prices in a given year). In the short run, that is the choice that Scotland would be making - and recently there does not appear to be much of a difference. Over the last few years then, Scotland has had a similar fiscal deficit to the UK as a whole. There any benefits to the union for Scotland: 1) A central bank that works for Scotland. 2) Membership of the EU under the terms and conditions that the UK has. 3) An economy less dependent on North Sea oil revenues. 4) Greater renewable energy potential. 5) AAA credit rating. Are there any more? Yes plenty. The major one is that Scotland can share risks and assets. The classic example of course is the banking crisis. In 2008 the Scottish parliament's budget was just over £31 billion. The bailouts of the Scottish banks, RBS and HBOS, cost £20 billion and £11.5 billion, respectively. RBS alone had a balance sheet 15 times Scottish GDP. It is not unreasonable to assume that an independent Scotland could at time have survived the financial crisis without external support from either rUK, the EU, or the IMF. It has cost each UK taxpayer £2,000 to rescue the Scottish banks. The figure would have been closer to £13,000 in an independent Scotland. Scottish universities also benefit enormously from the union, receiving substantial research grants from the UK Research Council. Moreover, the top Scottish universities benefit from membership of the UK Russel Group, which encourages cross-university research and drives up research standards. Scottish industry also benefits enormously from the union. Unsurprisingly, rUK is Scotland's largest export partner. During the last year fiscal year, for example, £45 billion of Scottish goods were sold to rUK (some 40% of Scottish GDP). Separation could damage this trade. Loss of the free market if Scotland had to reapply to the EU (see above) would increase the cost of trading for business; differential tax systems could be problematic for businesses (desrcibed earlier); and SNP plans for an independent Scotland to adopt the euro increases business exposure to exchange rate fluctuations and its associatated risks. Furthermore, Scoltand benefits enormously from the UK's international influence in the world. For instance, in terms of voting shares the UK has the (joint) 4th largest influence on the IMF. The Bank of England's senior officials also meet with other central bankers regularly at the Bank for International Settlements, further highlighting the economic stability and global voice that is enjoyed as part of the UK. And from my own research, I understand that the most recent imports figures are the 2007 Input-Output tables. This data shows: rUK imports £44 billion International imports £22 billion In other words, two-thirds of Scotland’s imports came from the rest of the UK. Of these imports, banking was the biggest single import, worth £5.4 billion, of which imports from the rest of the UK accounted for 82%. The eighth largest import industry, air transport, worth £1.4 billion, is the largest industry where the majority of imports come from outside the UK (51%). Separation could greatly harm the trade between Scotland and the UK, particularly if Scotland adopts a different currency (eg the Euro) in the future. The SNP have stated they want a referendum on Scotland adopting the Euro in the future, if separation is achieved. By adopting a different currency, import and export decisions would be based partly on exchange rate fluctuations (a real appreciation of the euro against sterling means that rUK goods would be cheaper relative to Scottish goods. As a result, rUK businesses would be put off importing goods from Scotland). Moreover, using a different currency means that foreign exchange risk is further introduced for businesses, which can be costly and difficult to manage.