Comments by "" (@col.hertford9855) on "Why aren't we talking about independence?" video.

  1. Hi Richard, I’m sorry this is an over simplistic,and romantic view of the topic. All the other countries forming the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland have a level of devolved powers (Except England) and none have a good case for independence as current independent polling stands. The independence movement in Scotland is currently on the back foot and seems to be going backward. NI has a very specific trigger in the GFI and doesn’t need to ask Westminster, and Wales hasn’t had very much of an independence movement compared to either of them. The issue is also, who then should be eligible for voting? The Scottish independence vote was for example a sham, as it gave people who would be extremely unlikely to get citizenship franchise, and denied the franchise to natural born Scot’s living outside of Scotland. With numbers up to 20% of Scottish people living outside of the country being denied the vote. Also would their offspring be eligible be eligible for citizenship? That would increase the lost franchise significantly (and include a lot of my family). As a proponent of PR, I find it peculiar that you would find this acceptable. This whole issue is a mess due to the level of integration and immigration of populations. At the moment, there is a case for further devolution, including devolved powers in England, and maybe a federal model in a “kingdom” parliament, and much like if those nations were in the EU, the voice of the country would be proportional to the population size. But I’m not seeing one for independence at this time.
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