If We Had Voted Yes

What kind of position would Scotland be in now if we had voted for independence in 2014?

Jill Stephenson, in her letter (Edinburgh Evening News, 19 January) asks what kind of a position would Scotland have been in had independence been voted for in 2014 and Scotland subsequently been out of both the EU and the UK in 2016.

While out of the EU Scotland could have applied to join EFTA, the European Free Trade Association.  This is a free trade area consisting of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.  It operates in parallel with the EU with access to the European Single Market allowing for the free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the European Single Market.  [1]

Scotland would also have the full benefit of our national resources including oil and gas, our fishing grounds and also our renewable energy including actually getting paid for very large electricity transfers, currently up to 3.5Giggawats, to England[2].  Or actually be able to use our renewable energy to benefit Scotland’s people and businesses and attract industries wanting to convert to renewable energy.

As indicated by D. Jamieson in his letter (19 January) Scotland’s budget for 2023-24 is reported as £59.7 billion compared with Denmark’s £160 billion and Ireland’s £89 billion although they have similar populations to Scotland.  Independent Scotland with full access to our huge natural resources and no longer subsidising the rest of the UK, would be in a much better financial position than it is now.

Jim Stamper

19/01/24

[1] European Economic Area Wikipedia - Search (bing.com)

[2] Scotland-England Electricity Transfers | Energy Matters (euanmearns.com)