Scottish Independence vs Military assets

[Finningley Boy]

With regard to Courtney's post about thread drift, to answer the original question, should it happen, a lot will depend on three things,

1. Military posture which the SNP wish to pursue, the financial priorities of Holyrood will determine how this should take shape, personally I imagine they'll finish up with a scarcely token standing armed forces.

2. Point one may be influenced by how much the SNP wish to impact on the military posture of the remainder UK, i.e. try and hang on to as many Lossiemouth based assets, for example, as possible in the interim only to abandon them or share them with outside interests thereafter.

3. Pints one and two may be influenced by prospective EU interests regarding the possibility of the future of a centralised EU military force.

Whatever the outcome, I suspect an independent Scottish government will remain, to varying degrees, hostile to the government in Westminster. There is no practical explanation for this other than clashing political ideology, this alone will have a lot to do with how a future independent Scotland applies itself to the so far largely avoided (by Holyrood) question of Foreign, Defence and Security policy. This question doesn't worry, or rather interest, them the way that promising EU membership and an incomparable free, at point of use, Health service and a wider list of other social provision does. All laudable but independence will force an independent Scotland to confront all at once.

FB