Scottish Independence

[nocutstoRAF]

To put that figure into perspective, I'm pretty sure the same report indictated UK plc had run up over £700 billion of debt over the same period. The same department responsible for producing those statistics have also shown Scotland to be a net financial contributor to the UK.

This is a very interesting debate and I have registered especially to take part in it (though I have been reading the forum for quite a while now).

I will be candid, I am a fat civvy, that beyond previously providing expert advice to DE on certain maintenance issues with runways and a couple of flying lessons, have zero aviation experience, so if I say something stupid feel free to point it out.

I was picking up on the point that Scotland is a net producer. I cannot find the statistics that have been alluded to by D88, but it does match my memory of things I have seen in the past - what I was wondering about is the variation in Gross Value Added (GVA: a measure goods and services -immediate consumption) in the UK, I have looked at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_Kingdom and according to this England has the highest GVA, followed by Scotland.

If my understanding is correct this would mean that both England and Scotland produce more than they consume (as if England's GVA is higher than Scotland's, then logically if Scotland is a net producer so it England), and while I lack the statistics to back it up, you could conclude that as a union Scotland and England would be better off without NI or Wales.