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No Scotland
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MI6 should hold immediate talks with the CIA and other US security services about the prospect of Scots voting for independence in 2014, a leading international relations experts has said. It remains unclear how intelligence sharing as part of the UKUSA Agreement would be affected if Scotland goes it alone, according to Dr Daniel Kenealy of Edinburgh University. The UKUSA Agreement was first signed in 1946 and has since been expanded to include Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is seen as a key tool to combat the growing terrorist threat.
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No Scotland
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By Editorial Board, Published: October 30 DOES IT make sense for Scotland to become an independent nation, ending 300 years of union with England and Wales? And would it make any difference to Americans? The answer to the second question is an unfortunate yes: An independent Scotland would significantly weaken the foremost military and diplomatic ally of the United States, while creating another European mini-state unable to contribute meaningfully to global security. Scottish leader Alex Salmond, who on Oct. 15 sealed an agreement with British Prime Minister David Cameron to hold a referendum on Scottish independence by the end of 2014, says his would-be country would withdraw from NATO, expel British nuclear submarines from its waters and keep an army of 8,000-10,000 soldiers. Though the population of Scotland, at 5.2 million, is less than 10 percent of that of the United Kingdom, some speculate that what remained of Britain could lose its seat on the U.N. Security Council.
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No Scotland
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Highland MSPs John Finnie and Jean Urquhart have announced that they are quitting the Scottish National Party. The pair described the decision as "heart-wrenching" and said they would continue to sit as independent MSPs with no official party affiliation. Party leader Alex Salmond said he was saddened by the resignations. The SNP now has a majority of one at Holyrood, although the MSPs said they would support most party policy. The change of stance on Nato membership was approved at the party's conference in Perth on Friday by 426 votes to 332. The policy was opposed by several MSPs and rank and file members, including Mr Finnie and Ms Urquhart
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No Scotland
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More than half of Scots would be likely to vote for independence if they believed the Conservatives would be returned to power in Westminster at the next general election, a new poll has found. The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times and Real Radio Scotland found that 37 per cent agreed the country should be independent, with 45 per cent opposed. When it asked voters what they would do if they felt the 2015 general election would result in either a majority Conservative government at Westminster, or another Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition, 52 per cent said this would make them likely to vote in favour of Scotland leaving the UK. A Yes Scotland spokesman said: “This poll backs our view that as people in Scotland start to focus on the choices facing them, support for a Yes vote will inevitably increase.”
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No Scotland
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ALEX Salmond has suggested the UK Government jumped the gun over a deal on the independence referendum, warning it would be “very unwise” to say an agreement had been reached until one was actually in place.
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No Scotland
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The Scottish Green Party may no longer support a proposal to have a second question in the independence referendum.
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No Scotland
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NEXT year will mark 40 years since Margo MacDonald was first elected to political office. Of that 1973 intake to Westminster, only six parliamentarians are still going strong and she is one of them.
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No Scotland
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Defence Select Committee to look into wide range of defence implications relating to Scottish independence...
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No Scotland
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Figures from Scotland's main political parties clash over the independence referendum during a televised BBC Scotland debate.
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No Scotland
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ONE of the UK’s most powerful business figures has warned that Scotland would have to increase taxes, slash spending or increase borrowing after independence, in a gloomy assessment of the country’s economic muscle.
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No Scotland
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Alex Salmond is running scared of Scottish independence or even holding a referendum on his keynote policy, Alistair Darling said today as he launched the campaign to keep the United Kingdom together.
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No Scotland
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Opposition leaders are to press for an independent commission to draw up the question to be put in Scotland's independence referendum. First Minister Alex Salmond has suggested that voters should be asked: "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?" Critics warn this encourages a yes vote by not mentioning an end to the Union.
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No Scotland
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Bob Duncan | Newsnet Scotland The Anti-independence coalition of Tory, Labour and Lib Dems have come under pressure to clarify their stance on Scottish devolution following Scottish Secretary Michael Moore's double ...
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No Scotland
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AN INDEPENDENT Scotland could not be asked to leave the EU for “practical and political” reasons, a senior European Commission figure has said. Graham Avery, an Honorary Director-General of the EC, says that Scottish citizens already have rights as EC citizens and couldn’t be asked to leave and apply for readmission. The latest intervention will come as a boost for First Minister Alex Salmond who has always claimed that Scotland would remain in the EU after independence. “Scotland’s five million people, having been members of the EU for 40 years, have acquired rights as European citizens,” Mr Avery says in a submission to Westminster’s Foreign Affairs committee. “For practical and political reasons they could not be asked to leave the EU and apply for readmission.”
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THE SNP government has admitted that it has yet to seek legal advice on whether an independent Scotland would be able to join the European Union. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement at Holyrood today as the government finally published the 26,000 responses to the independence referendum consultation. Ms Sturgeon said that as a result of the Edinburgh Agreement, which transferred the legal power to hold the referendum from Westminster to Holyrood, SNP ministers had concluded that they had “not sought specific legal advice” on EU membership.
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No Scotland
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“So, what are the big game changers that will allow us to win the referendum – and I think we will win the referendum by the way – so one is the point you have just made about those people looking for further powers. People will now have to choose yes or no to independence but in effect, fiscal autonomy is now encompassed by the independence position. I think there is work to be done to persuade them but I am confident that can be done. First Minister Alex Salmond talking to Holyrood Magazine http://www.holyrood.com/2012/10/the-history-man-exclusive-interview-with-first-minister-alex-salmond/
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Many big questions remain unanswered ahead of the signing of an accord on the referendum, writes Bill Jamieson...
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No Scotland
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A deal has been agreed between the UK and Scottish governments over the rules for the independence referendum, BBC Scotland understands.
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No Scotland
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CROSS-PARTY campaigners against Scottish independence will receives a major boost today with a poll revealing that, in the past year, a one-point lead for the Yes camp has turned into a 20-point lead for the No camp.
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No Scotland
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An inquiry into the defence implications of possible Scottish independence is due to get under way at Westminster.
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No Scotland
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FORMER chancellor Alistair Darling has helped to launch a new think tank dedicated to providing Scots with the “true facts” about the nation’s future in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum.
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No Scotland
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THE SNP seems keen to avoid a clear question and answer on independence for Scotland says Brian Wilson in The Scotsman
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No Scotland
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"I really do care very much about the future of the country in which I live. We are better together and it's something that I'm prepared to devote the time that's needed to it."
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No Scotland
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More than thirty years ago, in the run-up to the 1979 referendum on devolution of powers to what was then termed a Scottish Assembly, one anti-devolutionist slogan was “Scotland is British”.
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No Scotland
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ScotsmanFamilies' energy bills will rise after independence, claims UK ministerPower Engineering MagazineThe SNP government wants to generate the equivalent of 100 per cent of ...
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