Scottish Independence Referendum

I'm not Scottish, I've never lived in Scotland and I've only been a couple of times. You may choose to ignore my opinion on the impending Scottish Independence referendum. I do have one though. And you've got this far. Wait for it...

I feel like I'd be tempted to vote yes if I were eligible. It's hard to make an informed choice given the quality of the information on offer though. Left-leaning parties tend to do well in Scotland and this may be an opportunity to re-structure the society in a more fair and equitable fashion. I think whether or not I'd be an iPad richer or poorer under that system is secondary to the overall distribution of resources within it.

What would happen to healthcare provision in an independent Scotland?

Scottish doctors seem to think it would get worse. A recent poll in the BMJ (with only a 14% response rate - 311 doctors) suggested that 60% of them plan on voting no. 91% of those no-voters cited a predicted worsening of the Scottish economy.

http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5072?sso=

What I can't see is whether the pollers were allowed to give non-healthcare related reasons for their preferences. Doctors are also people and it may be that some of them feel like their personal circumstances might be better in the UK than in an independent Scotland and so be swayed towards a no vote. Some English doctors might plan on voting Conservative (or even UKIP!) at the next UK general election for a lower predicted personal tax burden rather than a belief that the health of our nation would be improved.

Those polling 'yes' gave greater autonomy in healthcare and research decision making as big factors.

As for other considerations, there's talk that the tax takings would decrease and there would be the cost of creating a new governance structure. But the NHS in the UK has to bare this cost every few years/parliaments anyway. It does seem that the Scottish would be keen to defend a system that is free at the point of use and that public will cannot be undervalued. Couple that with a keenness to take tough public health decisions to prevent disease (I'm thinking of tobacco control primarily with other policies following such as minimum alcohol unit pricing) and free prescriptions, you might find a lower disease burden to deal with. Could this mean an independent Scotland was healthier for all?

Either way, I'd be keen to see how an independent Scotland would work out. Would a more liberal and fair society be created with decisions taken to benefit the local population and with support by international legislation created in Europe? This might be be an improvement on the current distant government setup.

I listened to a good debate on Radio 4 the other week (I deemed this too pretentious to open the post with) and this and other media coverage gives the impression that people are actually talking about this referendum and are interested in the outcome. I contrast this with my own experience of trying to spread the word re: the recent council and European elections where my efforts were met with either 'I don't care about / follow politics', 'is there an election on?' or worse 'ok, how do I register to vote?' leading me to lament scientists' current failures in reliable time travel.

A no vote may have its own benefits to Scotland and the other nations of the union. One of the main ones I can see is that a generation of newly engaged and often liberal Scottish voters would be involved in the UK's next general election.

It would be sad to see them go but I'd wish them the best of luck.