Independence (From The Northern Echo)

Independence

2:38pm Thursday 16th February 2012 in Letters

REGARDING the on-going Scottish independence discussions, I have no fear over the wording of the question as I expect a resounding “yes” vote from the unionist community to retain Scotland within Great Britain.

However, one aspect does worry me.

The SNP wants 16-year-olds to be given a vote. I do not feel that a person of this age or a person who has been in full-time education since leaving school should be allowed to vote.

These people are generally idealistic, most support the extremist sections of the electoral spectrum, but most of all, they have never worked or accumulated wealth and assets.

With no life experience it is impossible for youngsters or students to make an informed decision on an important subject, whatever that may be.

When I was attending Teesside Polytechnic in the Eighties the students closed the poly for the day to debate the withdrawal of British troops from Ulster, the campaign for nuclear disarmament, and the on going struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

All the civil engineering students on day release from construction firms, with our wallets full of money, would look at these radicals and think they were in for a massive wake-up call in the near future when they finally entered the real world.

While there is no chance of stopping full-time students with no life experience voting, it is imperative that innocent and naive 16 to 18 year old children are kept out of the political landscape until their understanding of the cogs of the world has had time to develop.

Mark Anderson, Middleton St George.

I FOUND Geoff Bulmer’s letter (HAS, Jan 16) concerning the economic future of an independent Scotland very interesting.

However, many people forget that when Ireland became independent the Irish people suffered decades of poverty, with high levels of emigration until Ireland, like other small European countries, obtained massive investment from the Common Market.

Should Scotland obtain independence it will start off with high unemployment levels, depleting oil fields and an estimated national debt of around £175bn.

But, given the present economic situation, European investment to help develop Scotland is highly unlikely, while any investment which does come from Europe will be a fraction of the billions a newly independent Scotland will have to hand over to Brussels in order to join the EU.

Unless an independent Scotland can obtain investment far greater than its outgoings, then it will mean decades of poverty for the Scottish people, leaving Scotland’s young and skilled little choice but to emigrate.

CT Riley, Spennymoor.