It would seem to me that it would be difficult to argue for pulling the UK out of the EU and not entertain the notion of Scotland pulling out of the UK.
Personally I regard both prospects as equally impractical, but I appreciate the views of other may differ. I would be interested to know the views of UKIP supporters on Scottish Independence.
Posted May 21, 2014, 6:04 PM UTC
UKIP are against Scottish independence and want to see the very popular and Proportionally represented Scots Parliament abolished. Instead FPTP Scots MPs elected to Westminster will sit in the newly abolished institution. They want to replace MSPs with MPs. It was in their manifesto, under the section ‘Democracy first. We, the people, shall rule’,
As WobbleWagon says.
They want "a form of Devo Max for the whole of the UK through strong Localism (including fiscal powers and greater local retention of locally raised taxes), including Scotland."
So they want to abolish Westminster instead? I'm assuming they think every region of the UK should have its own equivalent of Holyrood staffed with MPs from that area. So if all the MPs are sitting in their local regions, who will sit in Westminster?
I don't know of an official position for the whole party but I know Farage has said that he's against the proposed independence plan on the grounds that (in his opinion) an independent Scotland in the EU would have less actual independence and autonomy than a Scotland in the UK with a further-devolved parliament outside of the EU would.
[deleted]
They're opposed but advocate the right to a referendum.
Ironically an originally clumsily worded Scotland policy on the Scottish Parliament has served magnificently to hide the fact that UKIP as party advocate a form of Devo Max for the whole of the UK through strong Localism (including fiscal powers and greater local retention of locally raised taxes), including Scotland.
This combined with their policy on binding local and national referendums of Direct Democracy could mean that Scots could coalesce these devolved powers around Holyrood if they so wished, on the understanding that the Parliament itself wouldn't receive any funding from Westminster, and in theory have the Devo Max third option I suspect most Scots would see as a preferred option.
It was clumsy mixed-message confounded by putting Viscount Monkton in charge of UKIP Scotland. Firing him and putting a Glaswegian in charge was a step in the right direction.
Last UKIP manifesto sought to abolish the Scottish Parliament. They do not support Devo Max.
The last UKIP manifesto said that it didn't see the need for Westminster to be paying towards MSPs, that Scotland's own MPs could manage their devolved powers just fine.
But, as I just got through explaining, they also advocated Localism for the whole UK and Direct Democracy with binding local and national referendums (which they have since reaffirmed).
As such they wanted to devolve powers from Westminster to County Council levels in the UK, and their equivalent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
At that point with the devolved powers Scots could have decided to coalesce them around Holyrood if they chose to do so through a series of local binding Scottish referendums passing the administration powers handed down from Westminster back up to Holyrood. This is why I said, "on the understanding that the Parliament itself wouldn't receive any funding from Westminster." They wouldn't get Westminster funding for it but Scotland could choose as many MSPs as it wanted, raised their parliament's funding through local taxes which they'd have far greater autonomy on, and secure Devo Max.
I understand you being confused on this, as I said it was a woeful presentation, but that was their policy. Once again, Localism and Direct Democracy has been reaffirmed since the distancing from the 2010 manifesto.
Essentially UKIP policy is to not grant Devo Max around a Holyrood Parliament, but to put the tools and self-determination in the hands of Scots (as well as all neighbouring local authorities to bond organically and as they see fit around common centres of administration) so rather than asking or petitioning the rUK for Devo Max, they can build it themselves IKEA flat-pack/Lego style.
UKIP is pro-Union, pro-Direct Democracy (support the claim for a Scottish referendum), and pro-Devo Max for the whole of the UK (Scotland included).
It would be up to Scotland what to do with it; if Scottish councils elect to send their new powers to be centered in Edinburgh then it would have the power to do so. Same for Yorkshire-Humberside-Lincs-NorthEast, same for the NorthWest, same for the SouthWest, same for Wales, same for the Midlands,...etc.
Aye, abolish devolution.
Scotland could still have it's own devolved parliament with MSPs, though. They'd just have to fund it themselves through taxes decided at a local level and/or underneath the Scottish MPs elected to Westminster.