Shetland may reconsider its place in Scotland after yes vote, says Carmichael

[dipsydoodle]

Scotland secretary says if the islands were to vote no but national vote was a yes, Shetland would consider its options.

Oil-rich Shetland may want to reconsider whether it stays part of an independent Scotland in the event of a yes vote, the Scotland secretary, Alistair Carmichael, has said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Carmichael said if the islands were to vote strongly no but the Scottish national vote was a narrow yes, then a "conversation about Shetland's position and the options that might be open to it" would begin.

The Liberal Democrat MP, who represents Orkney and Shetland in Westminster and has been secretary of state for Scotland in the coalition government since last October, said those options might include the islands modelling themselves on the Isle of Man, which is a self-governing crown dependency, or on the Faroe Islands, which are an autonomous country within the Danish realm.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/17/shetland-may-reconsider-place-scotland-yes-vote-alistair-carmichael

[Ken Burch]

1. Is Shetland likely to vote no?

What would they get out of that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. They've tended to be less keen on devolution than average

Previous referendums:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_devolution_referendum,_1979#Results
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_devolution_referendum,_1997#Results

About 12% below the national average in 1997, and 25% below in 1979.

[Ken Burch]

4. There was a huge increase in the yes vote between 1979 and 1997, though(based on those links)

In 1979, it was %26.98 yes, %73.02 no.

In 1997, it was %62.4 yes, 37.6% no.

(granted that was devolution, as opposed to independence.)

I think that MP may be a little bit overconfident, and may be assuming his personal vote share in the 2010 election(he was re-elected with 62%)will automatically transfer to "no" votes in the referendum.

We will see.

Perhaps Shetland could fool all of us and declare ITSELF independent.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. But in both cases well below the national average

and with that roughly 50-50, I expect Shetland to vote 'No'. It does have a bit of a different outlook from the rest of Scotland - Edinburgh is fairly remote to it, as well as London. Independence-supporting parties haven't got more than 20% of the Westminster vote (which is with Orkney) in the past; the same in the Shetland-only constituency (Billy Fox, the Independent who came 2nd in the last election is voting 'No')

A (possibly apocryphal) story is that when filling out a parliamentary expenses form, the old MP, Jo Grimmond, put, for 'nearest railway station' "Bergen, Norway".

[Ken Burch]

6. OK.

And actually, I've heard of Jo Grimond...he led the Liberal Party in the 1950's(an era in which it had been brought close to extinction)and brought it back to something like competitiveness in a lot of areas.

[MisterP]

2. oo, the isles got pawned and lost by their feudatory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland#Pawned_to_Scotland
It's Shetland's Oil