How exactly do these nations think they will survive independently? They don't meet any criteria to join the EU. The Northern Ireland situation is an obvious one, but it doesn't sound much like Ireland want to take on the burden. Scotland's oil is privately owned. Wales has almost no industry left. It would be economically devastating, wouldn't it?
No it would not be economically devestating. It would not be easy but there are many routes to becoming a viable independent nation as many nations have done in the last 40 years.
The only peer reviewed academic study on Welsh Independence put a day-one Welsh deficit at a lower % of GDP than the current UK one (and nobody is arguing that the UK can't survive independently are they).
Here is a BBC report on the report by Prof John Doyle
The article implies a lot of the savings would come from England paying for Welsh pensions, which is a comically delusional assumption, peer reviewed or not.
The idea that the UK, or in this instance - just England - would pay a penny toward Welsh or Scottish welfare is bewildering. If you want independence, you get just that.
Dependency with extra steps is ridiculous, and would benefit England in no way whatsoever, why would anyone take that deal? 😂
The UK Treasury already pays the state pension to over a million pensioners living abroad, in Spain, France, Ireland, Australia, everywhere.
Entitlement follows your NI record, not your postcode. So yes, someone who paid NI in England for forty years gets their pension whether they retire in Marbella or Machynlleth, that's existing DWP policy.
Nobody's asking England to fund Welsh welfare. The question is who honours pension entitlements already accrued under UK NI records, and the answer, per the UK's own practice is the state people paid into.
New entitlements after independence would be Wales's responsibility entirely.
Those are expats. They weren't living in Britain when Australia was still owned by GB.
They might follow your NI record, but why would England continue to honour an obligation to an individual who is no longer a UK citizen? That seems odd.
Yes those are expats. They hold a UK passport and moved abroad at some point. If they paid UK NI then they are entitled to a UK pension under current rules. They would have retained UK Citizenship in order to be eligable for their UK pension I would expect.
Besides you are quite correct - it is up to England to decide on its obligations. Frankly were it to not honour a pension should the person live in Wales (in this case) then that person would be incentivised to return to England, thus freeing up a property for another family (be it to rent or buy).
Negotiations wouod need to factor that into account. If Wales refused to take on debt then no investors would lend money to Wales and the EU certainly wouldn't let them join. Especially if Spain is still a country.
Who's us? Wales? Of all 3 I thought Wales were most aligned with the English, voted similarly on Brexit etc. I'd be surprised if there really is the support? Voting Plaid Cymru is one thing, but from what I've seen support for independence is like 30%.
Let's say you go independent, fast-track rejoin EU and put a customs border up with England? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I'm English, but have no great feeling of 'Britishness', and generally support self determination, it just seems in the case of yourselves it would be high risk.
It's not a reason not to do it, but don't expect much help from England once you decide to go your own way. We've seen how the EU were quite unhelpful for a while post Brexit... I think we'd be proper c**ts about it frankly!
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u/No-Bluejay4261 Sep 14 '26
How exactly do these nations think they will survive independently? They don't meet any criteria to join the EU. The Northern Ireland situation is an obvious one, but it doesn't sound much like Ireland want to take on the burden. Scotland's oil is privately owned. Wales has almost no industry left. It would be economically devastating, wouldn't it?