Why UK wants Scotland to stay: Yes or No – You Decide

Robin and Adam kindly agreed to debate the case for Yes and No at the Gazette’s Independence Debate in Lanark Memorial Hall on May 26.

They were only too happy to answer questions posed by our readers that we couldn’t quite get through on the night, thanks to a heated meeting which 420 people attended!

So, just a matter of hours before Carluke and Lanark Gazette readers go to the polls to decide on independence, we’re bringing you their responses.

Each hour on the hour, between 8am and 10pm today, we’ll post one of the answers to a question posed by a Gazette reader.

For each question posed, we will give one opinion from the Yes camp and one from the No camp.

Question: Why does the United Kingdom want Scotland to remain in the union?

Robin McAlpine, Yes campaign: We have the oil wealth, most of the northern territorial waters of the EU and very high exports, which disguise the poor performance of the rest of the UK economy. We are a useful dumping ground for their nuclear weapons. Our Highlands offer a very profitable investment opportunity for the rich who own our land. We have many of the top private schools they send their children to. We contribute troops to die in their wars. Scotland is very useful to them indeed. If only they demonstrated more care and concern about the people of Scotland.

Professor Adam Tomkins, No campaign: The range of reasons is as broad on this side of the argument as is the range of reasons given on the other side in favour of independence. Among this broad range of reasons, I would have thought that two stand out: (a) a sense that we are all citizens of the same country, which we do not wish to be broken up; and (b) a sense that our common security is better achieved by remaining together.