What if Scotland votes No?

In the referendum debate, we often hear statistics comparing Scotland, especially its economy, with that of the UK. It is now accepted that Scotland, with or without oil revenues, is a wealthy country. Even when the two campaigns present contradictory evidence, the difference between the two campaigns is usually just a few percentage points of the total economy.

If we vote No, we are not endorsing the status quo, we have been told this by all three UK parties. Many of the financial and policy arrangements currently in place in the UK will change in future. Those of us in the Yes camp regularly point out the dangers of voting No and leaving control of Scotland's economy in Westminster's hands.

The one thing that will definitely change if we vote No is that Scotland will be giving up, for a few years at least, the threat that we can withdraw our consent from the UK and opt for an independent Scotland. What a No vote is saying to Westminster is we're happy to be treated as a region of the UK.

Fortunately, if we have any concerns about what this means, we don't need to look to the future. All we need do is look at how Westminster serves the other parts of the UK at present, the ones that haven't had the negotiating power Scotland preserved for itself in 1707, but which is threatened by a No vote.

Now 'Inequality Briefing 43'  provides evidence of what that the absence of a constitutional counter-weight to London means for regions of the UK. Not surprisingly, Inner London is revealed to be the richest region in the EU, with GDP per head at three times the European average. More worrying is the evidence of just how much more geographically unequal the UK is compared to other leading European countries.

Data produced by Eurostat, the data agency of the European Union, shows that GDP per head in the poorest UK regions is lower than any region of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, Sweden, Finland or Denmark.

If you are thinking of voting No, we trust this glimpse of what could be Scotland's future gives you pause for thought!

Eurostat measured GDP per head in regions across the EU, taking into account the different prices in different regions. The full data is available from here.