If pro-independence parties win tomorrow

England would be better off.

If the other countries really want to leave, they should be careful what they wish for. England would play hard ball. No pound so they would need their own currency (not just my idea Bank of England has said so), or to adopt the euro which cones with lots of strings. National debt split, no clean slate for them. No pension and welfare money. I believe all would go bust in a year or two as the run large budget unsustainable budget deficits. Living standards will fall. Healthcare and benefits would have to be cut.

If I remember rightly it was said for Scotland there would be a border. I assume the same would apply elsewhere.

There would be different passports.

Each would have to negotiate their own trade agreements. Economies of each are too small to have much leverage.

Defence bases would move to England losing more revenue. Shipbuilding would move to England, it won't be in Scotland d for military vessels (this was stated in the last Scottish referendum).

England would largely continue as it is. It would not be ideal though.

Scotland would have to drill for oil.

NI would have to merge with Ireland. I think Wales would just fail.

It would not be good. It could be done, but it is a fantasy to think people would be better off.

England would quite probably go right, probably even more than it is going to go anyway now.

The main winners would be our enemies as overall influence would be less.

You are thinking about it the wrong way. I don’t think anyone seeking independence is thinking it would lead to people being better off. It’s about making our own decisions. For better or worse.

I think Wales and Scotland would be happy having the clout of those countries you mentioned. We don’t really have any as it stands anyway. I also think England isn’t as important in the modern world as it thinks. 

I was not trying to be contentious. I supported Brexit for a number of reasons. The desire to be self-governed is reasonable. But there are practicalities. And the English regions dislike having no voice as much as everyone else in a London centric system.

People can be self governing if they want. But that normally means control of tax and ability to issue debt. If that happens then there are issues of currency since England won't underwrite another country's debt.

You then have the budget to consider. Scotland is running a 11.6% deficit, including a geographic share of oil revenue. 3% is the max sustainable level considered by the EU. The UK is at 5.1%, similar to France but below the US. 11% is not going to work. 

Wales is harder to get a good feeling for without spending lots of time. A lot depends on what the UK would agree to continue paying for, like pension liabilities. But it may be more sustainable than I thought. However there is no reason to expect England would accept all the liabilities for the UK. [Edit: removed dodgy stats. It needs more time to get good ones.]

The economic issues are not trivial but are often ignored. People may want independence, but not worse hospitals or lower benefits etc.

The UK got away with leaving the EU as it is big enough, it was forecast to be c. 2% hit, which is a reasonable recession. Not fun but survivable.

If there were to be a federal UK instead, then there would be an English Parliament. But England gas 85% of the GDP of the UK, do it would unavoidably unbalanced.

The other countries could end up with less influence. Scotland is significantly overrepresented in the House of Commons at the moment for example. In a federal parliament it would likely have less.

There are real economic and political problems, as well as long term liability issues.  Anything that has been together for centuries is hard to separate. It is possible of course, but not without more consequences than politicians would admit. I

You also have the issue of where investment would go. You could have a race to the bottom on business rates and taxes, to dissuade investment from going to England, but that would be even worse if you want to maintain the current size of the state.

If people really want this, then there should be an honest debate. Emotions are fine, but economics dictate whether it works in practice. 

It's why I said that I think some sort of federalisation of the UK would be better, with the House of Commons being turned into the English parliament and a reformed and elected second chamber focussing on things of joint importance, like national security, foreign policy and major cross boarder infrastructure. 

I do think the case for more regional devolution in Egland is becomeing overwhelming, elected mayors are good, but I'm not sure they have enough power to do anything but tinker around the edges. GBS's point about Wales having things like wind turbines foisted on it, is a good one, there are still memories of a whole vally and village that was sunk to make a reservoir for Liverpool around this part of Wales. Thing is I'm not sure that some English regions aren't treated with similar contempt for local feelings. Obviously something like a wind farm will always be contravercial, but it's something we have to deal with as we do really need to move away from fosil fuels. I think it would help if the people living in areas with this sort of infrastructure actually benefitted from it with lower bills or something? Taking Orkney as an example they generate a huge amount of  renewable energy, but dont' behefit from it, they have higher bills because of where they are and many are in fuel poverty, reliant on LPG and oil for heating, theres no gas places like like that, it's to expensive to lay pipes. Such places are also more likely to suffer from power cuts because of overhead power lines.

I think Plaid want some leverage in Westminster as theres a need for a fairer settlement for Wales, as you say so many people retire here which is great whilst they're fit and active, but it's so hard when people get older and show the ailments of old age, elderly services are under pressure everywhere, but it's even more acute when so many people have no family nearby to help out with things like getting to medical appointments, theres a problem getting enough carers both for homes and in the community, the distances for community carers to travel can be huge and the pay dosent' in any way compensate for the cost of a reliable vehicle, travel expenses or anything. Our hospitals and can get easily overwhelmed by the number of people who can't go home because home isn't suitable and there;s no one to look after them. I know this isn't just a Welsh problem, but it does become more noticable when you have such a high number of retirerees and a low number of working age people 

It's why I said that I think some sort of federalisation of the UK would be better, with the House of Commons being turned into the English parliament and a reformed and elected second chamber focussing on things of joint importance, like national security, foreign policy and major cross boarder infrastructure. 

I do think the case for more regional devolution in Egland is becomeing overwhelming, elected mayors are good, but I'm not sure they have enough power to do anything but tinker around the edges. GBS's point about Wales having things like wind turbines foisted on it, is a good one, there are still memories of a whole vally and village that was sunk to make a reservoir for Liverpool around this part of Wales. Thing is I'm not sure that some English regions aren't treated with similar contempt for local feelings. Obviously something like a wind farm will always be contravercial, but it's something we have to deal with as we do really need to move away from fosil fuels. I think it would help if the people living in areas with this sort of infrastructure actually benefitted from it with lower bills or something? Taking Orkney as an example they generate a huge amount of  renewable energy, but dont' behefit from it, they have higher bills because of where they are and many are in fuel poverty, reliant on LPG and oil for heating, theres no gas places like like that, it's to expensive to lay pipes. Such places are also more likely to suffer from power cuts because of overhead power lines.

I think Plaid want some leverage in Westminster as theres a need for a fairer settlement for Wales, as you say so many people retire here which is great whilst they're fit and active, but it's so hard when people get older and show the ailments of old age, elderly services are under pressure everywhere, but it's even more acute when so many people have no family nearby to help out with things like getting to medical appointments, theres a problem getting enough carers both for homes and in the community, the distances for community carers to travel can be huge and the pay dosent' in any way compensate for the cost of a reliable vehicle, travel expenses or anything. Our hospitals and can get easily overwhelmed by the number of people who can't go home because home isn't suitable and there;s no one to look after them. I know this isn't just a Welsh problem, but it does become more noticable when you have such a high number of retirerees and a low number of working age people