Scottish passports and the Scottish-English border
Most people have assumed that an independent Scotland won’t introduce passport controls at the Scottish-English border.
I’m sure that’s not the intention, but as a blog posting on Better Nation pointed out today, Scotland will probably have to join Schengen at some point post-independence, simply because England will be seen as the continuation of the UK, so Scotland will be treated as a new EU member, and they generally don’t get many opt-outs (which will also mean that Scotland will eventually need to join the Euro).
Personally I’d be delighted if Scotland joined Schengen, given that we tend to travel much more often to Schengen countries (such as Denmark, Germany, France and Italy) than to England. Who knows, it might even convince the English to join, too.
Writing this blog posting, I was a bit surprised that I couldn’t find a realistic mock-up of what Scottish passports will look post-independence, given that the layout of EU passports is heavily regulated.
It didn’t take me long to make one myself in the Gimp, though. I made the assumption that it’ll be the lion rampant that will be on the front page, although it might of course be some other emblem.
Isn’t the Lyon Rampant the Queen’s property and usable by individuals only on the penalty of death? What’s wrong with St Andrew’s Cross?
According to Wikipedia, the Lion Rampant “is technically the property of the monarch and its use by anybody else is illegal, although this is almost universally ignored, and never enforced.”
As for using the saltire, I’m not sure it would look very impressive when printed in gold on burgundy.
If I had to use something different, I’d probably use a thistle instead.
Why does it have to be gold on burgundy? can we no have it silver on dark blue?
EU countries have to use gold on burgundy. Non-EU countries typically use anything other than gold on burgundy.
I am 100% in favour of independence and will vote YES no matter what. However I think we need to draw from the example of Norway and stay out of Europe I strongly believe that Norway are a successful small nation BECAUSE they are outside Europe and that nations like Greece and Ireland are suffering for being part of that Union. I think we could get the benefits of Free Trade without the Franco/German drive towards full political union (United States of Europe) by joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). To me it does not make sense to escape from one political union to run head long into another (If we lose the referendum I think this will be the issue that causes us the most trouble). Therefore for me the passport needs to lose the words “European Union & obviously Aonadh Eòrpach,” turn Blue with the Royal Standard super imposed in the centre of the passport.
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Try
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/4341-a-unionist-lexicon-an-a-z-of-unionist-scare-stories-myths-and-misinformation#borderd
for answers to the Schengen, Euro and Englamd being seen as the continuation of the UK rumours / myths. Nice passport though. Cheers.