Cumbria will remain Scotland's closest friend, Alex Salmond to tell Carlisle meetingScotland's First Minister Alex Salmond is due to make a landmark speech in Cumbria tonight ahead of the referendum on Scottish independence on September 18.
The Scottish National Party leader has deliberately chosen St George’s Day to deliver the message that an independent Scotland would retain strong links with the rest of the UK.
He will say: “The ties that bind the nations of these islands will continue and flourish after Scotland becomes independent.
“You will remain Scotland’s closest friends, as well as our closest neighbours. Following independence, the social union between the peoples of these islands will remain.
“People would still live in Annan and work in Carlisle, or live in Penrith and work in Lockerbie.
“Friends and family would continue to visit each other. We would still watch many of the same television programmes.
“People from Scotland and England would still celebrate personal unions – by getting married in Carlisle Cathedral or perhaps by going to Gretna instead.
“On Monday, there were gun salutes in Stirling, Edinburgh and London to mark the Queen’s birthday.
“That would continue, since we would still share a monarchy with the rest of the United Kingdom – just as we did for a century before the Parliamentary Union of 1707, and just as 16 other Commonwealth countries do now.
“Carlisle would still have strong trade and transport links with Scotland. We would continue to share the same currency.
“And we would co-operate on the many issues where we share common interests.”
The First Minister will also say that an independent Scotland will be a powerful economic counterweight to London, helping to rebalance growth across the British Isles.
Mr Salmond will also announce a series of Borderlands economic forums when he deliver his speech to an invited audience of business people at the Fratry, Carlisle Cathedral.
These would take place following a ‘yes’ vote in September’s referendum.
Chancellor George Osborne said in March that an independent Scotland would not remain in a currency union with the rest of the UK – a view rejected by the SNP.
Were Scotland to adopt a different currency, it would potentially create a headache for those who live on one side of the border and work on the other.
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(I guess that is not going to happen) Or we could dig our country up for the masses of coal reserves that lay underneath and turn it into something looking like a "Mad Max" film, then you could all come to see Wales - not for its beautiful scenery but to see what a nuclear disaster area looks like. On a more serious side apparently there are (that word again) "Trillions" of "Tons Or Tonnes/whatever" of coal reserves under the coast line, maybe that is doable and something to build on. Having seen the state of the country when coal was about, (it was visually f%C*!*g awful) along with a dreadful/dangerous way of earning a living, so that is not going to happen any time soon with todays namby pamby workforce. It will take someone with more brain power and ambition than me to sort that one out, but with Scotland I see a very big opportunity for them to do something for the U.K and themselves as a whole.