My View: The Next Stage Must Be Full Devo-Max

• Holyrood in charge of almost everything domestic - health, education, justice, housing, most tax and welfare, economic development, energy, environment. • Westminster keeping really only defence, foreign affairs, currency and macro framework. 

That means Section 35 orders and the UK Internal Market Act 2020 fall away - those areas wouldn't be reserved anymore.

Why it still isn't independence - yet:

1. Sovereignty. Under the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Parliament exists because Westminster says it exists.  2. Entrenchment. For it to be "they couldn't pull out of it" it would need to be entrenched. A new Act that removes Section 35, repeals the Internal Market Act for Scotland, and includes a legal lock - requiring consent of Holyrood and maybe a referendum before it could be changed. The Sewel Convention is political, not legally enforceable - Supreme Court confirmed that in 2017. 

MY 3 NON-NEGOTIABLES TO LOCK IT IN:

1. WESTMINSTER STAYS OUT. FULL STOP. No Section 35, no Internal Market Act backdoor. Entrenched in law.  2. THE MONEY STAYS HERE. Every penny Westminster takes from Scotland remains here. All taxes, plus oil, gas, and green energy. Scotland has approx 25% of Europe's offshore wind resource - the new oil. No more Barnett Formula. No more pocket money narrative.  3. WE PAY OUR WAY - THEY PAY TO CROSS THE BORDER. We pay a fee for shared services we choose. They pay market rate for our energy to keep the lights on in London.

1. WESTMINSTER STAYS OUT. FULL STOP. No Section 35, no Internal Market Act backdoor. Entrenched in law.  2. THE MONEY STAYS HERE. Every penny Westminster takes from Scotland remains here. All taxes, plus oil, gas, and green energy. Scotland has approx 25% of Europe's offshore wind resource - the new oil. No more Barnett Formula. No more pocket money narrative.  3. WE PAY OUR WAY - THEY PAY TO CROSS THE BORDER. We pay a fee for shared services we choose. They pay market rate for our energy to keep the lights on in London.

Westminster has taken more than £300 billion in tax from North Sea oil since the 1970s. Up to £1.5 trillion worth still lies under Scottish waters. 90% of UK oil reserves lie in Scotland's waters. In 2023-24, 80% of North Sea revenue came from Scottish waters. Scotland's oil industry is 56% of the UK oil economy - £14bn of £25bn. 

Without Scotland, UK becomes an energy importer. It loses energy security, it loses trade balance, it loses tax base.

UK nuclear weapons are at Faslane and Coulport in Scotland. Westminster's own Defence Committee said:

"identifying and recreating a suitable base to replace Faslane and Coulport would be highly problematic, very expensive and fraught with political difficulties."

"Few if any alternative options appear to exist"

"Scottish opposition to Trident remaining at Faslane will cause near insurmountable difficulties. It would be virtually impossible to move"

RUSI estimate: £3.5bn to move to Plymouth - and still nowhere suitable.

If Scotland says No Nukes, UK has to disarm. Lose nukes = lose permanent seat on UN Security Council credibility. Lose US special relationship. That's why Washington wants Westminster to say No.

That's why they say No.