Scottish Vote

[woolleysheep]

if the vote is yes for independence will we need a passport to visit Scotland

[DTCwordfan]

Wrong - because those passport people could be used to inspect more vehicles, trucks and their containers, railcoaches, etc.

[New Judge]

What are you suggesting, DT? What "passport people" and where will they carry out these checks?

[DTCwordfan]

Ferry port and airport people who work on checking passports on Brits and Europeans - retrained to conduct inspections of vehicles, etc etc - and that is permitted by Schengen at one's frontiers, both on incoming and outgoing transport.

[New Judge]

Sorry, DT, but you don't seem to quite have the hang of the principles of the Schengen agreement. The European Commission's own website (no fear of "Daily Mail" bias) explains all here:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen/index_en.htm

In particular:

"Any person, irrespective of nationality, may cross the internal borders without being subjected to border checks. However, the competent national authorities can carry out police checks also at the internal borders and in border areas, provided that such checks are not equivalent to border checks. This is valid for cases when, in particular, the checks do not have border control as an objective and are based on general police information and experience. It's also valid when the checks are carried out in a manner clearly distinct from systematic border checks and on the basis of spot-checks. Under such circumstances, the police may for example ask you to identify yourself or pose questions regarding your stay, depending on the purpose of the check."

In view of this, do you really think the UK will be allowed to get away with routinely "conducting inspections of vehicles etc." (as they do now, particularly in places such as Calais) without having them considered "border checks"? Absolutely no chance. Schengen area nations conduct virtually no checks at their borders as the whole idea is to treat the entire area as a single borderless nation. Hence I stand by my contention that the UK is better off out of it and people here need to be aware of what a borderless situation with an independent Scotland as a member of the EU really means.

[DTCwordfan]

Even if the EU is a a customs union where there are no tariffs on importing or exporting goods, when crossing between EU states, individual member states can still enforce customs checks to see that prohibited or controlled items (e.g. narcotics, firearms) do not cross the border in either direction. Customs checks may also be conducted to ensure that passengers or animals being transported do not pose a health or environmental risk. Between any two EEA states, customs checks can happen twice in a single journey: once by the authorities of the outgoing country and another by the authorities of the incoming country.

I would deem illegal immigrants as being that, illegal - and prohibited. So we agree to disagree.

[MattA777]

I hope the Scots see sense- and kick the snp out!
Just pray that my fellow Scots learn by the example of French fishermen’s actions- at least our UK Government can intervene with gunboats.! If Sturgeon gets her way, - what are we going to send if the Icelandic, French and whoever want to illegally fish in Scottish waters? - A few braveheart people on sail boards armed with toy water pistols?