Thread by @EveryCountry

Consider, for a moment, what it would be like if 51.9% of those who voted in the Scottish referendum had voted YES… off the back of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon making utterly unrealistic promises to the Scottish people. /1

£350m extra a week for the health service, loads more trade and investment (from... somewhere!) and Edinburgh being in a position to dictate terms to London. They tell people that they “hold all the cards” and that “London needs us more than we need London”. /2

The rest of the UK (rUK) graciously accept the decision, and try not to grumble about it too much, even though it will negatively impact the British economy, everyone knowing it will negatively impact the Scottish economy a lot more. /3

But then the Scottish government lose the plot, demand a border between the two countries, different regulations, safety standards etc… /4

They demand every English-born Scot register with the government in Holyrood, and if they ever leave Scotland for more than two years in the future, they’ll not be allowed to return back to their own home. /5

And then it emerges that YES cheated.

And they didn’t just cheat, they BROKE THE F---ING LAW.

On FOUR separate occasions.

Stolen data. Unsolicited text messages. Nefarious foreign interference. A massive 10% overspend for a 2% vote swing. /6

Any Scot complaining about this is shouted down as being “undemocratic” and a “traitor”. /7

Yet London handles everything with elegance and candour, declaring it "a matter for the Scots", even though English, Welsh and Northern Irish citizens living in Scotland are now facing abuse, being told to “piss off back where they came from”. /8

And now, TWO DAYS before the two countries are due to go their separate ways, Holyrood can STILL not agree amongst itself what it wants, risking Scotland not having a withdrawal agreement with the rUK. /9

This would mean the rUK would have to apply incredibly punitive tariffs on everything coming across the border into Cumbria or Northumberland – a 20% mark-up on whisky alone. /10

If the rUK didn’t do this, it would, under WTO rules, have to zero tariffs on all goods coming from every other country in the world, utterly decimating its own manufacturing industry and agricultural sector in the process. /11

The rUK looks on, heartbroken, as Scotland immolates itself on an altar of broken promises, dirty money and a catastrophic failure of leadership.

How would you feel about that? /12