There are indications that the EU would welcome an application from an independent Scotland. Full membership of the EU may take up to a decade to complete.
How a border will be handled and its potential economic impacts need some serious analysis from the Scottish Government. The fact that Scotland’s trade with rUK is three times that with the EU means it looks like the short- term economic impact of a harder border would be negative.
In the early stages of independence an interim agreement will be needed. With full independence achieved, a border of some sort between rUK and Scotland will be needed.
Failure to sort out the current border chaos would mean the UK economy would be in free-fall and, given that Scotland exports more than twice the amount of goods per head than rUK, our economy would be hardest hit.
“We must think of self-governing Scotland as an independent legal jurisdiction which has internationally recognised legal boundaries.
While opinion polls in the past few months have recorded unprecedented and sustained support for independence in Scotland, economists said the short to medium term economic and fiscal difficulties of leaving the UK look substantially greater than they did when voters rejected the idea in 2014.
With every passing election, Scotland seems to move closer to independence. Investment Monitor explores the obstacles the country would face should it leave the UK.