To those who feared that "little" Scotland could not manage on its own in that big, bad outside world, Mr Salmond always used to say: "Don't worry – we'll be all right inside the EU." No longer. Demands from the opposition parties for a clear statement about his current policy on Europe are now met only with vacillation.
Just as when his admiration for countries like Ireland and Iceland in the so-called "arc of prosperity" turned sour when the banks crashed, so events in Europe are conspiring to make a laughing stock of another plank in his platform for separation
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, hit out at the cuts in days at sea, saying: "While fishing opportunity in terms of tonnage has always been vital, this time around it was the granting of enough time at sea to actually catch the fish that was under threat.
"This is a bitter blow for our fishing fleet, which is now going to struggle to maintain economic viability under the impact of these totally unwarranted cuts.
"Effort control (by cutting days at sea) is fundamentally flawed as a fisheries management measure and the Commission has totally ignored the real progress in stock conservation in Scotland in recent years through unilateral conservation measures that have helped boost stock recovery. Our whole industry is now facing a very difficult future."
BTW . Will an independent scotland repay the bailout money to "english taxpayers " , that rescued RBS & HBOS .
Both are registered in scotland , so they are scottish companies !
