Examine from an economic perspective Scotlands position in Europe in Essay

Examine from an economic perspective Scotlands position in Europe in relation to the recent Scottish independence referendum. Based upon your analysis which way should we have voted - Essay Example To begin with, the Scotland’s referendum vote in 2014 was a historic turning point for the entire Britain and Europe as a whole. Many political leaders and other influential leaders stood up to oppose the independence of Scotland, pointing out the negative impacts that this could cause to the European economy (Castells 2014, p. 23). For instance, this response was motivated by many leaders due to the fear that separation of Scotland from Europe would worsen the economic predicaments not only in Europe but also drag the entire United Kingdom. Amid predicted that a Yes Vote to Scotland’s independence would result in a decrease in the pound’s value to 15 percent, which is approximately 17 billion pounds of UK shares (Tindal, McCollum & Bell 2014, p. 89). Bonds as well as other financial assets were already sold by investors, thus negatively affecting the European economy at large (Furby 2012, p. 67). For instance, the Times revealed that the fear of Scotland’ s independence resulted in sell-off of many British investments. One of the impacts of independence referendum is all about oil production. U.K is the leading producer of oil in Europe and most of its oil comes from areas that Scotland’s independence claimed. The independence of Scotland from this perspective would cause a lot of harm to the economy of Europe. United Kingdom is likely to grab a share of the current oil production and reserves. This will result in Scotland remaining with oil that is worth  £1.5 trillion. Secondly, massive financial industry of Scotland seems ready to collapse if voters could prefer a Yes vote. The biggest banking and insurance companies such as RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) had decided to move their headquarters, including other departments of their operations to England if the voters of Scotland had chosen independence. The financial sector offers employment to approximately 100,000