In America, when we mention “England,” we often mistakenly refer to the entire United Kingdom. Officially known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the UK includes not only England but also Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
This brings up an intriguing question: Is England shouldering too much of the UK’s burden? Could England thrive more independently if the United Kingdom were to dissolve?
Clive Pinder from The Daily Sceptic offers his perspective on this issue.
The situation in England echoes a familiar pattern seen in the United States, where Republican-led regions are often the economic powerhouses. This economic divide between red and blue states continues to widen. Unlike the vast US, England lacks internal regions to relocate within, unless one considers moving abroad.
Despite this, an independent England would retain London, its economic hub, and maintain a GDP comparable to that of France.
However, England would also continue to face challenges, including managing the significant influx of migrants crossing the Channel from the Third World.
That has a slightly familiar ring to it. Here in the United States, the red (Republican) jurisdictions are the primary drivers of economic activity. That dichotomy, in economic activity, between red and blue is only growing more pronounced as the Great Sorting continues. England, though, is a much smaller nation; there aren’t any really red jurisdictions to flee to, unless one chooses to emigrate.
Even so, England, sans Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, would still have the UK’s primary city and center of economic activity – London – and would still have an economy the size of the economy of France.
The economic numbers are revealing. England already accounts for roughly 85% of UK GDP. Strip away Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and England would still possess an economy of around $3.5 trillion to $3.7 trillion. That would leave it roughly the size of France and still among the seven or eight largest economies on Earth.
More importantly, England’s GDP per head would remain among the richest major nations in the world. London would still be London. One of the planet’s dominant financial capitals, legal centres and cultural magnets. The Bank of England would remain. The City would remain. Most corporate headquarters would remain. Heathrow would not suddenly drift into the North Sea.
Know who else would remain? The hordes of Third World “migrants” that the UK has allowed to flood across the Channel.
