"If the status quo came carbonated in a can, I’d shake things up."- Jarod Kintz (1982 - )
From the Highlands to the Lowlands and all the lands in between, the historic vote for Scottish independence has resulted in a resounding "AYE" for keeping the United Kingdom united.
More than 2 million of the 3.6 million voters that turned out for this momentous plebiscite cast their ballots against the dissolution of the Acts of Union that have bound Scotland and England for three centuries. Predictably, the districts that came back with the highest pro-Union vote were those whose southern frontiers form the Anglo-Scottish border, returning an average of 65.2 per cent against secession. Only four of the 32 voting districts returned a pro-separation vote.
One of the shocks of the night came from the Scottish National Party stronghold of Aberdeenshire, where 60.4 per cent of the 180,045 votes cast were secured by the NO campaign.
Home to half of the UK’s oil and gas workforce, Aberdeenshire generates some 28 per cent of Scotland’s $212.4 billion annual GDP, yet accounts for a mere four per cent of the country’s populace. In many ways, Britain’s oil and gas industry voted NO.
Perhaps it was the multicultural makeup of Aberdeen, "Scotland’s London", its transient migrant personnel, the concerns of an ageing workforce over pensions security or the innate conservatism of those working in an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it type of industry that swayed the black gold vote. Maybe it was all of them combined?
At the end of the day, whether it be rhetoric, demagoguery or somewhere in between, once the battle lines are drawn in a war of fact and opinion, the status quo is always the greatest shelter and solace. Once bought, most people prefer their fizzy drinks to stay in the can….
Tim Haðdar is the Editor In Chief at Oil & Gas IQ. Reach Him At Twitter Or OGIQ
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