"Don't quote me on that!" - Anarcho-Socialist - SNP wanting best of both worlds, or having to face reality?

SNP plan to influence Westminster

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is to outline details of his plan for the SNP to wield greater influence at Westminster.

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Mr Salmond has set a target for the party to boost its tally of MPs from seven to at least 20. The SNP leader said that could mean the nationalists holding the balance of power at Westminster in a hung parliament situation, when it came to reserved issues which affect Scotland.

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Mr Salmond believes he can extract more money for Scotland from the treasury by promising his MPs' support on an issue-by-issue basis to whichever party forms the next Westminster government.

The nationalists said that in the event of an emergency UK Budget after the election, the so-called "block" of increased SNP MPs could secure funding to help Scotland out of the recession.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/831180...

So instead of talking about referenda and separatism, the SNP are talking about a bigger Westminster grant for Scotland.

The reality being that the costs of splitting the Union are unwilling and unable to be met by a Scottish Government. This is for the following reasons:

* The SNP believed a Scottish state could be maintained by an emulation of the Celtic Tiger economy, and this economic model has now imploded
* With no prospect of emulating the de-regulated bubble economy of Ireland, finance capital is less willing to support independence (finance capital being actively courted by the SNP before the recession)
* Tax revenue is drying up due to the recession/depression
* The collapse in oil prices has in turn collapsed expectations about revenue that a Scottish state could earn from oil.

The pragmatism of the SNP reflect the actions of the Bloc Quebecois in the Canadian House of Commons, where the Bloc have propped-up minority Liberal and Tory governments on a case-by-case basis in return for specfic concessions.