Whatever form our border between Scotland and England takes in the future, it will bring opportunities for all. 

Shared Border, Shared Future is a resource for the many aspects of the Scotland/England Border, with a view to Scotland being a normal, independent country.

Trading in sterling for a transitional period would mean goods from Scotland will avoid currency exchange issues.  If the UK doesn’t sort its borders with the EU, the resulting fall in the value of sterling will mean that trade with the rest of the UK increases, not decreases. Scotland will be the only nation from which rUK can afford to import. Where else would the rUK get the oil, electricity and food it needs from? It will be cheaper and just as easy to import from Scotland.

There may be significant economic costs resulting from independence.  However, there is no reason Scotland cannot prosper as other small nations have. This report looks at the cumulative effect over 15 years.

Independence, then, might be inevitable, but it has to be contemplated with some sense of reality. The reality of Brexit in front of our eyes. Scotland’s freedom from unending Tory rule from London may well be unavoidable. The constitutional position is simply unsustainable. It is intolerable to most of the Scottish people. Can they face another five, 10, 15 years of English Tory rule, even with devolution? Probably not, and they might hope for the best from “global Scotland” as it seizes unnamed exciting new opportunities.

Decisions on independence are balanced between a few elements:

A rebalancing of relations with England outside the EU.

Independence with the objective to join the EU, creating a hard border with England.

Independence outside the EU and some trading arrangement with England.

Independence with membership of EFTA and a softer border with England.

An independent Scotland within the EU would be part of the EU’s single market: England and Wales would be outside.  The border checks may be quite significant. Ireland's experience shows it is clearly possible for a small country to succeed economically in a similar situation to that which would confront an independent Scotland within the EU and establishing a new border.

There are indications that the EU would welcome an application from an independent Scotland. Full membership of the EU may take up to a decade to complete. As a new member state, Scotland would probably have to take on the normal obligations, which may include the use of the Euro.  A hard border with England would be the consequence of EU membership.  Even a looser relationship, similar to Norway, with the EU would require a customs border with England.

How a border will be handled and its potential economic impacts need some serious analysis from the Scottish Government. The fact that Scotland’s trade with rUK is three times that with the EU means it looks like the short- term economic impact of a harder border would be negative. 

But some of those negative impacts might be at least partially offset by benefits from migration and free movement of people, and by foreign investment. 

In the early stages of independence an interim agreement will be needed. With full independence achieved, a border of some sort between rUK and Scotland will be needed. If Scotland were to join the EU an hard border will be required.  Upon joining the EU, trade would be more difficult with rUK, but easier with the rest of Europe.

Failure to sort out the current border chaos would mean the UK economy would be in free-fall and, given that Scotland exports more than twice the amount of goods per head than rUK, our economy would be hardest hit.

An independent Scotland in the EU would have the same border checks as the UK has.  With the right agreement border checks can be electronic, pretty seamless and not physical whether in or out of the EU.  

“We must think of self-governing Scotland as an independent legal jurisdiction which has internationally recognised legal boundaries. A Customs officer at an immobile Customs Station, in an open-borders 21st Century European community, has very little impact and demonstrates how Unionists miss the point, whilst further; successfully confusing our electorate by claiming “hard borders” are a show-stopper when in fact they are very largely irrelevant.”

While opinion polls in the past few months have recorded unprecedented and sustained support for independence in Scotland, economists said the short to medium term economic and fiscal difficulties of leaving the UK look substantially greater than they did when voters rejected the idea in 2014.

With every passing election, Scotland seems to move closer to independence. Investment Monitor explores the obstacles the country would face should it leave the UK.