'Referenda are always a gamble': Kenneth Clarke slams David Cameron for allowing Scotland to vote on independence Daily Mail

Ken Clark MP.

Kenneth Clarke has accused David Cameron of ‘taking a gamble’ with the future of the United Kingdom by allowing Scotland a referendum on independence.

The veteran Tory, who left the Cabinet in this month’s reshuffle, made clear his disapproval of the vote on September 18.

‘Referenda are always a gamble,’ warned Mr Clarke. ‘To have big complicated questions decided by one vote on one day is not as good as a continuous process of parliamentary debate.

‘Having risked the future of the United Kingdom, I trust that the good sense of the Scottish people will keep it together. 

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Menace of the new parking cowboys: Drivers 'fined' £100 for overstaying by minutes at fast food chains and shops , Daily Mail

  Tickets doled out  private firms do not have official legal status

  Many are in fact issued unfairly and without the proper legal authority

  AA president Edmund King says many use 'scare tactics and bullying' 

  Drivers cannot be compelled to pay unless a court order is granted 

‘Cowboy’ parking squads hired by High Street firms are hitting hundreds of thousands of drivers with £100 ‘fines’ and using threats to make them pay up.

The companies – employed by fast food chains, retailers and railway operators – issue what appear to be official penalty notices, similar to those used by council traffic wardens. They then extract huge sums from drivers who are sometimes just a few minutes late in returning to their cars.

However, the tickets do not have the same legal standing as official fines.

Many are being issued unfairly and – in some cases – without proper legal authority.

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Additional Story on Parking

Scotland could run out of cash just like Greece, Scottish Sunday Express

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cotland would need to severely downsize its financial sector in order to avoid a major economic crisis if the country votes to break away from the rest of Britain.

According to former Scottish Government economist Florian Baier and former Bank of England economist Erik Britton, an independent Scotland would be left over-reliant on its financial sector and North Sea oil.

The economists’ upcoming paper for Fathom Consulting estimates the country’s banking assets as potential liabilities would be 1,100 per cent of GDP, similar to the liabiities that caused an economic crisis in Iceland in which its government took over three of its largest banks in 2008.

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