Scotland and North Sea Oil

The idea of high speed trains is a good one but, having said that, HS2 does not make any sense to me since the cost of building the whole project is huge and that's only to get to Birmingham. If it went up to the north of Scotland that might be one thing but only to Birmingham, what's the point? Is the reason for stopping at Birmingham because there's no point going further if it is not going to be extended to Scotland? Is the reason for not extending the project to Scotland because of the uncertainty about that country remaining in the UK? The economic case for Scotland going it alone is as bad as the economic case for HS2. Scotland's case is based on its view that it is entitled to 91% of all the oil and gas coming out of the North Sea but that only works if the normal rules that apply to international boundaries are ignored. Why should England agree to abandon those rules which state that the boundary line over the sea should be an extension of the line dividing two countries. As we all know the western boundary between Scotland and England is further south than the eastern boundary between them. Thus extending the line out into the North Sea means a significant part of North Sea oil and gas belongs to England. Even if England were to give into the claim of Mr Salmond and go along with measuring the sea boundary so that Scotland takes 91% of the North Sea oil and gas it seems the economic case for Scottish independence does not add up as the Spectator demonstrates here. Salmond will thus have to base his appeal to his voters on other than economic grounds. Cameron is right to take the referendum bull by the horns on this. There is absolutely no reason why Salmond should rule the referendum agenda - the UK parliament should do so and the UK government should produce all the arguments in favour of Scotland remaining in the UK. If I recall correctly Quebec was desperate to secede from Canada and two referenda were held on the subject which I'm very glad to say the separatists lost on both occasions.