In 2014, Scotland had a referendum and asked its citizens if they wanted to leave the United Kingdom. Nearly half of them did, but it wasn’t enough to pass.
Two years later the Scottish people voted by a sizable majority for the UK to stay in the European Union. However, those “remain” votes weren’t good enough to accomplish that when compared with England and the rest of the UK.
So what will Scotland do now? According to the Institute for Government, the government in Scotland believes that the country should be given a choice between the UK and the EU when it comes to Brexit and that they are being dragged through Brexit
against their will.
The Scottish government may want another referendum before 2021. However, they must gain approval from the UK government, and Boris Johnson has claimed that he will not grant them another referendum while he is in office. He stated that this was because they already had their referendum in 2014. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recently confirmed that she plans on asking the UK government for another referendum before the end of the year.
From a political point of view, the solidarity between the nations that make up the UK must be held together for the UK to function as a whole. In the chapter, “The United Kingdom” from the book “Solidarity as a Public Virtue?,” Tom Montgomery and Simone Baglioni detail the political-institutional complexities of the relationships between the nations in the UK. The book states that, “solidarity is a legal and constitutional principle in European countries.”
One of the main points of solidarity that holds England and Scotland together is the ruling monarch as the head of state over both countries. In “Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland” published by the Scottish Government in late 2013, the country stated that: “Scotland will remain within the Union of the Crowns with Her Majesty The Queen as our head of state, but we will have a modern, written constitution. And the social ties between Scotland and the rest of the UK will continue and thrive.”
“If and when there is a second independence referendum, I have a feeling that, you know, the question of a head of state will either be open, or that the SNP might even be more forthright about looking to move away from monarchy,” explained Anthony Salamone, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh who focuses on EU, UK, and Scottish politics.
Brexit could be the tipping point for the Scottish government and more people who want to finally leave the United Kingdom.
Find the accompanying audio story on the main page for more details.