Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Scotland

  • Three Things to Watch in Britain’s Local Elections

    Bristol England
    Aerial view of Bristol, England (Shutterstock)

    Scotland’s will be the most closely watched election, but voters across the UK go to the polls on Thursday.

    In addition to the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, all sixty seats in the Welsh Assembly, all 25 seats in the London Assembly, thirteen mayoralties and thousands of seats in 143 English councils are contested.

    There is also a parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool, which has voted Labour since the constituency was created in 1974.

    Polls opened at 7 AM local time and will close at 10 PM. Due to coronavirus restrictions, many localities won’t start counting votes until Friday. Full results aren’t expected until the weekend.

    Here are three things to watch: (more…)

  • The Arguments For and Against Scottish Independence

    Eilean Donan Castle Scotland
    Eilean Donan Castle in the western Highlands of Scotland (Unsplash/Manu Bravo)

    Scotland’s ruling National Party (SNP) has staked a second independence referendum on the outcome of Thursday’s election. If separatists defend their majority in the Scottish Parliament — in addition to the SNP, the Greens favor independence — they propose to hold another vote even over the objections of London.

    Scots voted 55 to 45 percent against dissolving the United Kingdom in 2014. Nationalists argue Brexit has changed the calculation. 62 percent of Scots voted to remain in the EU in 2016. They were overruled by majorities in England and Wales. Polls found majorities in Scotland for leaving the UK and rejoining the EU through 2020 and early 2021. Unionists have recently closed the gap. But the SNP is still faraway in first place in election polls with up to 50 percent support.

    There are many arguments for and against independence, and each one could be debated at length. I’ll summarize what I find to be the most persuasive ones. (more…)

  • Scotland Is a Country!

    Scotland flag
    Flag of Scotland (Paul Morgan)

    My most recent article about Scottish independence, from last summer, got more than a hundred angry replies on Twitter today.

    Not a lot of substantive comments, unfortunately, although I had good discussions with those Scots who argued I had overstated the risks of dissolution and underestimated the opportunities.

    No, nearly all replies hounded me for describing Scotland as a “region” and not a “country”, which I know it is.

    The reason I use “country” as well as “region” is that Scotland’s constitutional status — a country within a country — can be confusing to readers who aren’t familiar with the UK. That’s all. I meant no offense. (more…)

  • Should Scotland Become Independent?

    Unicorn Edinburgh Scotland
    Statue of a Scottish unicorn in Edinburgh, March 11, 2014 (byronv2)

    Scottish public opinion is shifting in favor of independence with several recent polls giving the separatists a 1- to 7-point lead.

    Independence lost in the 2014 referendum by 10 points, but Britain’s exit from the European Union, and the growing likelihood that it will end the year without a trade deal to replace its access to the European single market, has many Scots wondering if they might not be better off leaving the UK in order to rejoin to EU.

    The answer is probably still no. (more…)

  • Price of Brexit May Be United Kingdom Itself

    British parliament London
    Westminster Palace in London, England (Unsplash/Matt Milton)

    Britain’s Conservatives won the election this month, but it may come at the expense of the union of the United Kingdom their party — which has “Unionist” in its name — is sworn to protect.

    Conservatives neglected their responsibility to the union by calling the EU referendum in the first place. David Cameron hoped to resolve an intraparty dispute over Europe. He ended up dividing the four nations of the UK. Majorities in Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU. They were outvoted by majorities in England and Wales.

    Rather than attempt a “soft” Brexit that might appease Scots and prevent either a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland or regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, Cameron’s successors Theresa May and Boris Johnson negotiated a hard break: leaving the European customs union and single market in order to regain full control over immigration and economic policy.

    The price could be Scottish independence and Irish unification, making Britain smaller than it has been in three centuries — and making a mockery of Brexiteers’ aspiration to lead a “Global Britain” outside the EU. (more…)

  • Second Scottish Referendum Should Wait

    Edinburgh Scotland
    Night falls on Edinburgh, Scotland (Unsplash/Jack Barton)

    Scotland’s National Party is arguing for a second independence referendum after gaining seats in Britain’s general election on Thursday.

    Party leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon believes she has a mandate and Britain’s imminent departure from the EU changes the situation from 2014, when Scots rejected independence 55 to 45 percent.

    She is right on the first point, but not yet on the second. (more…)

  • Northern Irish, Scots Would Rather Stay in EU Than UK

    United Kingdom flags
    Flags of the United Kingdom, Scotland and the Shetland Islands in Sumburgh, July 3, 2014 (Julien Carnot)

    Without an agreement to regulate Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, a majority of Northern Irish and Scots would rather remain in the bloc than in the United Kingdom.

    Even with the deal Prime Minister Theresa May has negotiated, which provides for a two-year transition out of the EU and avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a majority of Scots would prefer to break away from the UK. (more…)

  • Germany Approves Russian Pipeline, Five Stars Call for Deal with League

    German regulators have approved the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would help Russia bypass Ukraine and its other former satellite states in Eastern Europe.

    Germany and the Netherlands, the two main beneficiaries of the pipeline, are virtually isolated in Europe in their support for it.

    Nord Stream 2 would double the capacity of the existing Baltic Sea pipeline, but it makes no economic sense. Russia uses perhaps 60 percent of its existing pipeline capacity. The only reason for adding a connection is that Russia wants to be able to blackmail Ukraine without interrupting its gas supply to the rest of Europe.

    Regulators in Denmark, Finland and Sweden still need to sign off on the project. (more…)

  • If Northern Ireland Gets Special Deal, London and Scotland Want One Too

    Eilean Donan Castle Scotland
    Eilean Donan Castle in the western Highlands of Scotland (Unsplash/Manu Bravo)

    The leaders of London and Scotland have called for special status if Northern Ireland is somehow partially exempt from Brexit.

    Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, tweets:

    Londoners overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU and a similar deal here could protect tens of thousands of jobs.

    Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, agrees:

    If one part of UK can retain regulatory alignment with EU and effectively stay in the single market (which is the right solution for Northern Ireland) there is surely no good practical reason why others can’t.

    A majority of Scots also to stay in the EU last year. Like Londoners, they were overruled by majorities in favor of Brexit in England and Wales. (more…)

  • Conservatives Have Neglected Their Responsibility to the Union

    United Kingdom flags
    Flags of the United Kingdom, Scotland and the Shetland Islands in Sumburgh, July 3, 2014 (Julien Carnot)

    The full name of Britain’s ruling party is the Conservative and Unionist Party, but you wouldn’t know it from the way they have governed lately.

    Most recently, they struck a bargain with the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland that has upset the balance of power in the province.

    Securing £1 billion in extra funding and political influence in Westminster has given the DUP a leg up in talks with Sinn Féin, which seeks a united Ireland.

    The two parties had until this afternoon to restore a power-sharing agreement that mandates the participation of unionist and nationalist parties. They failed and home rule could now be rescinded, which would make a bad situation worse.

    Even if the deadline is extended and the parties do get back together, the next few years are going to be difficult as the Conservatives will be leading the whole United Kingdom out of the EU. (more…)

  • Scotland Delays Independence Plans in Wake of Election Defeat

    Scotland’s ruling nationalists have delayed plans for a second independence referendum with Nicola Sturgeon, the regional first minister, arguing it is “too soon right now” to make a decision.

    The climbdown comes after the Scottish National Party went down from 50 to 37 percent support in parliamentary elections.

    Sturgeon had called for another referendum to be held in either the autumn of 2018 or the spring of 2019, just before Britain is due to leave the European Union.

    On Tuesday, she told lawmakers she would push back the legislation until at least the autumn of next year.

    Scotland would still need permission from the central government in London for a legally binding vote to be held.

    The last referendum was in 2014. 55 percent of Scots voted against breaking away from the United Kingdom at the time. (more…)

  • Second Scottish Referendum Unlikely After Voters Punish SNP

    Edinburgh Scotland
    Skyline of Edinburgh, Scotland (Unsplash/Joe Tree)

    A second Scottish independence referendum seems unlikely after the region’s separatists lost almost half their seats in Britain’s general election.

    The Scottish National Party won 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Westminster in 2015 but lost 21 of them on Thursday.

    Among those defeated were Angus Robertson, the SNP frontman, and Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland. (more…)

  • What Britain’s General Election Result Means

    Whitehall London England
    View of the Houses of Parliament from Whitehall in London, England (Shutterstock/Alan Copson)

    Britain’s ruling Conservatives are projected to lose control of Parliament. The exit poll for Thursday’s election shows them falling from 330 to 314 seats. Twelve more are needed for a majority.

    Assuming the exit poll isn’t too far off, what does this mean for Britain’s next government, its major political parties and the process of divorcing the United Kingdom from the EU? (more…)

  • Voters Notice SNP Has Neglected Education, Health Care

    Nicola Sturgeon
    First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland gives a speech in Tweedbank, September 9, 2015 (Scottish Government)

    Chris Deerin reports for the New Statesman that Scottish voters are starting to notice the ruling National Party (SNP) has neglected good governance in favor of the independence cause:

    Its raison d’etre is independence; everything else — literally everything else — is just another brick to build the path. And so education reform cannot be either radical or unpopular, even if it needs to be so to work, because the SNP cannot afford to alienate teachers or the teaching unions or parents. Bricks, you see. Same with the NHS and doctors and health unions and patients. All the separatists have done — all they could have done, given their nature — is deploy the rhetoric of the radical while in reality body-swerving hard choices and conflict at any cost. And where they have found themselves taking flak, they’ve pointed south to Westminster: “it’s no’ our fault, it’s theirs”.

    I’ve been surprised in the past when Scottish voters were willing to overlook the SNP’s failures in education and health care, so I can only welcome this development. It isn’t healthy for one issue — independence — to trump all else and the SNP really has dropped the ball in crucial areas. (more…)

  • Scotland Calls for Second Referendum: Why and Why Now?

    Scotland flag
    Flag of Scotland (Paul Morgan)

    Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to hold a second independence referendum for the region in either late 2018 or early 2019.

    The announcement comes days before the United Kingdom is expected to formally inform its allies in the European Union that it intends to withdraw from the body. Such a notification would trigger a two-year divorce process. If Sturgeon gets her way, that means Scots would be asked to choose between the EU and the United Kingdom by the time the terms of “Brexit” are known.

    Sturgeon and a majority of Scots elected to remain in the EU in a referendum last year. They were outvoted by majorities in England and Wales.

    The first minister told reporters in Edinburgh on Monday that she would do her utmost to represent Scotland’s interests in the negotiations with the EU.

    But, she added, “I cannot pretend to the Scottish people that a compromise agreement looks remotely likely given the hardline response from the prime minister so far.” (more…)