Scottish Referendum 2014

   

On Thursday 18th September Scotland will decide whether or not it wants to be an Independent nation. A Generation ago Independence was a fringe obsession, today it's a mainstream Ambition...

Earlier this week BBC Panorama aired a Documentary looking at the Referendum, which I've broken down into a few paragraphs below. But before we get into that I thought I'd explain Scotland's History with the United Kingdom, and how it came to be a part of the Union. 

                                            Treaty Union 1603

An Act authorising certain Commissioners of the realm of England to treat with Commissioners of Scotland, for the weal of both kingdoms, was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England enacted during the reign of James I. It appointed a commission led by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Ellesmere, to meet and negotiate with a commission which would be appointed by the Parliament of Scotland. The aim of the discussions was to look into the possibility of arranging a formal political union between England and Scotland, going beyond the existing Union of Crowns, and to report back to Parliament. The commission was not effective, however, and similar subsequent proposals also fell flat. The two kingdoms were eventually united over a century later, by the Acts of Union 1707. The Act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, being by this point entirely obsolete. Source

                                             Union Act 1707  

The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate states with separate legislatures, but with the same monarch) into a single, united kingdom named Great Britain.

The two countries had shared a monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head (as opposed to the implied creation of a single Crown and a single Kingdom, exemplified by the later Kingdom of Great Britain). There had been three attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689 to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that both political establishments came to support the idea, albeit for different reasons.

The Acts took effect on 1 May 1707. On this date, the Scottish Parliament and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain, based in the Palace of Westminster in London, the home of the English Parliament. Hence, the Acts are referred to as the Union of the Parliaments. On the Union, the historian Simon Schama said "What began as a hostile merger, would end in a full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world it was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history. Source

                                     Scottish Union History 

For much of the 20th Century Scotland's shared sense of Britishness was Powerful an identity most in Scotland didn't even think about challenging. The idea that the UK was going to be a Welfare state that you could be Proud of, that would look after it's Citizens from cradle to grave was seen as a very creditable mission for the kind of modern British state that was supposed to emerge after the Second World War. Up until the 1970's people in Scotland generally felt that was being achieved but at that point things became to change and move on. In the early 1970's Britain suffered a series of economic shocks, in 1973 a gallon of 4 star doubled in price to hit 73p, standards of living dropped. People started to see that in the post imperial world, they were subject to forces beyond their control. In Scotland north sea oil discovered acquired political symbolism. 

In 1979 when Margaret Thatcher came to power there were 22 Tory MP's from Scotland, Margaret Thatcher set out to make Britain governable, she would represent a radical break with her predecessors and the management of decline. She took on what she saw as the excessive power of the Trade Unions, the Unions that had previously almost brought Britain to a stand still. A turbulent decade long journey lay ahead that would reshape Britain and Scotland's place in it. 

In 1984 there were 21.000 coal miners in Scotland, now there are a few hundred. When the miners took on the Thatcher government, the Thatcher government won. Britain was an island of coal, it was built on coal, a coal like Empire which was a shared British experience, a common enterprise. These industrial communities were tough places for the SNP to Win support, working class voters would say to National activists "But we work for something called The National Coal Board, or British Steel, or British Shipbuilders that's what pays our wages, our factories are integrated with plants else where in the UK are you really going to unpick all of that?" But it was to be unpicked anyway Mrs Thatcher wanted a modern, lean, productive Britain, there was no place in it for old industries that had lost their global markets and could no longer pay their way. 

But slowly something else would be chipped away as the old industries fell into the dust. A culture, a way of thinking, a set of Loyalties. There was a mantra said amongst those in the Old Trade Union "A fight for one is a fight for all, the minute you start to split & separate you weaken yourself", and that goes against everything the National Union taught it's workers.

As the old industries followed Empire into history a new Britain was being born, reshaping some of the values by which the country lived. In that new Britain the market would drive wealth creation, the frontiers of the state would be rolled back, and increasingly the market is global. In the 1980's Scotland began to rebel against this new Britain, in 1987 support for Mrs Thatcher fell off a cliff, her 21 MP's were cut to 10. In 1988 Margaret Thatcher addressed the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, the closest thing the country then had to a national parliament, "Christianity should be about Spiritual redemption, not social reform" she told them and she quoted St Paul "If a man will not work, he shall not eat". This was a key moment in Scotland's long journey to where it is now, you could sense the dismay even amongst small conservative Church going Scots, about the values they'd come to associate with Mrs Thatchers Britain.

In 1992 the Scottish conservatives increased their representation at Westminster from 10 to 11, out of Scotland's 72 MP's. Scotland was still voting decisively against conservative governments, for the 4th consecutive time, and on each occasion a team of conservative ministers appointed by & answerable to the Prime Minister in London, moved into St Andrews house to Govern Scotland. Opposition MP's, and grassroots activists began to talk of a democratic deficit. They argued that conservative Policies supported by an English electorate, were being forced on Scotland, despite being repeatedly rejected at the Ballot box. The very legitimacy of Westminster to govern at all in Scotland was now being challenged. There was a strong feeling that Scotland's differences, needs, hopes, & aspirations for Scottish people had been insufficiently taken into count by Westminster government, and a there was need for a devolved Parliament.

The Believe that Westminster had no mandate in Scotland became common currency, Labour by far the largest party in Scotland, walked onto that territory and claimed it. It was Labour rather then SNP that pushed the argument that there was a democratic deficit, the Tories were illegitimate, and conservatism was an alien ideology, which in turn became a Nationalist argument. Once at best lukewarm about Devolution Labour were now Scotland's champions, 10 years with Labour back in power Devolution's time had come.

On July 1st 1999 The Queen lead the ceremonies of the opening of Scotland's first Parliament since 1707, when the Union Act came into play. It had been backed by an overwhelming majority of voters, but this above all was Labours baby. The new first Minister Donald Dewar was it's founding father. Scotland's Parliament was created to end constitutional uncertainty, NOT to become a stepping stone to Independence. Devolution within the UK Labour firmly believed was what they called the settled will of the Scottish people, this parliament would meet their democratic aspirations, above all it would see off the SNP as electoral threat. In the words of George Robertson "It would kill nationalism stone dead".    

In the hands of Alex Salmond the SNP had become a very different kind of party, Alex Salmond led the SNP from a fringe movement. When he took over in 1990 it had 3 MP's, they were not a serious force, and subsequently they were not taken seriously. And at that point if you said an independent Scotland couldn't survive economically nobody or very few people would of disagreed with you. 

While Labours top Scottish talent went back to Westminster believing the nationalist threat had been seen off once and for all, the SNP's for the most part stayed at home and prospered. In 2011 the Nationalist astonished even themselves by willing an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. That SNP victory made a Referendum for independence inevitable, but when the Referendum terms were signed there remained disagreement on one thing Alex Salmond wanted a third option "Enhanced Devolution", but still within the United Kingdom, polls suggested that's what most Scots wanted, the same poll said support for Independence was stuck around 30%. So David Cameron said "no 3rd option, the choice should be decisive Independence or Not".

 

One view is that Devolution is just a work in progress, a staging post in a long journey that will one day end in Independence.

Celebrities pro Independence include Vivienne Westwood, & Rob Stewart.

But theres an alternative view, one leading labour activist, quite confidently believes that this was the high water mark for Independence, that after a No vote the tide will go out. When he said will the nationalist stars be so perfectly aligned again, with an unpopular Tory government at Westminster, the tail end of a long recession, massive cuts in spending, and an SNP majority at Holyrood.

When will that happen for them again he said.    

Last month more than 200 Celebrities signed a letter urging Scotland to stay in the Union including Susan Boyle, David Beckham, Paul McCartney, David Attenborough, Bruce Forsyth, Judi Dench, Simon Cowell, & Stephen Hawking.