Scotland rejected independence on Thursday, Sept. 18, when 85 percent of the electorate showed up calibrating a 55 percent to 45 percent vote, continuing their 307 year-old union with the United Kingdom.
Arguing for independence, the Scottish Nationalist Party believed Scotland would prosper as an autonomous state, while their opponents, the more conservative Scotland, believed both Scotland and the U.K. would suffer.
An emotional component of gaining independence is that of the older generation who believe this is their last chance to preserve their country’s unique identity. “Separatists groups seek autonomy and independence in order to preserve their culture and language from assimilation by the dominant ethnic group,” said Dr. Stephanie Anderson, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Wyoming.
Scotland makes up 8 percent of Great Britain’s population and one-third of its land. They are smaller in numbers but the Scottish Nationalist Party believes the British Government should represent them more adequately. With independence, Scotland would be the sole beneficiary of their taxes granting them the privilege to put that money towards issues English Parliament might not find as important. Scotland also could gain more control of the oil found in the North Sea with the idea that that oil could sustain their economy.
The pro-union side presented an argument of economical hardship if the yes vote would have come through. Independent Scotland would not have its own currency, which means the government could run out of money, unable to bail out its own banks if necessary.
David Cameron, the U.K. Prime Minister’s fight to keep Scotland intact with the United Kingdom is also an issue of credibility. As a conservative, Cameron wants to keep things unified as they have been for hundreds of years. If Scotland were to secede, Cameron’s chances of ever getting re-elected would diminish severely.
“On a world stage in the United Nations, had Scotland seceded Britain would have lost all of its power because of credibility,” Anderson said. In order to prevent this from happening Cameron promised Scotland’s patriots that changes would be made in adherence to their needs.
Beginning in 1707, the union between Scotland and the United Kingdom was the result of The Act of Union Treaty. Due to fiscal circumstances, the treaty was signed because Scotland’s economy was failing, looking toward England for help. The treaty promised the preservation of some of Scotland’s special characteristics and institutions. It also promised equal power between the two capitals, but with Westminster located in London, the capital of England dominated Great Brittan.
After the Scottish Nationalist Party was founded in 1934, independence became Scotland’s foremost goal. When oil was discovered in The North Sea and Scotland declared the oil as its own, the country had a more clear reason to secede. The fight continued and for the first time since 1707 Scotland was awarded parliament in 1999. The Scottish Nationalist Party ended the labour party’s political dominance when they won the parliamentary elections in 2011.
In October of 2012, David Cameron, the U.K. prime minister, and Alex Salmond, the newly elected first minister and the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, signed an agreement granting Scotland the right to stage an independence referendum calling for the population of Scotland to consider whether their homeland should be an independent country.
