Scotland's election: a stepping stone to independence?

[brooklynite]

The Guardian

Nicola Sturgeon has said that next week’s election in Scotland is the most important in the country’s history. The SNP is once again promising to hold a referendum on independence if it wins a majority in the Scottish parliament.

The Guardian’s Scotland correspondent, Libby Brooks, tells Rachel Humphreys that the pandemic has cast a long shadow over the campaign, with very little door-knocking or in-person campaigning.

The campaign has also thrown up some surprises, not least with the launch of a rival pro-independence party fronted by the former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond. He has argued that despite his well-documented rift with his former SNP colleagues, his new Alba party can be part of a “supermajority” for independence.

As Scotland continues to slowly lift its strict lockdown, polling suggests appetite for independence is dropping. There is also strong resistance from Westminster to allowing a new referendum to go ahead. But if pro-independence parties hold a majority after next week’s vote, the issue is likely to dominate the coming months and years in Scottish politics.

[YDogg]

1. Scotland Forever.

nt

[cinematicdiversions]

2. What has always struck me as funny is I have

Never seen American's misrepresent the Scottish independence movement.

You have a large liberal all white country breaking away from a more conservative multicultural one. They way many Scots talk about the people of London you could easily imagine poor form when the reality is quite different.

Of course Scotland is also a lot poorer than its more urbane neighbors down south. Which also complicates the wrong-headed narrative.

Britain will be more conservative and more ethically diverse with the scots leaving. If ulster and Wales also bolt you may end up with a strange country indeed.

[OnDoutside]

3. A strange country, or one that is finally forced to face up to its past. I'm surprised, given the

mess the Tories are making of the economy, that interest in Scottish Independence is dropping. The election will tell so much.

[cinematicdiversions]

4. A more Tory country certainly

Almost all the breakaway places are liberal. The issue with independence is money. England has lots Scotland not so much. Historically the reason they got together in the first place.