Please, please stop spreading the lie that Brexit was to fight against neoliberalism

[Denzil_DC]

18. Scot here.

Last edited Mon Jun 27, 2016, 11:23 AM - Edit history (1)

The vote was 60%-plus Remain. Like the rest of the UK, some of our areas that currently rely most heavily on EU support the UK government won't give them to provide infrastructure etc. voted most enthusiastically for Leave, so we're not short of people willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces.

Immigration didn't gain such traction up here. We came through a very intense referendum process. While this tired people out, it also made it easier to see through some of the stupid rhetoric, because we'd been exposed to it before, often in reverse by the same people arguing against what they'd said two years ago!

We're generally more aware of the benefits of EU membership, along with its pitfalls, and how we have to balance them against each other.

We're also not prey to the little Englander mentality. Farage said immediately after the result that they "taken England back!" Note: England, not the UK. That's largely what this was all about for too many on the Leave side.

Mainstream Scottish nationalism, as far as it exists, is civic nationalism, not based on race or color or where you were born. It can come across as anti-English sometimes, but mainly in reaction to Westminster dominance and the sorts of views some English people hold and aren't embarrassed to voice. We have plenty of English people living here. They either go native or just go about their business largely unhindered.

Those advantages you mention have been hard-earned. Tuition fees, which Scottish students don't have to pay (as was generally the case in the whole UK in years gone by, before Thatcher) have to funded out of the pot Scotland's allowed by Westminster, so we set our own priorities on some matters and have to balance the books accordingly.

Our representation in the EU is hampered by having to go through Westminster. For instance, we have 60% of the UK's fishing fleet, but haven't been allowed Scottish representation in EU fisheries policy negotiations because the UK government sees it as a cheap bargaining chip for other things they consider more important. That's more what ties together both strains (though Scotland's not monolithic) of separatism and independence within Europe.

Of course, Europe is changing even as we type, as is the UK. There's a lot of uncertainly ahead.