Britons may have decided to stay out of EU, but when Scottish voters decided two years ago to remain part of the United Kingdom, many thought the raucous independence drive was settled. Think again. Brexit has brought the push to break from London roaring back because the Scots very much want to stay with the EU. Could Brexit mean the final fracture of the once mighty British Empire?
But a very disunited kingdom is now left to pick up the pieces of that dismaying decision. Last week’s vote can be sliced and diced in many ways – age, class, party and education differences among them. Yet the single most destructive dimension of the leave vote was undoubtedly geographical.
Scotland seems brave enough to defy the UK decision on EU membership:
Speaking to journalists this morning, Ms Sturgeon said that it was “democratically unacceptable” for Scotland to be yanked out of the EU against its will. Britain’s departure represented the kind of “significant and material change in circumstances” which her Scottish National Party said in its election manifesto in May could trigger demands for a new independence referendum, following an unsuccessful effort in 2014.
Also unknown is what currency Scotland would use. Although the EU may insist on eventual adoption of the euro, Scotland would first have to establish a track record of managing its own currency that would seem to rule out any sharing of sterling.
Now let’s look at the rest of England and Wales, where the majority voted to leave. The people in these regions, especially the lower income groups, were bypassed by the emphasis on the London money machine. Spatially, class conflict was often framed as the southeast versus the rest of the country, although in reality, the divisions were as much social and spatial.
But even though there existed this discontent with the southeast power centre in Wales and other parts of England, it was never strong enough to lead to demands for political separation as it could in Scotland. There was no constitutional basis and so the rest of England and Wales seethed at the rising inequality and neglect.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com