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Scottish independence: could Britain break up? - YouTube
Channel: The Economist
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200 years ago britain proudly ruled the
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waves
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and about a quarter of the world
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but the british empire has shrunk again
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and again now the united kingdom itself
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england scotland wales and northern
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ireland
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is weaker than at any point in living
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memory
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tensions have flared in northern ireland
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in the most serious clashes with police
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for years
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and in scotland a fierce political
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battle for independence
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is in full swing scotland's future
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must be in scotland's hands
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the union between england and scotland
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goes back over 300 years
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but it's under increasing strain
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and if scotland were to go could it pave
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the way for northern ireland and even
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wales
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to do the same
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at this organic farm outside edinburgh
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almost all of the produce is proudly
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grown
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in scotland and the farm's founder mike
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thinks scotland would be better off as
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an independent country
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it's a hot topic right now as the
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scottish national party
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have promised to ask westminster for an
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independence referendum
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should they win a majority at the
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forthcoming election in may
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my partner's family are from yorkshire
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and they think of scotland as just
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another part of england
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rather than its own its own country and
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also you see politicians do that as well
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they'd be wrong though scotland has a
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long and proud history
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as an independent nation the romans
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never managed to conquer it
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and for much of its history it was
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fighting its english neighbors
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south of the border england had joined
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with wales in 1536
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a union with scotland came about after
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the queen of england
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elizabeth the first died in 1603
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her cousin james who was king of
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scotland
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took over the english throne the two
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countries now shared a king
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and an army but had separate parliaments
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and laws
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a few decades later scotland tried to
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set up a colony
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new caledonia in what is now panama
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it was a disaster and scotland was left
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in serious debt
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so when a union with england was
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proposed it looked to some like a
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sensible financial decision
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and the acts of union were passed by
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1707.
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some scots looked south of the border
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and thought that it would be
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good to have a relationship with this
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much more powerful richer
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nation with its bigger market
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the scots could trade with the english
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colonies in the caribbean
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scotland then was able to trade and
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tobacco
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and that was the basis of glasgow's rise
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in the 18th century
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ireland was later strong-armed into the
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union in 1801
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but this was short-lived as in 1922 the
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country was split in two
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with the irish free state becoming
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independent and northern ireland
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remaining part of the uk while the
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opportunities of empire may no longer
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exist
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for members of the union being part of
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the uk still has its advantages
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for a start the uk is still scotland's
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main trading partner
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60 of all scottish exports go to the
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rest of britain
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that's almost triple what it exports to
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the rest of the world
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excluding europe andy co-runs a brewery
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outside edinburgh
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and for him trade with the uk is a
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compelling reason to stay
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in the union for us the market in
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in england has grown in importance
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it's very easy to sell across the uk no
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limitations in terms of us
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traveling into england with independence
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you will have a land border between
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england
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and and scotland and i could see a much
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more difficult scenario but some
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have always thought scotland would be
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better off standing on its own two feet
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and by the 1960s a nationalist voice in
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scottish politics
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was gaining ground the scottish national
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party or the snp
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who won their first seat in westminster
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in 1967
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in the years that followed the
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nationalist cause received an unexpected
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boost the discovery of oil off the coast
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of scotland
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liquid gold britain now has oil
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billions and billions of barrels of it
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and has been quietly laughing at the
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doorstep
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all the time in the 1980s oil revenue
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exploded
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and many thought scotland should see
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more of this money which added around
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193
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billion pounds to the uk economy between
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1975
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and 2020 this was coupled with
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de-industrialization
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in the 1980s under british prime
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minister margaret thatcher
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she was deeply disliked in scotland and
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this boosted calls for independence
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in 1997 scotland voted in favor of a
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devolved parliament
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which was then created by tony blair
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britain's prime minister
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it's every single aerial stop we're all
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moving forward
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and we're moving forward together this
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meant scotland had its own parliament
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for the first time in nearly
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300 years and devolution gave scotland
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the power to make decisions on areas
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like agriculture
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education and health known as devolved
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matters
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while uk-wide concerns such as
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immigration foreign policy and offence
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were managed by westminster and were
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known as reserved matters
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the uk government still provided
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financial support to scotland
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this was in the form of a block grant
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and together with income tax national
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insurance payments
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and other rates from within scotland
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helped fund the work of the scottish
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parliament
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some unionists say scotland couldn't
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survive without this financial support
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from westminster
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because scotland raises less tax and
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spends more per person
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than the rest of the uk in 2019
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scotland spent 8.6 more than it earned
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compared with 2.6 for the uk overall
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but nationalists say if scotland could
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control its own economic policies
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it could stimulate growth and help close
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this gap
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and some have been fighting hard to
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prove it
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the establishment of the holyrood
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parliament in edinburgh
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it was believed would see the end of
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nationalism and that would be
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enough because scotland would be
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legislating
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on scottish issues however
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that didn't happen because what
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devolution did was encourage um
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the nationalists and allowed them to ask
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for more
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devolution
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in 2011 the snp won a majority at
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hollyrood
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which gave them a platform to ask for
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scottish independence
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but the referendum that followed was a
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disappointment for them
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in 2014 scotland voted to remain in the
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uk
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by 55 to 45 percent
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and that seemed to be the end of that
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until two years later and brexit
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the celebration started in the early
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hours of this morning
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the uk had voted to get out of the eu
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in 2016 the uk voted to leave the eu
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by 52 to 48
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but this did not reflect the scottish
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portion of the vote where 62
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voted to remain many scots felt betrayed
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they were being pulled out of the
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european union against their will
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i think the brexit referendum was a
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turning point
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in lots of ways because that
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massive decision was taken and without
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the consent of people in scotland
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that reinforced this idea that maybe
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the uk couldn't accommodate scotland's
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distinctive wishes
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as a nation within the united kingdom
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back in edinburgh this is certainly how
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mike feels
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as something he never voted for has now
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brought his small business new paperwork
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and increased costs brexit at the moment
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is just a disaster
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i mean i've got about five different
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customs agents who had to sign up with
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a lot of the jargon we don't understand
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i really cannot see any advantage of
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brexit and
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whoever i've spoken to has never given
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me an answer either so
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this has helped cement his decision to
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vote for a party favoring independence
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at the next election
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in the hope that there will be a second
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scottish independence referendum
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i've got no faith i mean westminster's
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just proven to be corrupt as far as i'm
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concerned
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and i just think it's it's better
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to be independent and away from that
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mike's not alone support for
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independence has been rising since 2012
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but after the brexit vote it overtook
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support for devolution
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or remaining partly governed by
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westminster
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for nationalists part of the renewed
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appeal of leaving the uk
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is that scotland could rejoin the eu as
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an independent nation
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but would that mean scotland would be
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better off possibly not
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that's because the border between
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england and scotland would become a
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border between what's left of britain
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and the eu and this could potentially
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disrupt trade
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with scotland's main trading partner
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some business people like andy are
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worried about what independence might
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mean for trade with the rest of the uk
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brexit has already complicated things
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and he worries that scottish
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independence
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could make things even harder i think
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the only real
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issue we had recently is just trying to
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send a box of beer
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for our online shop to northern ireland
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which was a right headache
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there's obviously now much more
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constrains on the movement back and
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forth over the irish sea
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i think that might put people off to go
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down the route of yes vote on scottish
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independence
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but even andy is on the fence about
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independence
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and the finer points of trade and
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economics may not matter in a debate
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about national identity
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because as brexit showed the idea of
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taking back control
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is very powerful it is one of the
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architects of brexit
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uk prime minister boris johnson who
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seems to hold a lot of the cards when it
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comes to independence
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if the snp were to win a convincing
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majority at the next scottish election
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then they could ask for another
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referendum
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but they might not be able to hold it
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that's because as the uk government sees
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it
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the law is clear and the british prime
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minister has to grant permission
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for a referendum but mr johnson has made
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it clear he has no intention of doing
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this
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whether the scottish parliament has the
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legal right to organise a referendum
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without westminster's permission
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is a question that has never been tested
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in court
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one option may be to just go ahead
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anyway to try to
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hold a referendum and so then what
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then you may be into a situation that
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catalonia found itself in where it
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pushed ahead with
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a referendum that was not seen to be
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within the legal order
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of the spanish constitution so you have
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stalemates
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whatever happens the other devolved
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nations will be watching
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keenly there are calls in wales for more
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devolution
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and northern ireland has the possibility
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for a referendum on reunification with
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ireland
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built into the good friday agreement we
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are seeing
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clear tensions emerging within northern
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ireland
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it's linked to the implementation of the
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northern ireland protocol that was part
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of the uk
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eu withdrawal agreement
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the issue in northern ireland is not
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about independence it's about
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reunification with the island of ireland
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now that may be some way off but that's
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a distinctive issue
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related also to some of the consequences
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of brexit
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everyone in this debate hopes that if
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any of the nations of the united kingdom
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do break away it will be done in a
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peaceful and orderly way
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that minimizes damage to the economy but
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such a neat divorce would have few
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precedents in the 20th century the
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breakup of countries usually followed
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economic chaos
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decolonization or war
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the increasing calls for independence
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could be the most important thing
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westminster has to manage
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over the coming years while a breakup of
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the uk
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seemed highly unlikely until recently
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it's now possible that scotland could
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lead the charge
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i'm matthew hallhouse the britain
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political correspondent
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at the economist for more about the
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united kingdom
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brexit and scotland's future in europe
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you can read the newspaper's briefing
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by clicking the link thank you for
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watching
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you
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