Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote a poem in 1789 that paid homage to the hills and glens of his homeland. It went:
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
This was the ethos that powered the Scottish National Party through a turbulent week in both Holyrood and Westminster. Though they might deny it, the SNP were weathering turmoil of their own creation. On March 13, SNP Leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her government’s intention to pursue a second independence referendum. It was, as Ms Sturgeon claimed, a reply to the anticipated ‘hard Brexit’ of the United Kingdom and an action in line with the SNP’s mandate. Much of the rest of the week was lost inside a storm of responses.
At Prime Minister’s Questions that Wednesday, the SNP Members of Parliament took their party’s rebellion to Westminster. The choice quote from what has quickly become the Scottish Quarter of parliament came from the Member for Aberdeen South, Callum McCaig. “The UK has one of the worst performing currencies in the world, and it has a trade deficit of £133 billion and a national debt approaching £1.7 trillion,” he said. “May I ask the Prime Minister: does she really believe that the UK could afford to be an independent country?”.
It was a cheeky slight: a provincial upstart, broad brogue to match, spurning the paternalistic Tory government. The quote was matched by Mr McCaig’s firebrand colleagues. Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and Angus Robertson harpooned the Prime Minister on her party’s broken manifesto promise and proved themselves worthy bearers of Ms Sturgeon’s yellow banner. The Independent, a British liberal newspaper, created a “Thug Life” mock-up that, at the time of writing, has been viewed nearly 5 million times on social media. Labour Party MPs looked on longingly at a lively showing of opposition.
Margaret Thatcher, who is perhaps the most infamous Prime Minister in living memory – though warring with Tony Blair – described the striking miners of the 1984/85 struggle as ‘the enemy within’. In many ways, this summarises the zeitgeist in Britain. From Land’s End to John o’ Groats, the country’s political and cultural history has always been defined by a patchwork of tribes, counties and nations, simmering under a veneer of unity. Nowhere is this felt more strongly than Scotland.
Photo credit: Maria Navarro Sorolla.
Unionists see Scotland as an immutable arm of a wider Britain; a kingdom united under a common Crown. Nationalists feel chained to England and Wales, ignored by the Westminster parliament which allows them stunted sovereignty. It is the same battle that cost innumerable lives on the streets of Belfast. The difference, though subtle, exists: while a unified Ireland might be better seen as an annulment, Scottish independence is unmistakably a divorce.
It is often questioned whether the ‘God Save the Queen’ contains or ever contained the notorious ‘Marshal Wade verse’. The content is a savage departure from the prim language exalting the monarch and one that Scots take issue with:
Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!
Regardless of whether it is an official portion of the song or not, it is known as such. It embodies what nationalists dislike and distrust about their unhappy union: a domination by Englishmen, condescending at best and savage at worst. The unionists, most of whom exclude the Marshal Wade verse, choose to focus on a common brotherhood, a British people that owe their strength to their historic bonds. It is a textbook case of irreconcilable differences.
The most imposing question in the Scottish independence debate is the simplest: Could Scotland survive on her own? In essence, this returns to an area touched upon by Mr McCaig – many Brexiters were aware that they might have to take an economic hit. With or without independence, Scots will suffer from that downturn; her enemies on the continent, led by a Spain concerned by threats of rebellion from Catalonia and the Basque Country, would refuse Scotland EU membership. There might be a sharper economic sting to independence but Scots will have to ask themselves whether independence is worth it.
A lot is said and written about voting against one’s own interests. It supposedly underpinned Trump’s victory and the Brexit, and is said to play a part in #IndyRef2. This is a misreading, slight though it might be, of the phenomenon: people don’t vote against one interest, they vote in favour of another. A sovereign parliament over uncertainty. Stronger borders over environmental concerns.
Scotland’s pressure-points in this debate are her history, her culture and her relationship with her neighbours. Many will talk about the economy or Europe, but the ability of the SNP – and Ms Sturgeon in particular – to bring about a resurrection of the Scottish identity and a belief in self-assurance will be what determines whether Westminster will be forced to say farewell to the north in two years’ time.
Reagan is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Political, Economic and Social Sciences at The University of Sydney, and dreams one day of becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @WardReagan97.