Why Scottish independence is the opposite of Brexit and John Swinney's plan is the right one
The internationalism of Scottish independence supporters makes them radically different to Brexiteers who have turn their backs on the UK’s neighbours
The SNP, and Scotland, suffered a grievous loss this week with the passing of former Presiding Officer George Reid, the last of the 1970s intake of SNP MPs.
George was pro-independence because he was an internationalist. He recognised that for Scotland, and its citizens, to thrive, it needed to be a full member of, and active participant in, the European and broader international community. Not because Scotland is unique or better than any of its neighbours, but for the rather more mundane reason that Scotland should simply be the same as them. Of the Brexit debacle, he claimed a “moral responsibility” to speak out against a move that would “negate everything I’ve believed all my public life”.
I spoke to him when I was writing my own book, Nation to Nation: Scotland’s Place in the World, for his own characteristically thoughtful take. There is a long internationalist tradition among those who support independence that underlines the overall movement’s commitment to the international rules-based system. This has been championed by successive political giants including Professor Neil MacCormick, Winnie Ewing, George and, going back to the party’s foundations, Robert Cunninghame Graham among others.
Brexit celebrated in Kremlin
The appeal sits at the heart of the case for independence, and reimagining the governance mechanisms among the nations of these islands. Scotland’s independent neighbours of a similar size such as Norway, Denmark, Ireland and Finland have thrived with independence vastly improving their citizens’ lot, whilst making a positive contribution to the world.
In that regard the independence that George sought is the opposite of an increasingly isolated Brexit Britain that has turned its back on its neighbours. A Brexit project that leaves its citizens worse off, celebrated in the Kremlin and Trump’s White House, whilst being mourned across mainstream democratic Europe. A failed project that has reduced the rights of anyone who holds a British passport, diminished the UK’s standing in the world and put unnecessary barriers up to business.
Brexiteers seek a world that does not exist, and we’re all suffering the consequences for that misadventure. No state sits alone and is truly sovereign. Professor Neil McCormick knew that, as did George.
The international rules-based system and the views of other state actors count, not least in Europe where the sharing of sovereignty keeps the peace, enhances prosperity and creates a better standard of living. As foreign ministers from Dublin to Helsinki, Copenhagen to Ljubljana understand, it also strengthens the independence and sovereignty of European states no longer subject to the whims of great powers.
That idea of respecting the rules and that no state sits alone speaks to John Swinney’s Independence strategy. The First Minister’s announcement that he wants the SNP to gain an independence referendum through the party winning a majority of seats is because he knows that the process counts. As he said earlier this week: “You can’t deliver independence unless your country has domestic and international legitimacy.”
Getting London’s agreement matters
There are those who disagree with independence and simply wish the issue would go away. That is undemocratic and short-sighted in the light of consistent polls that show that at least half the population want to see the nation regain its sovereignty.
There are also those supporters who think that there are simple solutions that will provide a shortcut to independence. I am not sure that a UK Government that doesn’t agree to a referendum, even faced with popular support for one and another independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, will somehow roll over in those circumstances. Gaining agreement from London matters to the rest of the world and it should therefore matter to Scots.
As an internationalist and believer in independence, I can understand the frustration. However, no one is more frustrated than the First Minister who has campaigned for and believed in independence his whole adult life. He sees daily the restrictions placed on his administration in terms of spending, tackling child poverty, engaging with the EU and measures that other nations take for granted.
The mechanism of the SNP gaining a majority has triggered a referendum in the past, and if you support independence, then ‘both votes SNP’ is the most logical approach. Some Greens may disagree, and they have every right to, as the only other pro-independence party which has gained any real public support at the ballot box. That said, in 2011, when a referendum was granted, it was because the SNP were winning seats both on the constituency and regional list vote. In 2016 unionists claimed there was not a majority, unfairly, effectively, counting Green party votes as being pro-Union.
A voluntary Union?
If unionist politicians disagree with this approach, it is for them to come up with an alternative. In 2016, the SNP won a greater share of the vote and constituency seats than either Boris Johnson’s Conservatives did in 2019 (bringing in profound changes with what they considered to be a mandate for a hard Brexit) or Keir Starmer’s Labour did in 2024.
If the Union is a voluntary one, then what are the rules for ending it? One cannot simply make them up after an election. If the Union is no longer voluntary, then it is a very different one from that on the ballot in 2014. If so, we deserve a vote on that prospectus as do the hundreds of thousands of Scots who have never had the opportunity to vote on sovereignty.
We are still a long way out from the Holyrood elections. At this stage 15 years ago, the SNP had just lost heavily to Labour in the 2010 general election and were behind in the polls. Bookies had the SNP at 11-2 to be the biggest party in 2011.
There is all to play for. If, like George did, you believe in an outward-looking, internationalist Scotland then it has to be backing the First Minister’s plan for both votes SNP.
Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.