Pro-Independence Parties Win Scottish Elections as Brexit Tanks the UK's Economy
The Scottish National Party [SNP], led by Nicola Sturgeon, won almost half the seats in the Scottish parliament elections. Together with the Scottish Green Party, which is also pro-independence, there is now a clear majority favoring a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opposes such a vote, setting the stage for a lengthy battle over the future of Scotland.
NPR: FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON: "It is the will of the country. And given that outcome, there is simply no democratic justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson or indeed for anyone else seeking to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose their own future."
About two-thirds of Scots opposed Brexit, and the terms and results of the UK's deal to leave the European Union have cemented Scottish public opinion against the deal.
No one expects Prime Minister Boris Johnson to relent quickly, so a referendum on independence may still be years away. However, that probably helps pro-independence forces. Polls show a slight majority favor a break with the UK, but a vote today would be close. Johnson's obstinance on the issue is likely to enflame pro-independence Scots and build momentum for a new referendum.
Moreover, as the negative consequences of Brexit become more evident and Scots feel the economic pain, a break with the UK will be easier to sell to voters. A recent article in the Guardian explained just how badly things are going with the agreement, even though the consequences are just now becoming evident to the public at large.
The Guardian: "Manufacturers may say they are in “Dante’s fifth circle of hell” but their loss of exports is out of sight of most of the public. Take Seetru, a Bristol industrial valve-maker I’ve followed throughout Brexit. Half its exports were to the EU: as UK exports to Germany fell by a shattering 56%, its managing director, Andrew Varga, finds his products “stuck for eight weeks in German customs, swamped by bureaucracy, massively clogged”. Fearing the loss of his just-in-time customers, he’s flying his products to Germany at “10 times the cost”.
... "Meanwhile, this Pandora’s box of a Brexit swarms out new pests daily. Take the 83% collapse of a fishing and shellfish industry that was once the Brexit campaign’s talisman. David Frost and Michael Gove seem never to have known that each boatload of seafood needs 71 pages of customs forms; nor did they understand the fatal fish “depuration” rules that left stock rotting on the dock."
So, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP will be patient laying out their case for independence, confident that Boris Johnson will continue to find new ways to sink the economy, create a regulatory hell, and make the European Union seem like a much safer long-term bet for Scotland.
By: Don Lam & Curated Content
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