After a clear victory of the pro-independence party SNP in the parliamentary elections in Scotland, the UK is facing turbulent weeks. It is to be expected that the political as well as the legal debate about the separation of the part of the country will now gain enormous momentum. In Scotland, even before the official final result was announced, calls for independence were louder – the British government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson (56) announced resistance.
Johnson called on the Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon (50) in a letter to cooperate and invited her to a meeting, in which the heads of the other parts of Wales and Northern Ireland should also take part. “I have a passionate belief that the interests of the people of the UK, and especially the people of Scotland, are best served when we work together,” wrote Johnson. The benefit of this cooperation was particularly evident in the corona pandemic. “This is Team United Kingdom in action,” said Johnson.
Scotland going it alone is “the will of the country”
The election result gives the independence supporters in the Scottish Parliament a clear majority. Together, Prime Minister Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Greens have 72 votes – the absolute majority is 65 seats. Sturgeon wants to bring Scotland back into the EU. “It is the will of the country,” she said. Most experts believe that a referendum would not be legal without approval from London. Sturgeon has already announced that it will go to the Supreme Court if necessary.
“Given this result, there is no democratic justification for Boris Johnson or anyone else to block the right of the Scottish people to choose our future,” said the Prime Minister. If London were to reject a referendum, it would show that the British government “surprisingly no longer sees the United Kingdom as a voluntary union of nations”.
As many supporters as there are opponents
However, experts see supporters and opponents of independence on an equal footing. “The only sure conclusion that can be drawn from this result is that Scotland is indeed divided on the constitutional issue,” commented political scientist John Curtice of Strathclyde University.
In 2014, 55 percent of Scots voted to stay in the UK. Since then, supporters of the Union have emphasized that the question was finally settled. But the SNP takes the position that Brexit would have changed the conditions. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, a clear majority of Scots voted for Britain to remain in the EU.
First mood text after Brexit
The London media gave a power struggle in the Labor Party at least as much space as the Scottish general election. After a bitter bankruptcy in the recent local elections in England, party vice Angela Rayner (41) was, according to reports, released from her position as general secretary (party chair), which she held in a personal union. The elections were considered the first test of sentiment after Brexit.
In Wales, however, Labor was able to celebrate a success. There the party was clearly the strongest force with 30 out of 60 seats in parliament. Labor candidates also won the mayoral elections in London and in the Greater Manchester area. In the capital, Sadiq Khan (50) secured another tenure as head of the city hall of the metropolis with a good nine million inhabitants. The mayor, who has been in office since 2016, is considered a bitter opponent of his predecessor Johnson. (SDA)