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Scotland Unveils ‘Landmark Document’ on Independence from Britain
Scotland Unveils ‘Landmark Document’ on Independence from Britain
(about 5 hours later)
LONDON — Raising the stakes in its struggle for independence in advance of a referendum next year, the Scottish government on Tuesday unveiled a voluminous prospectus for a new state that would have its own embassies and identity, but would retain significant bonds to Britain, including a common currency — the pound — and allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.
LONDON — Behind in the opinion polls, Scottish Nationalists who are seeking independence from Britain in a referendum next year set out their wish list for a new nation on Tuesday, but made several assertions about their future relations with Britain and international partners that are sharply disputed.
The new nation would strike out on its own in defense and its relationship with Europe, expelling British nuclear submarines from their Scottish bases and seeking separate membership in NATO and the 28-nation European Union.
A newly independent Scotland would issue passports, create its own defense force and expel British nuclear submarines from their Scottish bases, according to the 670-page document published by the Scottish government, which is led by the Scottish National Party of Alex Salmond. But the country would stay in NATO and transition smoothly to its own membership in the European Union, the document asserts. And while Scots would claim 90 percent of the revenue from North Sea oil and gas and adopt a written Constitution, they would keep Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and retain the pound sterling as their currency, the document adds.
“Following a vote for independence, we would make early agreement on the speediest safe removal of nuclear weapons a priority,” the 670-page document said.
Some of these assumptions, including an independent Scotland’s right to use the pound, are disputed by the government in London. But the publication of the document, meant as a blueprint for independence, is a milestone on the road to the referendum, scheduled for Sept 18, 2014, the year of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which Scottish forces routed the English.
Publication of the prospectus on Tuesday, 10 months before the referendum on Scottish independence that is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2014, seemed intended to encourage greater support for the idea among Scotland’s five million people. Opinion surveys indicate that many are undecided or opposed to ending Scotland’s 306-year union with Britain, which would reshape the political landscape north and south of the border.
“If we vote no, Scotland stands still,” the document said. “A once-in-a-generation opportunity to follow a different path, and choose a new and better direction for our nation, is lost. Decisions about Scotland would remain in the hands of others.”
The latest survey in The Sunday Times of London said 47 percent of Scottish voters were against leaving the United Kingdom, 38 percent were in favor and 15 percent were undecided.
Alistair Darling, a Scot who served as chancellor of the Exchequer for the Labor Party in the last British government and now leads the campaign against independence, described the paper as a “work of fiction, full of meaningless assertions.”
“If we vote no, Scotland stands still,” the government document said. “A once-in-a-generation opportunity to follow a different path, and choose a new and better direction for our nation, is lost. Decisions about Scotland would remain in the hands of others.”
Scotland, which has been united with England since 1707, already has a large degree of autonomy, with power over matters like health, education, local government and the legal system, and there is considerable nationalist sentiment. But the outcome of the vote is likely to hinge most on whether Scots feel they would be better off economically going it alone.
Approval, it said, would mean that “the most important decisions about our economy and society will be taken by the people who care most about Scotland, that is, by the people of Scotland.”
Recent opinion surveys indicate that many are skeptical. The latest Sunday Times of London poll found that 47 percent of Scottish voters were against leaving the United Kingdom, with only 38 percent in favor and 15 percent undecided.
“The door will open to a new era for our nation,” it said. “Scotland’s future will be in Scotland’s hands.” Scottish leaders have already said that they want independence to come on March 24, 2016 — a historic date commemorating key steps in the fusion of England and Scotland centuries ago.
So while the blueprint released on Tuesday promises better child care, a fairer tax system and a welfare overhaul, its central message was one of reassurance about what would not change — even down to television shows. Though a new Scottish Broadcasting Service would be created to replace the BBC in Scotland, the blueprint promises that Scottish viewers would not be deprived of the popular “EastEnders” soap opera or the “Strictly Come Dancing” contest show.
The drive for independence has been led by Alex Salmond, the head of the Scottish National Party, which dominates the Scottish regional government, which has its own Parliament under longstanding constitutional measures to grant limited powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The currency issue is a crucial one. “The pound is Scotland’s currency, just as much as it is the rest of the U.K.'s,” the blueprint asserts. But the British government in London says it is unlikely to agree to share the pound with a newly independent Scotland, citing the problems experienced by the 17-nation euro zone to illustrate the dangers of a common currency without political union. London says it would be difficult to have the Bank of England act as the guarantor of the pound if Scotland had a different fiscal policy from Britain, for example. Nationalists hint that if Scotland cannot keep the pound, it would not accept its share of Britain’s national debt.
Mr. Salmond called the proposal “a mission statement and a prospectus for the kind of country we should be and which this government believes we can be.”
British and European officials dispute nationalist claims that Scotland would retain automatic membership of the European Union, or that, if it negotiated membership, it would be allowed to remain outside the euro zone indefinitely, as Britain has the right to.
“Our vision is of an independent Scotland regaining its place as an equal member of the family of nations,” he said at a ceremony in Glasgow to unveil the document. “However, we do not seek independence as an end in itself, but rather as a means to changing Scotland for the better.”
Campaigners for a “yes” vote in the referendum say that the biggest threat to Scottish membership in the European Union would not be independence, but the policies of the British prime minister, David Cameron. He has promised, if re-elected in 2015, to renegotiate the terms of British membership in the union and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the bloc.
The document said that an independent Scotland — a proposal opposed by the major political parties in England — would retain the British pound in a “sterling zone” with other components of the United Kingdom. “The pound is Scotland’s currency, just as much as it is the rest of the U.K.'s,” the document said.
That notion was immediately challenged by British politicians, who said Scottish leaders could not simply assume that the government in London would agree.
By seeking to maintain the pound as a common currency, the Scottish authorities seemed to share an antipathy toward the euro, which Britain has long rejected. But while many Scots are seen as favoring continued membership in the European Union, Britain’s Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, displays a deep vein of euro-skepticism. Mr. Cameron has promised a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union if he wins the next election in 2015.
A key point of dispute between London and Edinburgh lies in the financial relationship between Scotland and Britain. British officials say the Scots receive a greater share of government spending, proportional to population, than England does, while some Scots accuse the British authorities of squandering revenue from the oil and gas fields off the Scottish coast in the North Sea.
Both sides want to persuade Scottish voters that their prosperity will depend on how they vote in the referendum. Danny Alexander, a Scottish member of the British Parliament and a senior figure at the British Treasury, has said that Scots would pay higher taxes in an independent Scotland to maintain public services.
But the document on Tuesday — titled “Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland” — declared that “Scotland is a wealthy country and can more than afford to be independent.”
“Our public finances have consistently been healthier than those elsewhere in the U.K., giving us a strong platform upon which to build economic success,” it said.
The document addresses 650 questions about the nature of an independent state, often in some detail.
“On independence in 2016, Her Majesty the Queen will be head of state,” it said. A new Scottish Broadcasting Service would replace the British Broadcasting Corporation, but some programs with a strong following, including the “EastEnders” soap opera and the “Strictly Come Dancing” contest, would continue to be broadcast.
