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Scottish nationals have two supra-national citizenships. One is UK citizenship, the second is EU citizenship. In democratic referenda over the past two years, Scots have voted clearly to retain both citizenships.
Unfortunately it is not possible to respect both democratic decisions of the Scottish people, due to a vote by other nationalities. So where you have democratic decisions which cannot both be implemented, which does democracy demand should take precedence?
It is not a simple question. The vote to retain EU citizenship was more recent and carried a much larger majority than the earlier vote. In addition it was made crystal clear during the campaign that it may require the overturning of the earlier vote. So on these grounds I believe the most recent vote must, as an exercise in democracy, have precedence.
In these circumstances the announcement by the First Minister that she is initiating the procedure on a new referendum for Scottish independence from the UK, in order to retain Scottish membership of the EU, is a sensible step.
Source: Craig Murray
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
(Score: 5, Informative) by bradley13 on Saturday June 25 2016, @01:43PM
Here's a slighly oversimplified definition:
- {England, Scotland, Wales} = Great Britain = the big island
- {Great Britain + Northern Ireland} = United Kingdom, i.e., including part of the next island over. These four regions are roughly equivalent to U.S. states, and have varying degrees of internal independence. The United Kingdom is the entity that is a member of the EU, and that voted on the Brexit.
- {United Kingdom + countries of former British Empire} = Commonwealth, where the Queen is the ceremonial Head of State, but each country has governmental independence.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.