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: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday June 25 2016, @03:28PM
It seems Brits are as uninformed about their politics [theverge.com] as anyone else. Way to promote the virtues of democracy, finding out what you were voting for after the vote!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @08:03PM
What? You mean there are real consequences, aside from being able to lord over the other side's commentators on Internet forums?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @11:00PM
How do you know the people searching for "what happens if we leave the EU" are 'leave' voters?
You guys hate Democracy SO much when you don't get the results you want.