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posted by martyb on Saturday June 25 2016, @12:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the separate-so-as-to-stay-in? dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday June 25 2016, @06:38PM

    by frojack (1554) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 25 2016, @06:38PM (#365693) Journal

    GB wasn't in much of a position last time either.

    The ended up making vague promises of more autonomy and influence in UK affairs, and promising to oppose Scottish membership in the EU. Has anything actually changed?

    It's probably time for the whole UK/GB/Ireland island group to redesign their relationship using a much fairer model.

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Pax on Saturday June 25 2016, @06:52PM

    by Pax (5056) on Saturday June 25 2016, @06:52PM (#365702)

    GB wasn't in much of a position last time either.

    The ended up making vague promises of more autonomy and influence in UK affairs, and promising to oppose Scottish membership in the EU. Has anything actually changed?

    in fact they made a "VOW" to deliver all those promises before this referendum.... they delivered NONE of it.

    This time around with this fresh referendum Scotland WILL most definitely go.

    The simple matter is that Scotland is lefter leaning than England at the best of times but now... MUCH FARTHER LEFT than England.

    Without delivering on those promises AND one of them being "the security of EU membership".. well.. you know..... it'll be more than 45% voting for independence this time.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday June 25 2016, @07:07PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday June 25 2016, @07:07PM (#365711)

    Fair and the British empire have not much history together...

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