ECONOMIST: Scotland ponders whether independence and separation are the same thing
Scotland’s independence referendum
Och aye the No
John Curtice, a psephologist at Strathclyde University, says that Scots divide into three roughly equally-sized camps. The first lot want independence. The second prefer the status quo. A final group, accounting for about 30% of those polled, would like to stay in the union but also want more powers for Scotland. In effect, they are the swing voters. With two years to go until the referendum, the campaigns are already converging on them.
The separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) will try to woo them by making independence seem trivial. The party has already underlined its enthusiasm for the queen, the BBC, the pound, the Bank of England’s interest rates and British opt-outs from irksome European Union rules. Its leader, Alex Salmond, talks of a “social union” between England and a newly-independent Scotland. But he will have a hard time convincing Scots he can deliver these things. Independent Scottish participation in sterling, EU opt-outs and the BBC are not, and will never be, in his gift.
Unionists, meanwhile, are trying to convince Scots that voting “no” would result in a hefty dose of new powers. On signing the referendum agreement, Mr Cameron called on Scots in favour of more devolution to vote to stay in the United Kingdom. Labour has launched a commission to draw up a new devolution package, which will report next year and advance a final set of proposals in 2014. The Liberal Democrats have already proposed far-reaching changes, including a new federal structure for the entire union. Under their plan, Scotland would raise about two thirds of the money it spends.
Jeremy Purvis, of the pressure group Devo Plus, hopes that the unionist parties’ schemes will coalesce in the run-up to the referendum. He claims this will present voters with a clear set of commitments, to feature in all three main parties’ manifestos for the 2015 election, showing that a vote against separation is not a vote for the status quo.
If that happens, much of the wind will be taken out of Mr Salmond’s sails. He may be a romantic Caledonian nationalist but many SNP voters (and even some party members) would be perfectly satisfied with the advanced devolution proposed by the unionist parties. Nationalist hopes that a busy Scottish cultural calendar in 2014 and participation by 16- and 17-year-old voters will significantly boost the separatist turnout are optimistic at best.
So the referendum is forcing the SNP to make concessions to the union, while pushing unionists towards further devolution. The gap between the visions set forth by the two sides, while roomy, is shrinking. It now concerns questions of identity—citizenship, flags, titles, membership of international organisations—more than retail politics. Can Scotland be sufficiently independent within the UK? Unless Mr Salmond can persuade the average voter that it cannot, the union is safe.
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