After Brexit, Scotland renews its challenge to Great Britain and is already thinking about its independence

The streets were half empty Thursday in Edinburgh, where the traditional “Hogemanay” New Year’s party was called off due to the coronavirus lockdown. Scots face 2021 worried about Brexit, although many are hoping it will give the independence process a new boost.

The head of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon, made this clear on the first day of the year, after the UK’s final exit from the European Union. In a Twitter post, he wrote: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the lights on.”

The leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) has withdrawn her will to fight to get there an independent Scotland will eventually join the community bloc.

In his tweet, Sturgeon includes an image with the words “Europe” and “Scotland” intertwined with an icon of a heart, an image that had previously been projected onto the side of the European Commission headquarters building in Brussels.

The Royal Mile shopping street, where typical Scottish goods like whiskey or tartan are displayed in the stained glass windows, was half deserted and covered in snow on Friday.

The few pedestrians expressed their concern over the completion of Brexit at 11 p.m. on Thursday (midnight on Friday in Brussels).

“It’s really sad to leave the European Union, but now we will have to relaunch the independence process,” said Zoe Stewaert, who in the 2016 referendum voted in favor of staying in the EU, as makes 62% of Scots. .

Another referendum

Sturgeon’s Scottish Nationalist Party are big favorites in the May 2021 local elections and insist they want to hold a second self-determination referendum, after the “no” to independence won during the consultation held in 2014.

A large victory for the SNP in the next elections would increase the pressure on London to accept a new referendum, which they have already baptized “indyref2”.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson strongly opposes this second vote, even if its refusal may lead to a political crisis in Scotland.

Some activists ignored the lockdown to symbolically protest outside the windows of the Scottish Parliament waving flags.

“You have to hear our anguish about this Brexit and the post-Brexit deal which is bad for our economy, for our well-being and which is going to affect us negatively on all levels. It is totally undemocratic. The Scots do ‘did not vote in favor of Brexit and with them they certainly do not support this government which defends it,’ Morag Williamson, a retired professor, told AFP.

58% of Scots are in favor of a break with the UKaccording to a recent Savanta ComRes poll for the Scotsman newspaper, which showed a particularly high level of support for independence.

“It’s very difficult to spot a trend because it varies. In the first half of 2020 things were 50 to 50. But in the second half (secession supporters) they went over 50% and hit 59 % “, about everything for managing the covid-19 crisis, explains Nicola McEwan, professor of political science at the University of Edinburgh.

The popular Sturgeon profited from his handling of the pandemic, much more appreciated by public opinion than Johnson’s erratic performance during the health crisis.

Bell

Mike Blackshaw is already campaigning for the secession of his “Yes Cafe”, decorated with a portrait of the Prime Minister and where independence activists from Edinburgh often meet.

Shirts and pins are already prepared, along with a new independence flag, which mixes the colors of the Scottish flag with those of the EU.

“The year 2021 will be decisive for the independence movement,” said Mike Blackshaw, who has campaigned for secession for decades.

Blackshaw, with a long white beard, is clear about his desire for the “first jog”, a Scottish tradition that says the symbolic first step after midnight brings good luck: “A referendum in September, win it and then I can live peacefully” .

Source: AFP

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