Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s former First Minister and a prominent figure in British politics, is beloved by Scottish citizens as a hallmark activist and progressive feminist leader. That is, until she was publicly arrested on allegations of embezzlement and fraud.
On June 23, 2016, 52 percent of the United Kingdom electorate voted to withdraw from the European Union (EU), solidifying the formal results of Brexit. Mere hours after the referendum results were announced, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his formal resignation. “I have always believed that we have to confront big decisions, not duck them,” Cameron graciously announced during his resignation statement. A vehement advocate for the U.K.’s sustained membership in the EU, leaving Europe was “not the path I recommended.” With the world watching, Cameron threw up his hands and threw down his hat in resignation, abandoning his country during its most pivotal, vulnerable period.
When the U.K. voted to leave the EU, teenagers were among the most affected, yet most of them had no say at the ballot box. The Brexit decision continues to shape their futures today, barring key pathways to travel, education, and work. For the young people of Scotland wishing to stay connected to Europe, a door has been slammed shut. Opportunities often taken for granted by older generations, such as working abroad or studying on an exchange, are now profoundly more difficult: more expensive, more competitive, or simply out of reach.
Local university students have begun mobilizing a pro-independence union in the small university town of Saint Andrews, expressing how Scotland feels like a “second-class country,” at the beck and call of England as an overlord dictator. An avid member of the university’s pro-independence movement, student Harry Stage emphasized how “Brexit is just a prime example of Scotland getting the exact opposite of what it voted for.” If change is to be invoked, it is among those who have experienced the repercussions of Brexit for a majority of their lives. These students know that Scotland needs a seat next to England at the global table, rather than being fed the dinner scraps.
Upon exiting the EU, the U.K. reportedly chose not to rejoin Erasmus+, a landmark program enabling students and staff to study, train, or work abroad. Erasmus+ has been a primary catalyst for youth mobility within the EU. Since abandoning the program, Scottish universities have been forced to reduce funding for students’ outward educational mobility. It is estimated that over 18,000 students from Scottish universities benefited from this program, providing young people with renewed opportunities to live, work, and study across the EU and U.K. Nearly all of Scotland’s population growth comes from migration, either from the rest of the U.K. or internationally. With the changes brought about by Brexit, net migration from the EU into the U.K. is now negative, as more citizens move to the EU to escape this loss.
The resounding effects of Brexit have incited severe economic and social repercussions for Scottish citizens, catalyzing their newfound restorative nationalism. The polls have consistently displayed a razor-thin margin in Scotland’s vote for political sovereignty, where sentiments had been brewing long before the first official referendum in 2014, when 55 percent of Scotland voted against independence. Many citizens remain committed to reconnecting with the EU amidst raging economic hardships, labor shortages, and newfound trade barriers, creating a significant obstruction to Scotland’s economic output. However, Scotland is now in an unprecedented position. No other country has been removed from the EU against its will, and no other country has tried to rejoin.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) is a progressive, left-leaning party calling for Scottish independence from the U.K. Formed in 1934, the party has been criticized for an apparent lack of goals beyond independence, generating dismal polling numbers in the late twentieth century. It was not until 2007 that the party rematerialized, with First Minister Alex Salmond expanding the SNP’s policies across several democratic platforms, increasing membership numbers, and winning a party majority in the Scottish Parliament. Nicola Sturgeon replaced Salmond in 2014, remaining a vehement advocate for independence and leading the party to several successful campaigns.
Nicola Sturgeon’s investigation, nicknamed Operation Branchform, concerned the allegation that over £600,000 raised by the SNP for a proposed independence referendum, which has yet to come to fruition, was being improperly used for personal funding of party members. The SNP is currently the largest affiliation in Scotland’s local government, controlling 60 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament. Despite its majority, the party has nearly halved since 2019, largely attributed to a decline in both leadership and ideological stability. Nicola Sturgeon resigned shortly after the allegations surfaced, following the subsequent arrest of her husband, Peter Murrell, for his role in the mismanagement of SNP funds as the party’s chief executive.
Following these disasters, the SNP has been rapidly losing ground. While their credibility and establishment plummeted, their desire for independence has been steadily rising. The results of their initial referendum displayed how 62 percent of Scotland’s population voted to remain in the EU. Instead, they got Brexit – setting the country on a path it had never agreed on. Brexit’s current trajectory is what could lead the national economy of Scotland into the ground. Crippling labor shortages have left many communities without essential workers, darkened by the British government’s restrictive immigration policies and recruitment cut-off after their separation from the EU. Devastating repercussions include losing hundreds of millions of pounds in EU funding, rising food costs, and a blow to the nation’s tourism industry due to repressive travel bans. While continued integration with the EU remains woefully unrequited, Scotland has now unwillingly left the world’s largest single market. The shared sentiment of redemption is palpable, no better honed than by the nation’s vigorous attempts to rejoin the EU and establish formal sovereignty.
The aim of the SNP is best reflected through their website’s candid advertising.“Scotland must have the right to choose governments we actually vote for. Governments that reflect your values.” Brexit has brought nothing but barriers to the people of Scotland, where the U.K.’s Westminster system controls all guidelines to national security, foreign policy, and immigration. In this sense, the U.K. fails to accommodate the desires of its individual nation-states, fulfilling the agenda of its capital city and overruling the democratic choices of the Scottish Parliament. The perceived success of Scottish devolution has instead created a fundamental democratic deficit. It preserves the interests of the Westminster system above all else and assumes the right to act when it feels most justified.
In response, a profound shift is materializing, with young people at the forefront. Long-harbored sentiments now resemble action. Whispers are turning into roars. Modern generations represent a profound, reinvigorated shift to rejoin the EU, fighting to reassume their deserved opportunities. Independence is on the horizon, and young people will be the ones to seize it. “Braveheart’s” William Wallace hits the nail on the head. “These Scots will fight like warrior poets; they will fight like Scotsmen, and they will win their freedom.”
Featured Image Source: New York Times