Not often I post the EEN as their site is awful. But my adblocker has done a decent job, and it is worth a quick read. Notice how Andy Burnham isn’t getting asked about all the uppity regions also
Not often I post the EEN as their site is awful. But my adblocker has done a decent job, and it is worth a quick read. Notice how Andy Burnham isn’t getting asked about all the uppity regions also
Likely yes, it would be a relatively smooth transition into the EU. Scotland was part of the EU for a long time and a big part of the no campaign on the last referendum was that Scotland would risk it’s EU membership. Scotland also voted strongly in favour of staying in the EU but was outvoted by England.
That makes me wonder then. If Scotland was to do that and join the EU then what would be done with all Crown assets? Would Scotland then become like rest of the Common Wealth? and only have the Charles as a figurehead?
That’s much less clear, that would likely be sorted out after an independence referendum. Crown assets will almost certainly be divided in the same way as all other government property, however that ends up playing out. In my opinion it’s more likely than not that the monarchy would still be recognised to some degree. Anecdotally there’s far fewer royalists in Scotland than England so there’s also a reasonable chance they’re scrapped. There’s a notable portion on the population who see the monarchy as parasites using taxpayer funds to live lavishly, it’s difficult to argue against that.
Border control and customs night be an issue
Very unlikely, but that was one argument the no campaign tried to make last time. It’s a solved issue, there’s already a land border between the UK and EU in Ireland.
I’ve seen it suggested, and I think it holds some merit, that there might be those in the EU (and accession must be unanimous I believe) who aren’t so positive - Spain may not wish to set a precedent for Catalonia walking away and retaining access to the single market.
The other practical obstacle is that like Ireland, Scotland doesn’t have a land border with the EU, but does with UK who are the largest trading partner. Scotland entering the EU would reopen a lot of debates around RoIreland/Northern Ireland, which is neatly divided from the rest of UK by the Irish Sea - wouldn’t be popular in UK, nor European capitals. Unlike Eire, Scotland doesn’t have the option of becoming a floating tax haven.
Personally, I’ve come round to the pro-Indy position, but its not a done thing that Scotland would join the EU, quickly or otherwise.