A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society

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https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-citizenship-independent-scotland/documents/ You may also wish to consider wearing, and you may be asked to wear a face covering in other settings. Scottish independence ( Scottish Gaelic: Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; Scots: Scots unthirldom [1]) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. [2] [3] [4] [5] Independence would enable the creation of an economy that works better for everyone who does business in Scotland. The proposals in Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence are designed to help your business to: we have massive offshore wind potential. ScotWind provides seabed rights for potential development of almost 28GW of offshore wind energy, putting Scotland at the forefront of the global development of the sector.

With independence, Scotland could embrace the principle outlined in the Claim of Right for Scotland – that sovereignty lies with the people. The Centre for Constitutional Change stated during the 2016 EU referendum campaign that the "international relations aspect of the Brexit debate looks somewhat similar to the debate about Scottish independence". [185] There is no agreed process for Scottish independence and there would be no negotiations of the terms of independence before a positive referendum result. [186] Ruth Davidson has described "independence because of Brexit" as "amputating your foot because you've stubbed your toe". [187] The common use of the term Brexit has led some sources to describe Scottish independence as "Scexit", [188] [189] [190] [191] a portmanteau of Scotland + exit. [192] Support for independence [ edit ] Pro-independence rally in Glasgow, 2018 Further details of these proposals are set out in the A better economy with independence section of the full publication. Conclusions

This pro-independence trend continued into 2020, as three polls in the early part of the year put "Yes" support at between 50% and 52%. [234] In October 2020, an Ipsos MORI/ STV News poll saw support for independence at its highest ever level, with 58% saying they would vote "Yes". [235] As of December 2020, fifteen consecutive opinion polls had shown a lead for "Yes". [236] The run of polls showing a "Yes" lead continued into January 2021, although the average support for Yes was down by two percentage points compared to polls by the same companies in late 2020. [237] Polls conducted in early March 2021, following testimony by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon at a Holyrood parliamentary inquiry, showed narrow leads for "No". [238]

The Scottish Government proposes that Scotland should apply to re-join the EU. The people of Scotland did not vote to leave it. We’ve spent the last decade looking on as the UK Government undermines constitutional principle, after constitutional principle, with very little that anyone can do about it to challenging them or holding them to account. The campaign called "Scotland in Union" emerged after the 2014 independence referendum. [208] It has encouraged a positive outlook on unionism, tactical voting in elections and promoted the Union more generally. [208] [209] [210]'Scotland in Union' has been subject to criticism after records of it's donor base were leaked, including many of the UK’s wealthy elite, with major landowners, Lords, aristocrats and CEOs of companies all listed. Scotland in Union claims to be a “grassroots” campaign. [211] [212] In late 2017, a new group called "Unity UK" was formed. [213] Its supporters said that Unionists needed to be more supportive of Brexit and were critical of Scotland in Union's "agnostic" stance on the issue. [213] A new, independent Scottish Central Bank would report on economic criteria and conditions for considering when the Scottish pound should be introduced. It would be for the Scottish Parliament to make the final decision on when to introduce the new currency. As those examples help to demonstrate, the very process of creating a constitution would be energising. It’s a document that will be created by the people, as well as for the people.A category of 'Scottish citizenship' does not currently exist, as nationality law is reserved to Westminster. In the event of independence, Scotland and the rest of the UK would need to set new citizenship laws to allocate British and/or Scottish citizenship to existing British citizens and set out Scotland's new nationality laws. For the 2014 referendum, the Yes side said Scotland would tolerate dual citizenship. British citizens habitually resident in Scotland and Scottish-born British citizens elsewhere would have been able to become Scottish citizens automatically. [129] SNP MP Pete Wishart said in 2013 that Scots would 'of course' be able to keep a UK passport, but Home Secretary Theresa May said Scots may not have that option. [130] Economy [ edit ] The Highest Risk List – previously known as the Shielding List - has ended. However, there are still people whose weakened immune system means they are at higher risk from infectious diseases, including COVID-19. An example of what not to do was the government’s Internal Market Act, in which London retook control of structural funds previously disbursed by the EU.