CHAPTER 4 SCOTLAND’S SEPARATISM IN THE CONTEXT OF
4.1 Argumentations Presented by SNP
4.1.1 The Democratic Case
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The image is informative and produces several statistics to back up the claim of the SNP.
However, while the image that the SNP paints does seem to be positive that independence would produce a better Scotland, many have questioned whether these statistics are actually an accurate representation of what would happen if Scotland did become independent. This thesis will now further view the argumentations for each category below.
4.1.1 The Democratic Case
In the UK, a system of devolution was granted thus, allowing Scotland to have some measure of self-government which subsequently resulted in the Scottish Parliament. In 1999, a 129-member Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh and they have the devolved powers to make laws over agriculture, education environment, health, local government and justice. Elections are held once every four years, with 73 Members being elected to represent constituencies, and the remaining 56 elected via a system of proportional representation.218 Scotland is a democracy and this gives Scotland rights such as freedom of speech; freedom of election; civil rights; freedom of religion; and the list goes on. However, democracy in Scotland has its deficits under the Westminster system. It can be argued that the Westminster system has failed Scottish democracy in different situations:
1. Scotland has been ruled by governments that were elected by fewer than half of Scottish constituencies since 1945;
2. The Westminster system encompasses the House of Lords, whose members are not elected nor do they represent the people. However, Members of the House of Lords exert a significant power over the people of Scotland. A single Member of the House of Lords has more power over systems in Scotland, than the Scottish Parliament as a whole;
218 FAQs – The Scottish Government, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/FAQs [Last Accessed: May 31st 2015]
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3. The First-Past-The-Post electoral system, which is used to elect the members of the Westminster Parliament, it does not fully reflect the voting rights of citizens considering it only regards the votes of the party who holds the majority of votes in a constituency;
4. Parliamentary Sovereignty is held onto by the Westminster system and this provides a principle of unlimited power. The Westminster Parliament continues to have the ultimate power; they could even abolish the Scottish Parliament if they wanted to.219
Despite these deficits, there is no disputing the fact that Scotland is indeed a democracy and contains all the rights to be one.
Scotland already enjoys many rights which were granted to them when the Union with England was formed, including the freedom of opinion and belief, equality under the law, the right to vote and the right to property. Not only this, but more autonomous rights were devolved to the Scottish Parliament, when it was founded in 1999, over a range of domestic policy areas and the Scots were free to pursue their own policy preferences, independent of the views of English voters. Thus, it could lead many to wonder why there would still be a case for democracy presented by the SNP. The devolved rights given to the Scottish Parliament was met with much disagreement and anger by opponents of the Union, which resulted in the 1979 West Lothian question of – “why should Scottish MPs be entitled to vote on domestic English affairs
when English MPs could no longer vote on domestic Scottish issues?”
220 This question has remained unanswered but it demonstrates that Scotland were granted devolved powers in which Ireland and Wales has yet to achieve however, there were still limitations placed upon the areas of which domestic policies in which the Scottish Parliament were allowed to alter, for example,219 Is Independence about Democracy? – The Scottish Government, https://www.scotreferendum.com/questions/is-independence-about-democracy/ [Last Accessed: May 31st 2015]
220 Carrell, S., “What is the West Lothian Question and Why does it Matter?” The Guardian, September 19th 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/jan/17/what-is-west-lothian-question [Last Accessed: November 28th 2015]
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only amending the basic rate of tax by up to 3p in the pound.221 It could be that these restrictions, which Scotland are bounded by, are the main reasons causing the SNP to want to achieve independence under the democratic case as the SNP would hope that the Scottish people could operate on their own means rather than be constrained by such rules.
Furthermore, history of the United Kingdom could have led to the democratic case being advocated by the SNP. The emphasis behind the democratic case could be derived from the years when Margaret Thatcher sat as Prime Minister in Westminster Parliament as those years exacted a particularly high price from Scotland’s economy and society.222 The unemployment rate and poverty in Scotland doubled during the time Margaret Thatcher was in power and all the while when this was occurring in Scotland, the Thatcher administration made a massive gain of 160 billion pounds worth of revenue from the North Sea Oil situated in Scotland.223 Many economists believe that the revenue from the North Sea Oil was what provided funding for Thatcher to meet the public bill for her monetarist policies in 1979-81.224 During the years of Margaret Thatcher’s reign, her actions and policies probably left a scar on Scottish people thus leading to the reasons behind the SNP argumentations under democracy that while Scots do hold the classic rights granted under democracy; there is still not as much freedom when it comes to having one effective government for the people of Scotland and a support for public culture.225
The main motto of the SNP throughout their whole manifesto is that, “Decisions about Scotland will be taken by the people who care most about Scotland – those who live and work here.”226 The claims under the democratic case and under this motto are that an independent
221 House of Commons Library, “Devolution of Financial Powers to the Scottish Parliament: Recent Developments,”
UK Parliament, November 13th 2015, http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN07077 [Last Accessed: November 28th 2015]
222 Maxwell, S. (2012), Evidence, Risk and the Wicked Issues: Arguing for Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press (Viewpoint), p. 34
223 Commission on Scottish Devolution, Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, HMG, 2009
224 Keegan, W. (1983), Britain Without Oil, London: Penguin
225 Maxwell, S. (2012), Evidence, Risk and the Wicked Issues: Arguing for Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press (Viewpoint), p. 33
226 White Paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, p. xii
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Parliament from Westminster Parliament will be created in Scotland and elected entirely by the people in Scotland. SNP argue that this will be more beneficial than the current Westminster system considering under the Westminster system which makes decisions for the United Kingdom as a whole, only 9 percent of the 650 members of the House of Commons are representatives from Scotland and the House of Lords remains unelected. It is contended by the SNP that if Scotland had its own Parliament then key decisions will be commanded with the support of the Scottish electorate.227 The Independent Budget Report estimated that there is a likely chance that to 2025, over 40 billion pounds will be taken away from Scottish spending budgets by the Westminster Parliament.228 Therefore, the SNP principles for the case of democracy, prosperity and fairness lie on:
1. “The people of Scotland will always get governments we vote for;
2. We will control our own resources and make our own decisions about our economy;
3. We can decide how we use our wealth to benefit all the people in our society.”229
In addition to this, the current voting system that Scotland implements for its local elections is the single transferable vote (STV), which is the most proportional of all the voting systems for representation. Candidates under the STV do not need a majority of votes to be elected, they only need a share of the votes and that is determined by the size of the electorate and the number of the positions to be filled.230 The SNP wishes to represent the votes of the people using the fairest and most proportional method. Currently, the Westminster Parliament utilizes the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system which does not create a fully proportional system as it is based on the majority vote thus, the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins, all other votes do not count for anything.231 Therefore, the SNP hopes that through independence, Scotland will be able to vote fairly and proportionately on matters that concern Scottish people and become an even more democratic country.
227 White Paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, p. xii
228 Independent Budget Report. Scottish Government, Edinburgh, 2010
229 White Paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, p. 3
230 Electoral Reform Society, “Single transferable Vote,” http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/single-transferable-vote [Last Accessed: November 28th 2015]
231 Electoral Reform Society, “First Past the Post,” http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/first-past-the-post [Last Accessed: November 28th 2015]
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On the other side of the spectrum, there are concerns that even though the arguments that SNP have are patriotic and hold good, however, it cannot be guaranteed that the quality of democracy in an independent Scotland will evolve to be at the same level as other developed European democracies. There are various social and cultural factors that set Scotland apart from their Nordic neighbours and the reinvigoration of democracy will lead to a confrontation of powerful contemporary trends. These include having to deal with greater individualism, the fragmentation and diversification of mass communication, and the increasing influence of corporate power. In addition to this, if Scotland had achieved independence and revolutionized their democracy, it would still not alleviate Scotland against the dominance of London considering even if Scotland were independent, Scotland would still have to negotiate and collaborate with the UK on an economic and social union. Scotland and the UK would have to cooperate on academic and cultural institutions alike. Furthermore, support from England will still be formidable since they share a common language with Scotland and London’s status as the UK’s sole ‘global city’ will be significant in the long run.232
Faced with these difficulties, the path to a better democracy may be a rough one. The claims in which SNP base their democratic case on can be seen to be that the SNP guarantees that the government of Scotland will align with the preferences of the Scottish voter, and that the democratic decision-taking will be equal to that of the other developed European countries.