The Scottish Independence Referendum was rejected in Scotland on September 18th, 2014. More than half of Scottish residents chose stability rather than the ideal of independence by Yes 45% and No 55%. However, it is sure that confrontation between the United Kingdom and Scotland isn’t over. This Scottish Independence Referendum intensified the division and left some aftereffects. Why did Scotland request independence from the United Kingdom?
  First, the race and language are different. The Celtics, who were ancestors to the Scottish, lived first in the United Kingdom. In around the 16th century, Anglo-Saxons, who emigrated from Germany and were ancestors of the British, became the dominant forces. They banished the Celtics to the barren northern lands. From that time, Scotland has been constantly fighting with England.  Scotland uses English, which was influenced by England. Their traditional languages, the Scottish language and the Gaelic language, are used as official languages. The Scottish language is the language that has changed from English independently. The Gaelic language is based on the ancient Celtic language.
  Second, the history that Scotland fought with England is much longer than the history that they shared together as one country. The Battle of Stirling Bridge commanded by William Wallace in 1297 was evaluated as the first independence movement of Scotland to escape from England’s influence. After Robert I of Scotland won a victory in the Battle of Bannockbur, Scotland became independent and made a treaty guaranteeing independence from the United Kingdom. However, the relationship between Scotland and England was changed by the marriage of King James IV and Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret, of England in 1503. Both Scotland and England were guaranteed autonomy by the union law of England in 1707. Its shared history was just 300 years because they joined together in a federal system in 1707. After the merger, Scotland never stopped trying to secede from the union because of its strong national pride.
  The discovery of the North Sea Oil Field was an opportunity for Scottish independence in 1970. Additionally, Margaret Thatcher forced the privatization of several industries in Scotland. It caused one-fifth of Scottish workers to lose their work. Scottish’s financial deprivation and victim mentality led to the spread of supporting the SNP(Scotland Nationalist Party). If Scotland had become independent, 90 percent of the North Sea Oil Field would have belonged to Scotland. As a result, SNP leadership has maintained tax cuts and high welfare. Scotland’s self-government actually exerted authority within a certain extent so that the government could change the income tax rate and make their own legislation related to welfare policies or the establishment of regulations. As the central government started retrenchment resulting from the world economic crisis, the self-government implemented the independence vote. Although the historic vote of residents was enforced as commemoration of the battle of Bannockburn, at last independence failed. British appeasement was effective. It consisted of a financial squeeze where the United Kingdom didn’t allow Scotland to use the pound or expand self-government authority. A little over 5 million, the Scottish population is merely 8.1% of the British population. Its total income is 7.7% of British GDP. If Scotland had become independent, Scotland would be ranked low among EU countries. The Scottish residents’ decision attributes to economic problems considering many tax benefits and welfare benefactions from the British government. However, dissatisfaction with the present government was verified by this independence poll and the people’s cohesiveness. Centralization of the British government seems to be weak for the future. As Scotland’s secession became a hot issue, people guessed the secession of Catalonia of Spain, Veneto of Italy and Flanders of Belgium against their respective central governments.
 

By Choi Da-young | dy35@cbnu.ac.kr
By Ko So-young | sy35@cbnu.ac.kr