Essay - Scottish independence after Brexit PDF

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Scottish independence after Brexit...

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Rafał Pedrycz 2BA/12 Does the concept of Scottish independence make sense after Brexit? The United Kingdom has been quite turbulent in the recent times, especially with Brexit being the main topic of discussion for almost every citizen and politician. After the referendum for Brexit was conducted it turned out that, while England and Wales were in favour of Brexit (53.4% and 52.5% of voters respectively), Scotland and Northern Ireland were actually in favour of staying in the European Union (62% and 55.8% respectively). This is not surprising, especially for Scotland, considering that Scotland would be very well able to function as a country independent from the United Kingdom. First of all, with the current state of affairs, Scotland is bound to make decisions that are good not only for itself, but for the entirety of the United Kingdom. This also means that the main government in Westminster is elected on the basis of votes from different countries of the UK as well. If Scotland was to leave the UK it could disregard devolution and would have full control over its policies. It could focus on fixing the problems of its own, like a better immigration policy, rather than the problems of the entire United Kingdom. Second is the matter of money. If Scotland was to leave the United Kingdom it would be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Currently, Scotland is forced to give the tax revenue from their North Sea oil to the United Kingdom and it is used for global expenses. With independent Scotland all of these enormous funds would be invested only within the country. Even without financial support from the UK, having all the revenue for themselves would be enough to further support the economy. Lastly, with the UK insisting on leaving the European Union, an independent Scotland would be able to choose membership in various organisations on its own. Therefore, Scotland could (should they choose to) still apply to re-join the European Union or United Nations on their own terms. Additionally, Scotland would have full control over their armed forces and wouldn’t have to be involved in wars of other countries, like the Iraq war. In conclusion, I believe that Scotland is a strong enough country in its own right to become fully independent from the United Kingdom, which might even be dragging it down at the moment....