EU would be completely open to ‘normal’ Scotland joining but the UK would struggle

Speaking in a webinar organised by the European Movement in Scotland and reported everywhere in the MSM except BBC Scotland, Kirsty Hughes, former director of the Scottish Centre on Europe Relations (SCER) finally demolishes any arguments that Scotland is not sure of straightforward re-entry to the EU and to the relative prosperity that ensures. Come on Reporting Scotland staff, remember that class you took on news values?

I can’t easily locate the original so these extracts from the STV report will have to do:

If Scots voted for independence in a legally binding referendum, she forecast there would be “complete openness” from the 27 EU nations to allowing entry. “There is complete openness to welcoming another small, northern European country into the European Union.” But she added that not only was Scotland seen as pro-European, given the vote to remain in the EU in 2016, she said that its “politics looks more normal at the moment”. Speaking about the UK’s prospects for rejoining, she noted that politicians in Europe had been left feeling “disappointed, upset, angry and many other things at the Brexit vote”.

https://news.stv.tv/politics/eu-open-to-indy-scotland-but-reluctant-to-let-uk-back-in?top

Yes, I see that phrase ‘legally binding‘ and I know what that means at the moment but the sands are shifting. In international law, no state’s internal laws can deny the legality of secession. See this from a discussion hosted by Business for Scotland last December with my insertions:

5.5 Consistent with this general approach, international law has not treated the legality of the act of secession [Scotland] under the internal law of the predecessor State [UK] as determining the effect of that act on the international plane. In most cases of secession, of course, the predecessor State’s law will not have been complied with: that is true almost as a matter of definition.
5.6 Nor is compliance with the law of the predecessor State a condition for the declaration of independence to be recognised by third States, if other conditions for recognition are fulfilled. The conditions do not include compliance with the internal legal requirements of the predecessor State. Otherwise the international legality of a secession would be predetermined by the very system of internal law called in question by the circumstances in which the secession is occurring.

https://www.businessforscotland.com/a-2020-scottish-independence-referendum-what-if-westminster-says-no/

7 thoughts on “EU would be completely open to ‘normal’ Scotland joining but the UK would struggle”

  1. Very interesting
    But a most important fact is this
    No Nation has any rights whatsoever
    To continue to legislate,tax and control
    Any other Nation who democratically
    Demonstrates such is against the expressed majority of the will of its citezens
    Such is untenable and always the case
    P.S.never forget our situation is a voluntary union
    Rather akin to a marriage and a very strong argument for us
    1.The Union is irretrievably Broken
    2.The other partner in this Union is abusive mentally
    3.The monies that are rightfully ours are
    Missapropriated thereby denying access
    To monies for our basic needs such as feed our children
    4.We have no say or control on the other parties spending of our monies whilst such is entirely for their benefit alone
    EVEL
    5.Our young are dispatched to fight,die and be maimed for Life in Illegal wars
    6.We have imposed upon us the presence
    Of WMD which WILL lead to our own destruction in the event of the other party
    Becoming embroiled in International disputes that are not of our making that escalates into use of those WMD upon our sovereign lands & waters
    7.Within the legal document of the Act of our Union Their is specific irrevocable
    Clauses that specifically state that The Citizens of our Nation are the Sovereign power and such power can only ever be exercised through our elected representatives in a setting of their choosing
    No international law or court can ever refute any of this
    Westminster is a paper tiger
    Tis they that have much to lose
    Whilst we have much to gain
    And only our chains that bind us to lose
    We are many
    And Westminster in actual fact are very very very very very very very very few
    And that is why they are Paper Tigers
    If we roar they run away
    I shall have none tell me otherwise
    It is my and yours basic human right
    Our land Our Waters Our Children Our Future Generations Our DECISION
    ALONE

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  3. There was a revealing exchange on Good Morning Scotland today, when Mr Ian Blackford MP, leader of the SNP group at Westminster was interviewed about ‘what he would like to see in today’s statement by the Chancellor, Mr Rishi Sunak, MP.

    Amongst those listed by Mr Blackford was ‘increased borrowing powers for the Scottish Government’.

    Cue, immediate interruption by the interviewer in confrontational tone: “That’s your answer to everything, ‘more powers’! You have asked for more powers for [list of things given]. You are going to have to choose which one you actually want. Which one is it?”

    This question is being addressed to a representative of a party whose principal aim in INDEPENDENCE for Scotland, i.e. it wants ALL powers that relate to running a country to be exercised by the government of Scotland.

    Either the interviewer is completely ignorant of what the SNP stands for or he is trying out a British Nationalist attack line, a variation of the ‘whingeing Scots’ line.

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    1. The fact that Westminster and the unionist parties in Scotland continue to deny us the right to fiscal autonomy in order to test their assertion (that we are a fiscal basket case without Westminster handouts) should tell everyone where they are coming from.

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  5. In the UK “consent of the governed” is a justification for the wielding of power by an elected body.
    Can Scotland withdraw that consent? Would Westminster insist on governing us in the event of over whelming opposition?
    Scotland has, at present, no legal remedy to the refusal to consult the Scottish people on their future: but, Northern Ireland was the same. It’s right to self determination is now written into UK law, and it has the constitutional right to ask the electorate in N Ireland if they want to leave the UK.
    Simples.

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