From STV today:
John Swinney is to press the Prime Minister for a second independence referendum after MSPs backed his call for Westminster to grant Holyrood the powers for such a vote to take place.
The Scottish First Minister, who is due to meet Sir Keir Starmer for talks in June, said those talks would be “an opportunity for me to progress the will of Parliament”.
He spoke out after MSPs backed, by 72 votes to 55, a motion demanding Westminster deliver a Section 30 order to transfer powers to Scotland that would allow a second referendum.
However, Downing Street immediately rejected that call, with a spokesperson making clear that “the UK Government does not support independence or another referendum”.
Over many decades, British governments, colonial governors, military officers, and politicians repeatedly argued that many colonies were “not ready,” “not viable,” or would become unstable after independence.
The territories most commonly described that way at some point included:
Americas & Caribbean
- United States
- Ireland
- Jamaica
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Barbados
- Bahamas
- Guyana
- Belize
- Grenada
- Saint Lucia
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Dominica
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
Africa
- Ghana
- Nigeria
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- Malawi
- Botswana
- Sierra Leone
- The Gambia
- Somalia
- Sudan
Asia & Middle East
- India
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Myanmar
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Cyprus
- Iraq
- Jordan
Pacific
- Fiji
- Samoa
- Tonga
- Papua New Guinea
- Solomon Islands
- Vanuatu
British officials often argued these places:
- lacked economic self-sufficiency,
- had ethnic or religious divisions,
- depended on British military protection,
- or lacked administrative experience.
In practice, Britain used versions of this argument in almost every major independence movement during the decline of the British Empire. All of the above are now independent.
Is there any good reason why Scotland should be denied the same independence as the above 42 countries?
No.
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Nigeria is missing from the map.
Scotland soon to change colour.
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