News and opinion

In a recent article for The Guardian, Michael Keating discusses the split on independence in Scotland, and how a lengthy constitutional stalemate seems likely.

Most sides like to claim that they have the people on their side…that they have a mandate for action…Following the 2019 General Election in which the Conservatives won 56% of the seats (365/650), Boris Johnson claimed he had a mandate to get Brexit done. Also following that election, the SNP won 81% of the Scottish seats (48/59) and so Nicola Sturgeon claimed to have a mandate for the Scottish Parliament to be given the right to decide upon a second independence referendum.

In a talk prepared for the BBC at Queen’s University Belfast, Jennifer Todd reflects on the legacies of partition one hundred years on.

Benjamin Martill writes: Scottish independence is back on the agenda, largely thanks to Brexit, which has provided the ‘material change in circumstances’ necessary for a further challenge to the status quo.

The looming sense of crisis over the Union of the United Kingdom seems to thicken with each passing week. As we head towards the May elections, polls indicate that there will be a nationalist majority in the Scottish parliament, giving renewed vigour to the demand for a second independence referendum.

In a new blog from the ebook ‘Scotland’s new choice: Independence after Brexit’, Paul Cairney reflects on policy-making in an independent Scotland, concluding that independence would likely be a remarkable event with an unremarkable impact on policy.

In a extract from their contribution to the recent ebook ‘Scotland’s new choice: Independence after Brexit’, Chris McCorkindale and Aileen McHarg explore the legal route to independence, but ultimately conclude the vote "will be a matter of politics and not law."

On Monday 12 April, Michael Keating will launch his new book State and Nation in the United Kingdom: The Fractured Union.

Find out what our Fellows have been saying on the current constitutional debate.