The paper by Professor Allan Findlay and Helen Packwood looks at ‘Immigration to Scotland and the Constitutional Change Debate: Geography, difference and the question of scale’. The paper seeks to extend understanding of how geographies of scale can contribute to the discussion surrounding migration and constitutional change. It asks the question, is immigration to Scotland distinctive? The 2011 Census is used to explore whether there are other scales at which Scotland’s possible claims to distinctiveness in terms of migration ‘experience’ and ‘needs’ can be assessed. The detailed and comprehensive perspective provided by the 2011 Census highlights the heterogeneous national immigration picture. The authors demonstrate the economic and policy evidence for developing a more nuanced approach to immigration policy. The implications of these findings are significant given the prospect of constitutional change in Scotland.

To reference this paper please use the following text: Packwood, H. and Findlay, A. (2014) Immigration to Scotland and the Constitutional Change Debate: Geography, difference and the question of scale. CPC Working paper 42, ESRC Centre for Population Change UK.

More information about the Scottish Independence projects CPC is funded to carry out can be found here;  http://www.cpc.ac.uk/research_programme/Scottish%20Independence.php