Scotland's New Choice: Independence after Brexit
Edited by Eve Hepburn, Michael Keating and Nicola McEwen
Published: 18 March 2021 by Centre on Constitutional Change, the University of Edinburgh

This book provides a guide to anyone seeking to navigate the issues involved in holding a second referendum on independence. The first referendum in September 2014 resulted in 55% voting against independence. Seven years on, the Scottish Government is drafting plans to invite voters to decide on Scotland’s future once again. 

Many of the questions remain the same as in 2014. For instance, what would be the currency of an independent Scotland? Would an independent Scotland be in the EU? What would it mean for our economy, our society, our public services, or our security? 

Yet much has changed since 2014. Most notably, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) profoundly affects the context in which independence would take place, and the relationships an independent Scotland could have with its neighbours. The Covid-19 crisis, and the enormous health, economic and social challenges it has created for governments across the globe, also shapes the background against which any decision on Scotland’s future would take place. 

The aim of this book is to provide some clarity on the issues, the opportunities and the challenges surrounding the prospect of independence for Scotland in the light of these changes. It builds upon an earlier initiative ahead of the 2014 referendum developed by the Future of the UK and Scotland programme in partnership with the Hunter Foundation and the David Hume Institute: Scotland’s Decision: 16 Questions to think about for the referendum on 18 September (Jeffery and Perman, 2014). Then, we provided impartial, authoritative analysis on key issues to help voters steer their way through the competing claims of the campaigns. In this volume, we have asked scholars to revisit these and other issues in the changed context in which the independence debate is taking place.

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Introduction copyright © Eve Hepburn, Michael Keating and Nicola McEwen 2021. Copyright © of individual chapters is held by the named authors 2021. The moral right of Eve Hepburn, Michael Keating and Nicola McEwen to be identified as the editors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Provided it is in its original form, complete and unedited, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted without the express written permission of the publisher.