Balkan Britain

It seems a majority of people polled in Britain now want the country broken up into its constituent parts.

The United Kingdom should be broken up and Scotland and England set free as independent nations, according to a huge number of voters on both sides of the border.

A clear majority of people in both England and Scotland are in favour of full independence for Scotland, an ICM opinion poll for The Sunday Telegraph has found. Independence is backed by 52 per cent of Scots while an astonishing 59 per cent of English voters want Scotland to go it alone.

There is also further evidence of rising English nationalism with support for the establishment of an English parliament hitting an historic high of 68 per cent amongst English voters. Almost half – 48 per cent – also want complete independence for England, divorcing itself from Wales and Northern Ireland as well. Scottish voters also back an English breakaway with 58 per cent supporting an English parliament with similar powers to the Scottish one.

The poll comes only months before the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland and will worry all three main political parties. None of them favours Scottish independence, but all have begun internal debates on the future of the constitution.

To what real purpose, I have no idea. This is similar to the situation in Canada with Quebec, of course. The problem with this is that the constituent parts don't understand that the unified nation is much greater than the sum of its parts. Back when there was a Yugoslavia, they were beginning to export automobiles to the US. (The Yugo was a horrible little car, but so were the early Japanese offerings). What exactly do the former parts of Yugoslavia export these days?

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  By Kevin B, Sunday, 26 November , 2006 @ 11:20 am

  One reason the English support an English Parliament is the undue influence of the Scots on the UK government. The Scots have both their own Parliament and representation in the House of Commons. Voting pattern show that England is a conservative nation whilst Scotland and Wales are Labour, and leftist Labour at that.

  Add to that the perception that England produces all the wealth and the other nations of the UK consume it all and you can see where the rise of English Nationalism comes from.

  Welsh and Scottish Nationalist have always been a substantial minority in these countries, but the rise of these, and the English equivalent, are symptomatic of the deep distrust of Westminster politics and polititians, as well as contrasting views of the European Union.

  Many Scots believe an independant Scotland can thrive as part of the EU, (in the same way that Eire has), whilst many in England believe that the future lies outside of the EU which is seen as corrupt, unrepresentive and anti English, as well as over-weeningly statist.

  Sadly, I don’t see the governing classes addressing these problems until the nationalist parties achieve spectacular gains in an election, and I don’t see that being too long in coming.

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  By Cernig, Sunday, 26 November , 2006 @ 12:36 pm

  What exactly do the former parts of Yugoslavia export these days?

  Weapons, same as they always did. There’s more profit in them than in sh*tty cars no-one wants. That’s “embracing capitalism”, that is.

  Regards, Cernig @ Newshog

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  By maha, Sunday, 26 November , 2006 @ 12:41 pm

  As Kevin B explains, the real problem seems to be that the UK is stuck somewhere between a centralized government and federalism. Now that Wales and Scotland have some home rule, matters now decided by the Welsh Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament for Scotland are decided by the British Parliament for England. As it says in the article,

  “Voters also had serious concerns about the so-called West Lothian Question, the ability of Scottish MPs at Westminster to vote on solely English matters while many purely Scottish issues are decided in Edinburgh. Sixty-two per cent of English voters want Scottish MPs stripped of this right and even 46 per cent of Scots agreed. The poll showed that the English are more likely to think of themselves as British than the Scots are. Only 16 per cent of English people said they were ‘English, not British’, compared to 26 per cent of Scots who said they were ‘Scottish, not British.’ …

  …”Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, said: ‘In England, people quite rightly resent Scottish Labour MPs bossing them about on English domestic legislation. England has as much right to self government as Scotland does.’”

  The Welsh and Scots have struggled for centuries to maintain their unique national identities vis a vis the English. For generations the English tried to eradicate the Welsh language, for example, but today Wales is officially bilingual. When you go there you see the Welsh national flag everywhere. They also have their own official national anthem, “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau,” which is always sung in Welsh. The Scots also have their own national symbols and iconography. I suspect the English may be going through a deep, if subtle, re-evaluation of what it is to be English, especially as something distinct from being British.

  And no, this is not at all like what’s going on in Canada.

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  By Bleepless, Sunday, 26 November , 2006 @ 3:50 pm

  Free Yorkshire! Free the Danelaw! Free Blubberhouses! Free, erm, that other place.

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