Defending the Right Union

The Scottish Tories look like supporting more devolution. Cue predictable apoplexy from some. Devolution was a terrible mistake, slopes are slippery, beaches should be fought on and ditches died in.

In its own way, this reaction makes exactly the same mistake as nationalists. To understand why needs a history lesson, and a grasp of public opinion. Let’s start with the history.

The Union of 1707 was a genuine deal. After a military standoff, England knew it couldn’t conquer Scotland. But Scotland was broke, and couldn’t afford to stay independent. The deal put into practice a Scottish scheme for dealing with the problem that was England. A union that preserved in Scotland the things that really mattered; not its mediaeval parliament, but its legal system, which kept the elite happy, and its church, which mattered much more to most people.

It’s easy today to forget how significant the church then was: wars had been fought over the ‘true protestant religion’.