Lucy Dunn Lucy Dunn

Humza Yousaf looks to the EU and Ireland for citizenship inspiration

(Photo by Robert Perry - Pool/Getty Images)

Burgundy passports, dual citizenship and rejoining the EU were a few of the items at the top of Humza Yousaf’s fifth independence paper, published earlier today. The First Minister’s latest independence document in the ‘Building a New Scotland’ series outlines the Scottish government’s proposals for citizenship in an ‘open, inclusive’ and independent Scotland. 

Holding a finger up to the UK government over post-Brexit changes, Yousaf’s paper describes how Scottish passports would be a ‘right’ available to Scottish citizens from day one of independence. In imitation of the old-style EU passports these would be burgundy in colour, not blue, and would follow EU regulations – despite the fact an independent Scotland would not automatically become a European Union member on breaking away from Britain.

There is no guarantee that an independent Scotland would be able to rejoin the EU, but the Scottish government’s proposal seems insistent that some kind of pre-Brexit, European Scotland is possible.

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