The SNP’s independence dream is on life support

The SNP Scottish government has brought out its latest fantasy paper on secession. Never mind the party’s nosediving popularity that could see the Nationalists kicked out of office in 2026. Or that your average Scot’s enthusiasm for another referendum is on a par with their eagerness for another bout of Covid. The dream shall never die, as they say, so what choice do they have but to keep plugging away like a tiresome timeshare salesman?

The new paper is titled An independent Scotland in the EU. It is presented as a realistic outline of how Scotland can remove itself from the UK and accede to the EU as an independent state. Outrageously for a paper produced by civil servants, it uses language and framing that is highly party political. For example, it characterises the 2014 referendum campaign as one in which ‘commitments were made by those arguing against independence that voting “No” was the only way to secure Scotland’s place in the EU’.

In reality, those campaigning against secession correctly pointed out that a ‘Yes’ vote would mean Scotland becoming a third country with respect to the EU at the same time as it left the UK.