Why Scottish Independence Might be Dead (for now)

The SNP faces a decline in popularity, trailing behind Labour in Scottish polls. Leader Humza Yousaf's challenges add to the uncertainty. This video delves into the status of the Scottish independence movement amidst these developments.

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[Mitjitsu]

It's important to realize the SNP is made up of many different factions who all want independence for their own reasons. The SNP won't last very long in a post independent Scotland, and will inevitably split.

[biocapsule]

Johnson is a gift for the SNP, but Truss and Sunak is a gift for Labour.

[mjr_schneider]

Seems very similar to what has happened here in Canada with Quebec. After decades of separatist government and two failed referendums, Quebec eventually just stopped re-electing the PQ and switched their support to the CAQ, which is autonomist but not separatist. The separatist movement isn't completely dead, around a third of Quebecers would still vote for independence, but the situation has come to a kind of begrudging standstill since 1995 and doesn't look like it's going to change radically anytime soon.

[mrelephant]

A lot of the comments are just ignoring what TL;DR are saying and arguing against points they either clarified or did not make

[davidtijero]

Scotland vote against independence in 2014. People went to vote under the threat of being out of the European Union if they voted to abandon United Kingdom. Two years later, the Brexit referendum was held. Scotland overwhelmingly voted to remain in the European Union, but the overall result was to leave the EU. I don't know. It seems like an unfair situation for the Scots. They didn't vote for independence due to the threat of being expelled from the EU, and shortly afterward, they end up outside despite voting the opposite.

[Pikaling]

I’m a federalist although I want to preserve the UK’s unity and existence but at the same time I would prefer that the governance of the UK is reformed and decentralised with each nation and region having its own self governance. This might present a good opportunity to promote that federalist option.

[hughjass]

These videos are so informative for those of us who don't live in the UK and have only a surface level knowledge of subjects like this. Thanks for your work!

[caseysmith]

I think this is a fairly well done appraisal of the situation and the future of Scottish politics. For years the SNP had higher levels of support among the population than independence. For the first time (basically ever) independence is more popular than the SNP and it looks set to continue that way for a long time. This I think reflects an important maturation of the debate on Scottish independence and as this video remarks, important to no longer lazily view the fate of the SNP and independence as intertwined.

[Dunkskins]

The SNP is only flying the flag for independence no one would really want them in an independent Scotland there would be a multitude of new parties.

[Dan-vovc]

Who proofreads this? "Dorment?" Really?

[crunk_ipa]

I don't often comment on things but I think this video is a tad misguided - SNP don't define the independence movement but are seen as the flagbearers for it right now as it's the largest party. The greens and Alba are also existing and while the SNP does have infighting right now and has sunk in the polls, the independence support has remained quite static around 45-50%. I think to truly understand the independence movement you have to actually live in Scotland and any outside statistics won't really give an insight into our behaviours.

[TotallyNormalUK]

As a Scottish viewer, I never liked the Independence movement.

It just feels like they're putting all of the blame for all of Scotland's wows on England. It's only a half truth, as in reality, they could've done more for Scotland if they focused on today's Scotland, not some far future Independent Scotland.

[bujin]

The only way a Labour Westminster government will "kill off" (for now) Scottish (or Welsh) independence support is with a move away from FPTP in general elections to stop the UK electing the Tories on a minority of the vote. But while Labour might be a little more amenable to the Scots than the Tories have been, they're still very much going to be focused on England simply due to the relative sizes of the countries - a key point in why people who support independence say that the "union" does not work. So it's quite unlikely that independence will ever be killed off and there will always be a significant proportion of the country in favour of it.

[Scorpia]

SNP and independent all the way.
SNP is the only way to protect Scottish future but independent would be so much better

[AJM-GariochQuine]

An independence supporting friend who lives in Fife but happens to be English sent me this comment on Scotland's struggle for self determination...
I subscribe to Quora and an Irish citizen quoted this which was buried in a UK government spokesperson's remarks. I congratulated him on pinpointing the truth of why WM wants to keep Scotland:
"If Scotland does become independent, the rump of the UK(r-UK) will lose most of its fishing waters and Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ), nearly all its oil and gas reserves, close to a third of its land area, massive renewable energy resources, a huge part of its freshwater reserves, and a parking place for its nuclear weapons and the nuclear submarines which carry them."
This is why "No to Section 30", plain and simple.
The full might of the Unionist media, politicians, civil servants, MI5 and 77th Brigade work tirelessly to persuade Scots that they are too wee, too poor and too stupid to run their own country. Fortunately the younger generations are not that easily fooled.

UK Gov commissioned polling in 2021 confirms that the desire for independence has greatly increased in younger voters since 2014. 82% of 18 – 24s would now vote Yes, as would 81% of 25 – 34s and 61% of 35 – 55s. However, over 55s are more in favour of the union with 44% of 55 – 64s supporting Yes and only 27% of over 65s supporting independence.
There is clear evidence that Scots are much less likely to become more conservative and/or become unionists as they age… Every year 50K new young voters replace the 50K older voters who have ‘departed’… Tick tock… Demography will get us there!

[MichaelSmith-ijut]

As a dead Scot myself, this was very insightful

[cuteJ]

As someone from a region strong independence movement, I don't think a failed party is related to the movement itself, but just can slow it down...

[chosenundead]

"is Scottish independence dead? "

80% of young scots : am i a joke to you.

[TheCountryJournal]

It's kind of strange for Scotland to want nationalism and devolvement from central power in Westminster and England, while at the same time thinking they will be embraced by, join and submit themselves to the super centralised EU Union state. They are trading one centralised power (which affords them a lot of autonomy) for another even bigger and more restrictive, in the name of independence. Scotland has relied (since 1707) on a number of English backed subsidies, they think the EU, with all of its troubles and shortcomings are going to want to prop up Scotland financially and economically? I don't think so.

[xavierengelin]

The SNP doesnt have Blackford-Sturgeon anymore, and i cant see them being very popular until they can find new leaders who mirror that level of popularity