Post-Brexit Scottish Nationalism: The Challenges And Prospect Of An Independent Scotland

Scottish nationalism is an inevitable topic in British politics.After the Scottish National Party formed the first majority government in Scotland in 2011,it gained the opportunity to call for a Scottish Independence referendum in 2014,in which 84.95%of the Scottish voters participated and 55.8%of those voters chose to remain in the UK.This was believed to quiet down the independence cause for a generation but the EU referendum in 2016 added further uncertainty to the Scottish Question.On the one hand,membership in the European Union has been a hot topic in the debate of 2014 referendum.Many believed that by leaving the UK,Scotland would naturally leave the European Union and find difficulties in joining in again.Many people were unwilling to dare the prospect of leaving both markets.Now that Brexit has been a settled case,those who wanted to stay in the European Union may have to think again about the independence question.On the other hand,there is still the uncertainty around whether an independent Scotland could join the European Union and whether Scotland is better off joining in the European Union as an independent country than being in the UK.Furthermore,the independent Scotland in the European Union may be confronted with some fiscal challenges.The opinion polls after the EU referendum did not show a boost to Scottish nationalism as many had predicted.However,the Scottish Government under the lead of Scottish National Party took significant steps towards a second independence referendum as it wrote in the 2015 manifesto.As First Minister officially declared that no further actions will be made until the result of the Brexit negotiation is settled,the future of Scotland is still in the cloud.This paper aims to explore the possible influence of Brexit on the development of Scottish nationalist sentiments.Both first-hand and second-hand documents from the fields of historical,political and economic studies are examined.The conclusion is that led by the SNP,nationalists in Scotland will employ any possible events and causes to demand more rights to be returned to Scotland and that the future of Scotland remains unsettled.