Differences of politics in Scotland and England leads to claims that the Scottish people are being governed against their will. This creates a constitutional crisis which has manifested in desires for self-government. Brexit contradicts the 2014 referendum assurances that only by rejecting independence could Scotland stay in the EU.
Brexit and the renewed calls for Scottish independence have a historical connection to the divergence of politics between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom (UK). Divergence of politics between Scotland and its UK counterparts has often led to claims that the Scottish people are being governed against their will, creating a constitutional crisis which has manifested in desires for self-government. The right-wing campaign and the potential consequences of Brexit are now doing the same. In June 2016, a majority of voters in Britain quite surprisingly voted to leave the European Union (EU), becoming the first nation to do so. This Brexit referendum passed by a narrow margin of just under 4% of the vote. To complicate this controversial issue more, not all the nations of the UK favored leaving. While 53.4% of the voters in England supported Brexit, Scottish voters overwhelmingly rejected it with 62% voting to stay. With the result of the Brexit referendum and the decision by Prime Minister Theresa May to pursue a "hard" Brexit (severing most ties with EU), the discussion of a second referendum on Scottish independence has grown. The call for another referendum should not come as a shock despite the claims that the 2014 referendum settled the question for a generation. This is largely due to the nature of the issues surrounding Brexit, particularly regarding the EU. The issue of EU membership was hotly debated during the 2014 campaign on independence. The governing party in Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP), advocated EU membership as part of the viability of an independent Scotland. The notion that an independent Scotland would even be able to gain EU membership was challenged by the "Better Together" campaign. Membership in the EU became a talking point, and the path of an independent Scotland joining it was disputed. The doubt created around EU membership shaped the election as the uncertainty surely influenced some otherwise "yes" voters. However, the safe "no" vote that secured EU membership has now been nullified by the Brexit vote.
The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 2, winter 2019, pp. 141+ Paywall