Unionism

The Union Needs A New Identity

Author / Creator: Mark McInnes

Media type: Article

Date published:

A radicalised, nostalgic and reductive unionism only alienates most people. To create a stronger union, we need to embrace and celebrate the UK’s rich diversity


Labour and the Union

Author / Creator: Coree Brown Swan

Media type: Podcast

Date published: 2022

Politics in Scotland since the independence referendum has been marked by the dramatic decline of a once dominant Labour Party


Can muscular unionism save the Union?

Author / Creator: Iain McLean

Media type: Article

Date published: 2022

The phrase ‘muscular unionism’ is new but the concept is not.


A voluntary union with no exit?

Author / Creator: Kirsty Hughes

Media type: Article

Date published: 2022

"The UK is a voluntary union but the Scottish parliament cannot call an independence referendum without Westminster’s approval."


Why be against Scottish Independence?

Author / Creator: Jan-Pieter Atsma

Media type: Article

Date published: 2019

10 frequently heard reasons for opposing independence.


The Independence of Scotland: Self-Government and the Shifting Politics of Union

Author / Creator: Michael Keating

Media type: Book

Date published: 2009

What this book brings out in an exceptionally lucid fashion, is that the Anglo-Scottish union derives much of its strength from its inherent flexibility. Keating encourages us to think about the extent to which its latest ‘crisis’ can be accommodated by this suppleness or whether constant flexing will result in a stress fracture


Scottish Nationalism: History, Ideology and the Question of Independence

Author / Creator: Richard Finlay

Media type: Book

Date published: 2022

"SUPPORT for the Union in England can no longer be taken for granted and anti-independence messages around Scotland being “heavily subsidised” could backfire" The National


Brexit and Beyond: the union

Author / Creator: UK in a Changing Europe

Media type: Report

Date published: February 2021

What happens to powers that were formerly exercised at the EU level, but which fall within devolved competence, has been a recurrent source of disagreement between the UK Government and the devolved administrations.


Will ‘British values’ keep us together?

Author / Creator: Michael Keating

Media type: Blog

Date published:

The main threat to the union no longer comes from the nationalisms of the periphery but from the attempt by unionism to monopolise universal values and dress them with the nationalising language of Britishness. 


Scotland, Britain, and the Union

Author / Creator: Ali M. Ansari

Media type: Book

Date published: 2020

A unionist view of the importance of the union of Scotland and England.


Understanding the Union

Author / Creator: Iain McLean

Date published: 2020

In modern politics Unionism may be roughly mapped to social unionism, trade and security unionism, and nationalist unionism.


200 No to Yes voters tell us why they now believe in Scotland

Author / Creator: Believe in Scotland

Media type: Opinion poll

Date published:

A survey of 200 people who changed from "no" to "yes" showed multiple reasons.  The main ones were:

  • The effect of Brexit
  • UK government incompetence
  • Better Together lied
  • Had come to have more belief in Scotland
  • Felt NHS was not safe as part of the Union


A Sign on the Road

Author / Creator: John S Warren

Media type: News Media

Date published:

A critique of "Strength in Union: The Case for the United Kingdom", and especially Alister Jack's view of Scotland in the Union.


Strength in Union: The Case for the United Kingdom

Author / Creator: Alister Jack

Media type: Collection of essays by a Conservative Think Tank

Date published: September 2021

Is Scotland a Nation or a Region. MP David Cameron called Scotland a Nation in September 2014 in the run up to the Referendum. In 2021, Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland, refers to Scotland as a region.