Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The case for a new Act of Union

Photo by Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images

Scexit, not Brexit, will be the word that defines Boris Johnson’s premiership. The Times has a new poll from YouGov showing the SNP on 57 per cent with nine months to go until devolved elections. The same poll puts support for Scotland’s exit from the United Kingdom at 53 per cent. This confirms earlier polls from Panelbase: Scexit is now the majority position.

That support for the SNP has leapt along with Nicola Sturgeon’s approval ratings (up 45 per cent on this time last year) is confounding observers, not least given the Scottish exam results scandal of the past week. Sturgeon has, of course, benefited from fronting televised daily Covid-19 briefings, carried live on the BBC, but her polling is as much to do with longer trends in Scottish politics. Scotland has tended towards a dominant-party system. The Scottish Liberal party more than once took over 80 per cent of the popular vote and a century later Scottish Labour began an election-winning streak of 14 in a row. The SNP is simply this era’s dominant party.

This would be a fascinating psephological quirk, but nothing more, were it not for Tony Blair’s creation of a Scottish parliament. That parliament has been weaponised by the Nationalists as a Trojan horse against the very Union that devolution was meant to secure. An entire proto-state has been corralled into the service of the SNP’s political objectives. The spirit and, at times even the letter, of the devolution settlement has been disregarded to drag Scotland towards Scexit.

I appreciate the English must be heartily sick of the endless talk of Scottish nationalism

When Scots go to the polls next May, the SNP is likely to win an outright majority in the Scottish parliament, though even a bare plurality would be asserted as a mandate for another Scexit referendum.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in