Still It Goes On

[New Judge]

“I will wish to object in the strongest possible terms at the meeting to assent being given to a [EU Withdrawal] bill without consent from the devolved legislatures, and which enacts a decision to leave the European Union overwhelmingly rejected by voters in Scotland in the 2016 referendum.”

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/brexit-snp-makes-last-ditch-071614825.html

As far as I am aware, constitutional matters affecting the whole of the UK are not devolved to the three Parish Councils. According to Mr Blackford the UK cannot leave the EU without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. Will these people never give up?

[Zillionaire1]

Maybe it's a hoax or fake news.

[dannyk13]

Ian Blackford is a pompous individual who overestimates his own importance.

[KARL]

One way of looking at it: Scotland (clear majority of those who registered their opinion) do not want to leave the EU. Scotland (likely at least some 50%) are already considering separating from the UK. Post-Brexit Northern Ireland will in some way remain within an EU orbit. If it were so arranged that Scotland does not completely leave the EU with England and Wales, some of the pressure for Scotland to leave the UK might dissipate. As it is the approach is "you belong to us" and that does not sit well with a very large number of people in Scotland and the result is increased demand to leave the UK. Will "these people" never give up - unlikely, and that is very relevant to how the division is to be handled but "the others" seem incapable of facing up to.

[ichkeria]

The current Brexit prospects for NI achieved the seemingly impossible of uniting all the political parties AND the business community in opposition.
If anyone can come up with a convincing reason why unionists supported Brexit in the first place feel free to suggest one!

[cassa333]

The simplest answer NJ is, no. They will never give up especially since they have had a new referendum on leaving the UK squashed.

[youngmafbog]

No, they wont give up.

Remoaners to the end.

[Old_Geezer]

This is the same gibberish argument trotted out for some time now. They ignore the fact that it3an attempt to overthrow democracy in order to get their own way. They are so self absorbed that they just don't care to consider it.

[andy-hughes]

Wishing your country was not part of the UK does not actually make it not part of the UK.

Scotland is part of the UK - it all leaves together.

[THECORBYLOON]

Following the major change in circumstances since the last vote, how about allowing a democratic vote on independence for Scotland?

[KARL]

Stamping feet and saying Scotland is in the UK and that's it is not going to settle the question of independence for Scotland. Yes, the UK is leaving the EU and that includes Scotland but that seems to be swinging support for independence well past 50%. How is it democratic to say that more than 50% of an area that is already "constitutionally" defined as different and semi-separate already has to accept something it does not want ? Is that perhaps closer to arrogant bullying ? This issue has to be addressed in some way other than by issuing one-sided dictates - pretending it has then gone away is delusion, it will not go away until it is solved to the satisfaction of those who feel they are being ignored. Brexit satisfies 52%, the other 48% (assuming unchanged proportions) are going to remain dissatisfied - democracy through the ballot box very rarely settles/solves things permanently. That is why, by law, elections are held at regular intervals.

[KARL]

Don't know what happened here: "Stamping feet and saying Scotland is in the UK and that's it is not....." should read "Stamping feet and saying Scotland is in the UK and that's final is of no help, it is not......"

[Canary42]

It's the Gibraltarians I feel sorry for - 98% voted Remain, but they will have to Leave.

[Canary42]

/// No, they won't give up. ///

Of course they won't. We've had 45 years of Leavers antipathy, why shouldn't Remainers have a go for a long ?

[ToraToraTora]

can we stop saying "independence" they don't want independence.

[New Judge]

//How is it democratic to say that more than 50% of an area that is already "constitutionally" defined as different and semi-separate already has to accept something it does not want ?//

The folly (as Tora makes clear on his own thread) was to engender the idea that a constituent part of a sovereign nation was defined as different and semi-separate. The action should instead have been to emphasise that Scotland is part of the UK, it is subject to the constitutional arrangements of the UK and, if anything, it should make efforts to align itself more closely with the UK's institutions (like, for a start, aligning its legal system with that of England & Wales). I didn't see too much support for Catalonia when it tried to emphasise its difference from the rest of Spain a short while ago.