Brexit and divergence
Scotland votes 62% to remain in the EU but is taken out with the rest of the UK, reopening the independence question and widening a political gap with England.
- Results and turnout at the EU referendum — The Electoral Commission (UK) (2016)
- Scottish Social Attitudes Survey — ScotCen / National Centre for Social Research, NatCen Social Research
- Independence or Union: Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2016)
In the June 2016 referendum the UK as a whole voted 51.9% to leave the EU, but Scotland voted 62.0% to remain, with every one of its 32 council areas voting Remain. The Scottish Parliament refused consent to the main Brexit legislation, and Westminster went ahead regardless, which many in Scotland took as proof that devolution offered little protection. Since then Scottish governments have stressed a different path from England’s on migration, Europe and public services, and the gap in political outlook, with Scotland more pro-European and less Conservative, has widened.
- Results and turnout at the EU referendum — The Electoral Commission (UK) (2016)
- Scottish Social Attitudes Survey — ScotCen / National Centre for Social Research, NatCen Social Research
- Independence or Union: Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2016)
Scotland was promised in 2014 that voting No was the only way to stay in the EU, then was dragged out against its will. Rejoining Europe as an independent country is the way to restore what was lost.
- Results and turnout at the EU referendum — The Electoral Commission (UK) (2016)
- Independence or Union: Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2016)
The UK voted as a whole, as Scotland had agreed to in 2014. More than a million Scots voted Leave, and the UK single market matters far more to Scotland's economy than the EU's.
- Results and turnout at the EU referendum — The Electoral Commission (UK) (2016)
- Scottish Social Attitudes Survey — ScotCen / National Centre for Social Research, NatCen Social Research
Why it matters today
Brexit is the clearest example many Scots give of the "democratic deficit": a decision Scotland voted against, imposed by a larger neighbour. It turned many former No voters into independence supporters and made EU membership central to the nationalist case, though it also complicated it by raising the prospect of a hard border with England.