The UK woke up a little more fractured in the aftermath of the parliamentary elections on Thursday 12 December. In Scotland, the separatists of the Scottish National Party (SNP) won a major victory, taking 48 seats out of 59. Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, immediately called for the organization of a second independence referendum, five years after that of 2014.
In Northern Ireland, the night was cruel for the Unionists (in favor of the attachment to the United Kingdom). For the first time, they lose their parliamentary majority vis-à-vis the nationalist parties (in favor of the unification of Ireland): the first have eight seats, the second have nine (one seat goes to the Alliance party, not community).
"This is clear support for Scotland having the choice of its future," said Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
In the middle of the night, his face closed, Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson had to admit his defeat in his Scottish constituency of Dunbartonshire East, not far from Glasgow, which had passed into the hands of the SNP. "A wave of nationalism is sweeping both sides of the border", She denounces. The electoral map is indeed striking: independence and anti-Brexit, in Scotland; conservative and pro-Brexit, in England. The SNP's tidal wave is not quite as strong as it was in 2015, when it won 56 seats, but the victory is no less complete. The Conservatives are the largest opposition force, but with only six seats in Scotland. Labor, for whom the region was once a bastion, has only one member left.
Mme Sturgeon had campaigned for a second independence referendum and believes it has now "A renewed mandate" to organize it. "This result underscores the importance that Scotland can choose something different. I am not claiming that all SNP voters will vote for independence, but it is clear support for Scotland to have a choice about its future, so as not to have to accept a Conservative government for which we do not have voted, nor have to accept that our nation is outside the EU. "
Burning file
Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, are now in direct confrontation. The latter has always rejected the idea of holding a new referendum, saying that the one in 2014 had made it possible to settle the debate (55% vote to stay in the United Kingdom). However, constitutionally, Scotland needs the approval of the Westminster parliament to organize a new popular consultation. Can a referendum not recognized by London be organized, as the Catalans had tried to do in Spain? For the moment, this scenario remains unlikely, since the SNP has always requested that the poll be official.
