Tribune. The December 12 elections to the House of Commons confirmed the specifics of Scotland. The Scottish National Party (SNP) won 48 of the 59 Scottish seats (compared to 35 in 2017). The campaign was dominated by the prospect of a second self-determination referendum, in order to escape Brexit (62% of Scots voted against it in the 2016 referendum) and a conservative government led by Boris Johnson. Two logics clash: Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, head of the Scottish government, demands this second referendum from the British government, which considers that the question was settled in 2014. In the absence of a codified Constitution, the outcome will depend on the political balance of power.
The SNP developed the “mandate” theory, based on a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament. In 2012, on this basis, David Cameron, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, signed an agreement with the Scottish government to provide a legal framework for the 2014 self-determination referendum.
Shortly before the June 2016 referendum on staying in the EU, the Scottish government indicated that a material change could constitute a new mandate. However, at the end of the election, he made compromise proposals which were not taken into account, in defiance of the cooperation established since the start of devolution in 1999. Thus, the British government chose the modalities triggering of Article 50 notifying the Presidency of the Council of the EU of its intention to leave, before conducting negotiations relating to this exit and sketching the broad outlines of a future relationship.
The Scottish Parliament has made its refusal known at every stage, to no avail. The Scottish government has proclaimed Scotland’s commitment to the four freedoms of the single market, in particular freedom of movement. He imagined a differentiated solution for Scotland within the United Kingdom, but he never got an answer from a British government which accepted a device specific to Northern Ireland.
The Scottish government has asked for devolution of international trade or immigration powers, but has been dismissed. Worse, the British government has decided to entrust to the British Parliament certain powers repatriated from Brussels during Brexit in the devolved areas (agriculture, fishing), to harmonize British regulations. The SNP denounces a recentralisation of power, defending a devolution that it claims to exceed.
