The issue of Scottish independence dominated earlier discussions in Inverness after Fiona Bruce opened up another weekly installment of BBC Question Time. The 58-year-old BBC presenter was joined in Inverness by several impassioned panelists and animated spectators.
Former Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, Angus Robertson, sat alongside Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Tory Party, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Labor shadow secretary of Social Security, editor Fraser Nelson and award-winning stand-up comedian Susie McCabe in the one-hour panel program. †
During discussions over a second Scottish independence referendum, an audience member claimed that the decision taken in 2016 to leave the European Union had given Scots a clear reason to speak out about independence again.
He said: “In 2014 one of the big shouts of the ‘No’ campaign was ‘vote ‘No’ if you want to stay in the European Union” and two years later we were dragged out against our will with a 62 percent stay. to vote.
“Isn’t that a huge change in the goalposts and a reason for another referendum?”
In 2016, less than two years after Scots voted 55 to 45 percent to stay in the UK, a majority of Britons chose to cut ties with the European Union.
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While a significant majority in Scotland and Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the Brussels bloc, voters in England and Wales eventually sided with the Vote Leave slogan to take back control.
The issue of Brexit has caused great consternation among Unionists, with Michael Keating of the University of Aberdeen claiming the UK’s exit from the EU has “broken” the country.
However, Spectator editor Fraser Nelson has pointed to one way Brexit may complicate a second independence referendum.
During Question Time yesterday, he said: “If there was one… [a referendum] and they are fighting it, in the current polls it would be a real battle.
“Especially when you start to ask who pays the pensions, in what currency, how do you deal with a hard border with England that should be there after Brexit.
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“Difficult questions and I don’t think the SNP really wants to answer them at heart.”
Mr Fraser’s comments come after months of arguing between the UK and the EU over how to deal with problems in Northern Ireland.
Boris Johnson and ex-Brexit minister Lord David Frost signed the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol amid fears that Brexit could create a hard border on the Emerald Isle.
To avoid a border on the island of Ireland, Ulster’s post-Brexit trade deal created customs controls between Britain and Northern Ireland instead.
While Professors Nicola McEwen and Kay Hayward of the University of Edinburgh and Queen University Belfast argue that a hard border would not be necessary, Ms Sturgeon has admitted that independence could pose problems on the Anglo-Scottish divide.
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