The Chronicle of Scotland's Independence Referendum
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 19, 2014
Will a 300-year dream of divorce finally come true?
On Sept. 18, 2014, the vote on Scotland's Independence Referendum got an official start with an authorization from the British Central Government. Over 4 million Scottish citizens will participate in the voting, which will decide whether Scotland is to separate from the United Kingdom and become an independent country. Looking back over the last 300 years, the Scottish separatists have never given up their campaign to break away from Britain since Scotland first joined the U.K. in 1707. Now Great Britain and all of Europe may face another historic moment this September.
In 1707, Scotland became a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after signing the Act of Union with England, which guaranteed its relative independence. But for over 300 years, the voice for independence from inside Scotland has never fallen silent.
In 1934, the Scottish National Party (SNP) was founded, which was dedicated to the promotion of Scotland's Independence. SNP took 11 seats in Parliament for the first time in 1974, becoming more influential.
In 1999, the English Government reinstated the local parliaments of Scotland and Wales, which had disappeared for nearly 300 years. In 2007, the growing Scottish National Party got its first win over the Scottish Labour Party in local elections before receiving a landslide victory in the Parliament election of 2011 after authorization for the independence referendum was acquired.
On Oct. 23, 2011, the Scottish National Party announced their campaign for Scotland's independence. Then, on Oct. 15, 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond jointly signed an agreement for Scotland's independence referendum. The British Parliament also authorized the Scottish Parliament to organize the referendum, and both the British Central Government and the Scottish Government declared that the result of the referendum should be respected.
On March 11, 2013, the Scottish government proposed the Civil Rights Act of Independence Referendum to the Scottish Parliament, allowing all Scottish citizens 16 and older to participate in the Independence Referendum in 2014.
On March 21, 2013, First Minister of the Scottish Government Alex Salmond announced that Scotland's Independence Referendum would be held on September 18, 2014. As advised by the Scottish Referendum Commission, the referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?" and the choice of answer was "yes" or "no."
In 2014, with the referendum day approaching, the situation became increasingly intense. The British Government took both hard and soft measures to prevent the referendum from being carried out. In February, 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom, citing patriotism as a key reason. To curb the rising approval rate, he also promised to delegate more authority to Scotland. In addition, Britain's three major political parties also instantly joined together in a united front, ignoring their political differences to promise Scotland more rights to autonomy as long as abandoned its independence movement.
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