I had always shunned the description of Scotland as a colony. The term seemed a wild exaggeration associated with the more irrational elements of the independence movement. Colonies to my mind were overseas and how could we be a colony when we had freely entered into union with England in 1707? I recall being taught in school that that proved to be a beneficial move which both “civilised” the Highlands and restored some financial equilibrium after the ill-fated speculative venture which was the “Darien disaster”. Of this more later, because it is probably key to the question of the country's status within these islands.
While devolution has given Holyrood powers to manage limited areas of governmental activity, it does so as a devolved administration of the UK Government and key areas of our economy and politics remain reserved to Westminster, including –
- Constitutional matters;
- Foreign affairs and international relations;
- Defence and national security;
- Economic and fiscal matters, monetary policy, currency, most taxation;
- Immigration and border control;
- Energy: Nuclear, electricity, coal, oil and gas, Energy regulation;
- Employment rights, industrial relations, Health and safety;
- Social Security: Most welfare benefits, Pensions;
- Broadcasting: BBC, media regulation;
This might seem appropriate for a union established voluntarily for the benefit of both countries, but doubts began to creep into my mind over the management of oil and are being reinforced by the ongoing management of renewable energy. While Norway used oil proceeds to establish a financial reserve for the benefit of its citizens, Westminster largely sold the extraction rights to multinational companies and used the proceeds to finance tax cuts and kick-start a neoliberal political strategy. There’s a detailed analysis here.
Topical at the moment is renewable energy where production from Scotland, which already exceeds our requirements, is being stepped up to power homes and industry south of the border with no effective consultation with directly impacted communities, while homes and industry here in Scotland face the highest energy prices not just in UK but in Europe, putting Scottish commerce and industry at a competitive disadvantage. Again most production facilities are foreign owned, with much of the profits flowing outwith UK, Westminster benefitting only from the associated taxes. Scotland is powerless to change this.
In both cases the lack of consultation and the unilateral management of proceeds is far removed from how a healthy partnership should work. Colony or partner? It’s for you to decide but the deliberate concealment of the McCrone Report and Ed Milliband’s recent shunning of localised electricity pricing on the ground that it would give Scotland an "unfair advantage" might serve to clarify your thinking.
Let's look at how things were prior to the union and at the circumstances which brought it about.
Since the middle ages Scotland had enjoyed cultural and trading exchanges with Norway, the Baltic states and much of Europe. For instance, there were strong trading links between the east coast ports and European countries, particularly Poland, with Scottish merchants setting up premises in Gdansk and vice versa. Key exchanges involved educational travel to universities and the importation of artistic, architectural, religeous and political ideas from France and the low countries. An Aberdeen merchant, Alexander Chalmers, famously became the Lord Mayor of Warsaw in the late 17th century.
England's overseas adventures, in marked contrast, tended to be combative and acquisitive. The wars with Spain and France, for instance, and attempts to excercise control over Scotland.
Prior to the union attempts were made to undermine Scotland's economy and overseas trade.
Legislative Pressure.
The Navigation Acts of 1650 and 1651 were a series of English laws that developed, promoted, and regulated English shipping, trade, and commerce with other countries and with its own colonies. These laws were introduced primarily to frustrate Dutch maritime trade, Holland being regarded as a competitor in that field, but they also restricted Scottish and Irish participation in trade with countries that had become England's colonies and restricted those colonies from trading with countries other than England. This significantly impacted Scotland's economy.
More directly aimed at damaging Scotland's interests, The Alien Act of 1705 provided that Scots living in in England were to be treated as foreign nationals, and estates held by Scots would be treated as alien property, making inheritance much less certain. It also included an embargo on the import of Scottish products into England and its colonies, (This amounted to about half of Scotland's trade)
The act contained a provision that it would be suspended if the Scots entered into negotiations on a proposed union of the parliaments of Scotland and England. There's some interesting notes on the Act and its purpose here courtesy of the UK Parliament website.
The Darien Scheme
Military Pressure
Financial Inducement
"By 1705, a joint Anglo-Scottish parliamentary commission had drawn up a draft treaty of union. The Scottish representatives were selected from supporters of the Hanoverian succession, followers of the Dukes of Queensberry and Argyll. Nonetheless, anger was mounting as it became clear that this was an elite stitch-up. In both Dumfries and Stirling the treaty was burned in public, and rioting broke out in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The writer Daniel Defoe reported a ‘Terrible Multitude’ on Edinburgh’s High Street led by a drummer, shouting and swearing and crying ‘No Union, No Union, English Dogs and the like’.
Defoe, there as an agent for the London government, added that the Scots were a ‘hardened, refractory and terrible people’ and the Scottish ‘rabble’ the worst he had experienced. As the vote was to be taken, troops surrounded the parliament building and the royal palace of Holyrood while two more regiments were stationed in Leith and Musselburgh. It was sufficient to allow the vote to ratify the treaty to be held."
