The Impact of Brexit on the SNP’s narrative of independence

Abstract

In the run-up to the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, the SNP Government’s narrative of independence was based on the assumption that both an independent Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom would remain members of the European Union. In this context, Scotland’s independence was presented as the opportunity to ‘create a new partnership of equals – a social union to replace the current political union’. In the aftermath of the EU referendum, with the prospect of Scotland being taken out of the EU against her will, the Scottish Government’s narrative of independence, while still pledging to maintain close links with the other nations of the UK, has been reframed in terms of Scotland’s future relationship with Europe and puts forward Scotland’s ambition to join the ‘top tier of independent nations.’ This paper will analyse the SNP’s narrative of independence prior to the independence referendum. It will then explore how the prospect of Brexit has led the Scottish Government to make of Europe its new frame of reference, before finally discussing what this shift reveals about the party’s vision of Scotland’s place in Europe and in the world in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.