Updated: April 13, 2021, 1:40 pm
Professor Ciaran Martin has written a report discussing Scottish independence (Oxford University/PA)
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Blocking a second referendum on independence would “fundamentally” change the nature of the Union, according to a former UK civil servant who helped to negotiate the Edinburgh Agreement which led to the 2014 vote.
Professor Ciaran Martin said preventing indyref2 in the event of a pro-independence majority at Holyrood would mean the Union changes from one based on consent to one “based on force of law”.
Blocking indyref2 would fundamentally change the Union, ex-civil servant says
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Blocking indyref2 would fundamentally change the Union, ex-civil servant says
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By Hamish MacPherson
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender . The son of King James II and Mary of Modena IT is a common claim on the part of Unionists that the Acts of Union were set in stone in 1707 – and to be fair, before they passed the Acts, neither the English or Scottish parliaments seriously contemplated that the Union was anything but permanent. That is why, as I have written, there is no right or mechanism in the Acts for Scotland to resile from the Union. The fact is, however, that the Union was fragile from the outset and only just survived at times until well into the 18th century.
THE BIG READ: Final resting place of father of capitalism Adam Smith has resurrected Scottish slavery debate
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THE BIG READ: Final resting place of father of capitalism Adam Smith has resurrected Scottish slavery debate
He is the most famous economist who ever lived, so the inclusion of Smith’s gravesite on an Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group list has not gone down well with historians such as Sir Tom Devine It doesn’t look controversial at first. But look a little bit closer. In places, the words are hard to read – they’re a bit faded after a couple of hundred years of Edinburgh wind and rain – but you can just about make them out. “Here are deposited the remains of the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. He was born 5th June 1723 and died on 17th July 1790.”