Five years after Brexit vote, here's how we ensure EU won't forget Scotland

Five years on, the details of the day are still vivid. The neighbour playing “Rule Britannia” on his piano; the silence in the streets and noise on social media; and the conversations with British and international friends, who, like us, suddenly felt like strangers in their own country.

Throughout the day, politicians commented on the historic decision, but very few addressed the three million European citizens. UK Prime Minister David Cameron mentioned in passing that he could “re-assure … European citizens living here that there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances”.

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, spoke much more warmly: “I want to ... speak directly to citizens of other EU countries living here in Scotland – you remain welcome here, Scotland is your home and your contribution is valued.”

The difference in tone was also a reflection of the difference in attitude towards Europe in England and in Scotland. The English Remain campaign had primarily stressed the financial stability that staying in the EU guaranteed. In Scotland, meanwhile, there was a willingness to embrace European identity: Scotland as a European country naturally belonged in the EU. Brexit won in England. In Scotland it was rejected emphatically – only 38% of Scots voted to leave the EU, and Brexit was defeated in every single electoral district.

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In the aftermath of the referendum, academics proposed ways in which Scotland and Northern Ireland could remain closer to the EU than the rest of the UK, thus respecting the different electoral mandates behind the Brexit vote. Leading political scientist Brendan O’Leary put forward one of these proposals, noting “these differing outcomes have to be the central focus of political attention” and that “those who insist that a 52-48 vote is good enough to take the entire UK out of the EU would trigger a serious legitimacy crisis”.

Not only were O’Leary and his colleagues completely ignored, the UK Government also rejected any attempts from the Scottish Parliament and Government to find a compromise in the form of a soft Brexit. Instead, they pushed for a hard Brexit that was even more radical than anything proposed by the Leave campaign prior to the referendum.

“Brexit distorts the will of the people”, the political philosopher Philip Pettit argued. Agreeing, the writer George Monbiot noted that: “The European referendum, which apparently represents the people’s will, was reduced to such a crude choice that no one knows exactly what the majority voted for.”

While a mandate for Brexit was always questionable and never tested by a second referendum, the Scottish people have now handed a majority to pro-independence parties for the fourth time in a row.

Indeed, a mandate for a independence referendum is now clearer than ever – never before did so many people vote in Scottish elections, and never before did pro-independence parties win as many seats in the Scottish Parliament. It comes as no surprise – since 2016, support for Scottish independence has soared also thanks to a strong desire to return to the European Union, a commitment that both the winning SNP and the Green Party had in their election manifestos.

Boris Johnson, who claimed to care so deeply for the will of the people when it came to Brexit, now refuses point-blank to grant Scotland an independence referendum. The Scots had their chance in 2014, he argues, ignoring the fact that back then many voted against independence precisely because they were reassured that staying in the UK was the only safe choice in order to remain in the EU.

Offended by the disrespect for democracy in Westminster, Anthony Barnett, co-founder of Open Democracy, decided some months ago that it was time to stand up to Johnson and prepare for Scottish independence. In his book “Lure of Greatness” he points out the difference between England, which still longs to see itself in its former glory, and the other home nations of the UK, where the cry to “take back control” resonates more with the independence cause than with the idea to leave the EU.

Scottish independence, in Barnett’s view, is precisely the shock that would set everyone free: the Scots from being bound to England’s bad decisions and the English from the obsolete notion that they will once again rule the waves, a delusion that comes attached to institutions shaped by their imperial past. Last year, Barnett, like many, was impressed to see the EU change – the creation of a solidarity fund marked a significant step towards a bolder European Union. We had been among those demanding an end to the decade of austerity and calling for eurobonds as a means to fund European recovery from Covid.

FOR us, an Italian-German couple in Oxford, a tangible financial expression of European solidarity was the only possible antidote against the rampant nationalism during the first wave of the virus.

Barnett, meanwhile, started envisioning another European campaign: if the EU was indeed becoming bolder it might be brave enough to stand up to Brexit Britain and offer support for Scotland’s desire to be an independent European nation.

Together, we conceived Europe for Scotland – a civil society, grassroots European campaign, supported by citizens in all EU member states and UK nations. It was launched with an open letter published in 10 European countries and signed by almost 200 European intellectuals, artists and academics, among them world leading thinkers and some of the best writers, artists and democracy scholars in Europe. At the core, what we ask is to reciprocate Scotland’s welcoming stance to European citizens. We have experienced this first hand ourselves, though to very different degrees. Andrea lived in Glasgow for three years, and witnessed both how open and European Scotland is, but also how much sadness Brexit brought to the nation that had herself rejected it. Nina only knows Scotland as a visitor, but remembers many moments of kindness, including an old lady offering to share her umbrella when she spotted a tourist that had come unprepared for Edinburgh rain.

Since our launch we have received countless messages from Scots that support our initiative. Many are angry, like Stephen from Glasgow: “I regard myself as Scottish and European [and] resent the imposition by a Westminster government denying my right to remain a European citizen.”

Some, such as Alexander from the Borders, also blame the EU: “I consider myself a European citizen and I am disappointed by the lack of inclusivity offered to us by the European institutions since Brexit, despite our overwhelming vote to remain in the EU.”

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A lot of Scots also point out that Scotland’s renewed membership would have a positive impact on Europe. Jeremiah from Fife said: “Scotland is an ancient European nation and has made and will make an enormous contribution to the EU again when the people of Scotland get the chance to reverse the undemocratic decision of the UK to drag Scotland out of the EU.”

Jane from Glasgow added: “Scotland is and always will be a European nation, progressive, inclusive, forward thinking and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the wider European family. We the people of Scotland ask, ‘Bring us home’.”

We Europeans should respond to these requests for help and lead the way so that hopefully politicians may follow. That is why we are asking Europeans everywhere to join us in saying that of course an independent Scotland would be welcome back in the EU. And we ask our EU leaders to prepare to welcome Scotland by clarifying publicly that they would speed up the accession of a country which was part of the EU for 47 years, longer than most current member states, and which left against its will.

We ask them to do so before a referendum on independence, to pre-empt the litany of lies from the pro-Brexit British tabloids that are already claiming that Scotland would suffer years of austerity before it could rejoin the EU. And we are asking them to offer financial help to an independent Scotland willing to rejoin, knowing that this act of solidarity would not be charity but in fact an investment in a better European future.

Scotland’s democratic desire to reject Brexit and to rejoin our European Union should be met with widespread European solidarity.

Please join us at europeforscotland.com and let’s express it together.