Politics: Could Orkney & Shetland split from Scotland?

Their oil might be coveted by Scotland, but should the Scots secede from the UK these islands might opt to stick with the Union.


On his breakfast TV show this morning Andrew Marr alluded to it when interviewing Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who offered no reposte. But the Scots might like to consider whether a huge chunk of their oil revenues could stay with the UK Treasury should their distant northern isles refuse to leave Britain. They're more Viking in many ways than Scots - descended as they are by and large from the Norse. Even the term Orkney derives not from Celtic but from the Nordic term for seal.

The Norwegians might offer sanctuary to Shetlanders and Orcadians, much to the consternation of the rump Brits, although I doubt the Angophile people of Oslo would pursue that path.

So without the Pound currency, 90% or so of their oil receipts, and with almost as many of their countrymen residing south of the border as there are within Scotland, would Scots really opt for independence from Westminster? There are be sound reasons why so many Scots migrate, and independence could induce more to relocate. Just witness New Zealand, which struggles relentlessly to compete with Australia as Kiwis in their tens of thousands find their neighbour's bigger, booming and rapidly growing economy an awesome and tantalising draw.

I've long held the view that the UK should morph into a federation, despite the overwhelming majority of Brits living in England. Democracy dictates that Scottish parliamentarians at Holyrood should opt for separation if and when Scotland votes for secession. It is their choice to make, after all: nobody is imprisoning the Scots inside the UK.

Yet we English might be sensible to encourage Shetlanders and Orcadians to warn their Scots neighbours that a risky vote for independence might have dire future economic consequences for Scotland.