The Breakup of Britain?

Beginning of article

Abstract

The article examines the prospects for independence for Scotland for the SNP's victory in the Scottish Parliament elections of May 2011, placing particular emphasis on the likely nature of the social settlement to independence.

Keywords

Scottish politics, social change

Introduction

The tectonic plates of Scottish politics underwent a further and seemingly decisive shift on 5 May 2011, with the Scottish National Party (SNP) landslide in the Scottish Parliament election. The return of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, after an absence of some 300 years, was destined in the minds of its 'new' Labour architects to have made such an SNP advance …