Scotland is unlikely to secede from the United Kingdom in the short-to-medium term, but the issue will continue to raise questions about the future of Britain’s territorial integrity and produce political and economic risk. Scotland will hold a parliamentary election on May 6. The governing Scottish National Party (SNP) has promised to ask the British government for a second independence referendum if it wins. According to the SNP, Britain’s exit from the European Union has substantially changed the political and economic situation in the United Kingdom, making an independence referendum necessary. First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon argues the referendum should happen in the next legislature, but only after the COVID-19 crisis is over, which means that the party remains flexible regarding a date. The British government opposes a new vote, arguing that the 2014 referendum (where 55% voted to remain in the United Kingdom) settled the issue “for...
