Students talk Scotland’s independence

After 307 years of unity, the United Kingdom might be losing a fourth of itself on Thursday when residents of Scotland vote on a referendum for independence.

UNC students studying abroad in the U.K. have seen the independence debate develop firsthand.

Morgan Burke, a UNC senior who interned for the Scottish National Party when she studied in England in the spring, said public opinion strongly favored a vote against independence when she arrived in January.

“It was definitely going to fail,” she said. “But the Scottish National Party has never been deterred by the polling numbers and has run an exceptionally strong campaign .”

YouGov, a British polling firm, released a poll Sept. 7 that showed those favoring independence leading those who did not, but as of Sept. 11, those favoring a unified,  united U.K. have a four-point lead.

Stuart Shevlin, a British student who studied at UNC for a year, said he’s wary of the potential for a “yes” vote.

“I think it’s worryingly realistic,” said Shevlin, who is now a graduate teaching assistant at N.C. State University.

He said a rally in a London public square encouraged Scotland to stay in the union.

“There is an emotion with us staying together,” he said.

The Scots want to provide their people with free health care, free childcare and free education — policy decisions that are currently being made by England, Burke said. 

England is making most policy decisions for the Scots and not allowing them to push these agendas, she said.

The biggest debate associated with the referendum is about currency, Burke said — Scotland uses the pound, but if the country becomes independent, it'll be forced   to switch to the euro or another system.

If Scotland does not vote to become independent, the country could still gain some individual power.

The U.K. Parliament has proposed a program called “devo-max,” which would give Scottish parliament the parliament in Scotland more domestic powers on the domestic front , though the U.K. would still retain powers on defense and foreign affairs.

That option was nearly put on the independence referendum, but British Prime Minister David Cameron , the British prime minister, opted to withh e o ld it.

President Barack Obama is among those pushing for the United Kingdom to stay together. At a press conference in June he praised the U.K. for being a strong ally to the U .S .

“From the outside, at least, it looks like things have worked pretty well, and we obviously have a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies that we will ever have remains a strong, robust, united and effective partner,” Obama said in June  during the conference .

The push for Scottish independence has come mostly from the Scottish National Party, Burke said, because they feel   Scotland’s voice isn’t being heard in the U.K. Parliament.

The biggest representation in Parliament is from the Conservative Party, but only one out of the 59 Scottish representatives lean that way.

Shevlin said he hopes the Scots will decide to remain part of the U.K.

“We are stronger together.”

state@dailytarheel.com