The European Dimension to Scottish Constitutional Change

Scottish self-government and European integration are linked. Europe has become an important framework for the independence project. Evidence for Scots being more pro-European is ambivalent, but there is a pro-European consensus in Scottish political parties and civil society. In the referendum campaign, the No side suggested that an independent Scotland might not gain admission to the European Union. If the United Kingdom as a whole should vote to withdraw from the EU in a future referendum but Scotland to stay in, the independence question would re-emerge. In the absence of independence, a number of issues arise as to how Scottish interests can best be represented in the EU.