Actualité

After an introduction which will present both the rise of Scottish autonomy within the UK and the rise of the Scottish independence movement in the years 1999-2017, this seminar will examine the different ways in which recent Conservative UK Governments have tried to roll back on Scotland’s autonomy ever since the Brexit process. This is vividly illustrated by the fact that Scotland has been repeatedly refused the right to organise a new independence referendum. However, the Brexit process has also been used as a way for the UK Government to strenghten its powers through the ‘repatriation’ to London of powers that should have gone from Brussels to Edinburgh. At the same time, there have also been unprecedented attacks on ‘devolution’ and on Scotland’s existing legislative autonomy, as for instance evidenced by the fact that a bill on trans rights voted by the Scottish Parliament in 2022 was the first ever to be blocked from becoming a law by the UK Government.