HELENSBURGH (SCOTLAND) – Seventy-one-year-old ex-marine engineer James Henderson has been vehemently opposed to Scottish independence most of his life. But now he is hesitantly supporting it.
Though he had voted against independence in the 2014 referendum, Brexit, election of prime minister Boris Johnson and the pandemic have now forced him to rethink.
Henderson is a resident of Helensburgh, a coastal town on the Firth of Clyde, which has a good number of English residents.
Here many people work or have relatives or friends working in the Faslane nuclear submarine base, which is a symbol of the bonds that bind the United Kingdom.
The nuclear base is the second largest site employer in Scotland. If it becomes independent and the Nationalists attain their goal of having the submarines removed from its waters, then thousands of jobs would be at risk.
In Helensburgh and other Unionist fortresses, Scottish nationalism is slowly rising and it could tip the scales favouring independence.
“Independence is probably inevitable now – I don’t mean to sound dramatic,” Henderson said. “I just feel like we are drifting apart and Scotland can run itself better.”
The pandemic has affected the bonds that bind together the United Kingdom. In Scotland, as much as 54% residents want independence based on a recent survey. This points to the fact that the Scottish semi-autonomous government has handled the crisis better than Westminster.
Although England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland introduced lockdowns almost at the same time, they lifted curbs at different speeds. This stokes concerns that the Boris Johnson government, which introduced lockdown too late lifted restrictions prematurely.
Head of the Scottish National Party and first minister Nicola Sturgeon has won accolades for the manner in which she handled the pandemic crisis.
She won praise for her honesty, knowledge of details and careful handling of easing lockdown curbs. In the last week, Scotland did not record any COVID-19-related fatalities. On the other hand, England has been recording more than a dozen fatalities each day.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field