Scottish independence as a social construction: An analysis of separatist discourse since Brexit : (1) How has Brexit made renewed calls for an independence referendum cogent less than a decade after the first independence referendum was held, and its def

Abstract: Anglo-Scottish relations have become a major topic in British political debate in recent years. In 2014, Scottish officials who supported a separate, independent Scotland finally convinced the UK government into having a Scottish independence referendum. However, a majority made the decision to support the continued union with England, and the question of Scottish independence was supposedly ‘settled for a generation’ (Cameron, 2014). Yet, now in 2022 it appears that a second independence referendum on the horizon. How has the first independence referendum result been nullified in less than a decade? This study shows how the UK’s exit from the EU (Brexit) has affected the Scottish separatist movement. It maps out how the discourse has changed, and how the EU (European Union) is now a dominant subject in separatist argumentation. In addition, the relationship between England and Scotland has changed since the introduction of the EU to the separatist independence debate. A discourse theory analysis is used to help understand how subject constructions and their positions in discourse effects calls for Scottish independence. This paper finds that the introduction of the EU is the major change to Scottish separatist discourse since 2016, and this has served to bring the independence debate back into the forefront.