The problem of "asymetric devolution"

The wisdom of referenda as a means of decision-making on constitutional issues has been questioned by a leading QC.

The pressure is on in the run-up to the EU Referendum, and the additional prospect of a Scottish referendum lurks in the shadows. As part of a series of referendum articles published by Matrix Chambers, Aidan O’Neill QC argues that the reason the UK’s membership of the EU has assumed central stage is “our asymmetric devolution”. 

O’Neill says: “the anxiety that is really being expressed here is about the status of England-unrepresented in either the British union or the EU. The invisible nation.

“Everyone else seems able to define who they are by not being English. The problem is that elements of the English are now defining themselves by not being European.” 

In the eventuality of a post-Brexit independent Scotland choosing to remain in the EU, “the holding of the new status of Scottish citizenship would bring with it the benefits of being an EU citizen. For example, the siting of corporate headquarters in Edinburgh rather than London would be presented as allowing companies full access to the single European market which might be denied to those who choose to remain based now outside the EU in the rest of the UK.”