tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/scotland-politics-21705/articlesScotland politics – The Conversation2023-02-16T17:34:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2001202023-02-16T17:34:50Z2023-02-16T17:34:50ZAfter Nicola Sturgeon, what’s next for Scottish independence?<p>In the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s surprise resignation, it cannot be overlooked that she became leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) after it had suffered a double blow. The party had failed to achieve its cherished goal of <a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-decides-14-reflections-on-an-incredible-campaign-31871">independence</a> in 2014, and lost its (then) best asset, <a href="https://theconversation.com/alex-salmond-resigns-following-defeat-in-scottish-independence-referendum-31816">Alex Salmond</a>.</p>
<p>Salmond led the SNP from the fringes to power and was often credited with its success, much as Sturgeon is now. Sturgeon, the deputy leader, had the difficulty of becoming the leader of a party whose primary purpose was <a href="https://theconversation.com/scottish-independence-what-has-changed-since-the-last-referendum-185985">independence</a> just after it lost a referendum on the subject. It was not until after the UK voted for Brexit in 2016 (with a majority in England and Wales but not Scotland) that the SNP was able to reengage with its primary purpose.</p>
<p>However, with a surge of new members after 2014 and her high profile during the referendum campaign, Sturgeon had very high approval ratings after she became SNP leader. Her political rallies <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30115800">sold out large venues</a> and she led her party to win 56 out of 59 seats in the Westminster election of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-the-new-political-landscape-mean-for-the-future-of-the-union-41558">2015</a>.</p>
<p>She also led the SNP in the cross party discussion which resulted in the Scotland Act of 2016. This granted Scotland more devolved powers over taxation and health, and was a win for the SNP, arguably taking Scotland a step closer to independence. Indeed, under Sturgeon, independence <a href="https://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-should-scotland-be-governed-five-response-categories-collapsed-to-three/">became a more popular governance option</a> than devolution. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/scottish-independence-how-nicola-sturgeons-pledge-to-rejoin-the-eu-could-impact-a-referendum-vote-193047">Scottish independence: how Nicola Sturgeon's pledge to rejoin the EU could impact a referendum vote</a>
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<p>Sturgeon’s daily briefings and communication skills during the pandemic allowed her to continue as an asset to her party. And it showed in the 2021 Scottish elections, when the SNP won nearly half of the seats.</p>
<h2>An asset in past elections</h2>
<p>After nearly nine years, Sturgeon leaves her post with a still high approval rating, though it has taken a <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2023/02/15/nicola-sturgeon-seen-doing-good-job-scots-most-her">bit of a blow</a> in the wake of the row over policy for transgender prisoners in Scotland. Her personal popularity and her signficant role in her party’s recent success raises the question of whether her successor will be able to deliver the same growing enthusiasm for independence.</p>
<p>But we should be careful of attributing too much importance to individuals in Scotland’s political landscape. When Ruth Davidson was Scottish Conservative leader, she did very well in the 2016 elections. Commentators thought the Conservatives <a href="https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/politics/scottish-politics/1830201/ruth-davidson-resignation-leaves-tories-vulnerable-to-snp/">would do worse</a> without her in 2021, but they won the exact same number of seats. </p>
<p>Certainly Sturgeon was an asset in past elections for the SNP, but public opinion in Scotland has been divided along constitutional issues <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/yes-pulls-ahead-and-snp-strengthens-support">since the 2014 </a> independence referendum. Her departure alone is unlikely to change this.</p>
<p>The SNP is not just a party of government, it is also the largest party of the pro-independence movement. The fate of both are linked. When the SNP government performs well, support for independence can increase. The high levels of support for Sturgeon and the SNP during the pandemic coincided with record levels of support for independence, <a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/18953255.independence-support-hits-58-per-cent-snp-majority-holyrood-cards/">up to 58%</a>.</p>
<p>In choosing a successor to Sturgeon, the SNP needs to consider how to balance its quest for independence with effectively delivering policy. The next leader has to both lead the Scottish government and be able to convince “soft nationalists” (voters who are generally sympathetic to independence but are unsure about its potential impact on them) that they should support independence. </p>
<h2>Independence – is there a plan D?</h2>
<p>Sturgeon leaves behind an SNP that is still by far the most popular party in Scotland. It has the most seats in the Scottish parliament and local councils, the majority of Scottish Westminster seats and a large party membership.</p>
<p>The litmus test for the new party leader will be how convincing their strategy for achieving independence is. If they are able to deliver successful policy that helps (or at least does not undermine) their aim to build support for independence, they could reinvigorate not just the party but also the wider independence movement. Among other issues, this will involve avoiding damaging public sector strikes and honing a new approach to the gender recognition bill. </p>
<p>Sturgeon’s “plan C” for independence (which was looking more likely after the UK supreme court’s November ruling) was to treat the next general election as a de facto referendum. But this plan was not supported by all in the SNP, so will need to be revisited with a new leader.</p>
<p>The wider question, though, for any new SNP leader and first minister, is about how to both win support for independence and unite a country that is evenly split. Under Sturgeon there has been too much focus on processes of how and when a referendum should be held, and less on convincing voters.</p>
<p>If a new leader can galvanise a consistent and clear push for independence over a sustained period, a future UK government could agree to a referendum to recognise a new settled will in Scotland. The impact of the 2014 and 2016 referendums has been to create, for the first time, a potential pro-independence majority. The challenge for a new SNP leader is to harness support and make that majority consistent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William McDougall is affiliated with the EIS trade union.</span></em></p>Support for independence doesn’t depend on the departing SNP leader, but her successor will need a new plan.William McDougall, Lecturer in Politics, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1903932023-01-10T13:29:03Z2023-01-10T13:29:03Z30 years on, Czechoslovakia’s ‘velvet divorce’ is not a model for Scottish independence from the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503322/original/file-20230105-20-vwaelx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C544%2C4641%2C2456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scottish independence has its supporters -- as did that of Slovakia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/slovakia-fans-in-the-stands-before-the-2018-fifa-world-cup-news-photo/857936752?phrase=scotland%20slovak%20fans&adppopup=true">Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Had Scottish nationalists got their way, 2023 would have seen the country head to the polls in a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-top-court-rule-legality-new-scottish-independence-referendum-2022-11-23/">second referendum over independence</a> from the United Kingdom – and they might have won. Whereas the first attempt in 2014 resulted in 55% voting “no,” <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/22564415.scottish-independence-polling-polls-changed-2022/">polls suggest</a> that after Brexit, a majority of Scots might now favor secession.</p>
<p>But that plan for a fresh referendum was scuppered in November 2022, when the U.K. Supreme Court <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-supreme-court-rules-scotland-cannot-call-a-second-independence-referendum-the-decision-explained-194877">decided</a> that Scotland could not hold such a vote without the consent of the Westminster Parliament. And that permission seems unlikely given that the governing Conservative Party <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-independence-scotland-cameron/cameron-says-scottish-independence-issue-settled-for-a-generation-idUKKBN0HE0IN20140919">believes the 2014 referendum</a> settled the debate “for a generation.” Even a change of government is unlikely to matter, with the opposition Labour Party indicating that it too is <a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/20268570.scottish-independence-keir-starmer-confirms-labour-reject-section-30-call/">not inclined to allow a second vote</a>.</p>
<p>It seems that when it comes to disentangling nations with a shared government, breaking up can be hard to do.</p>
<p>Yet, some advocates of Scottish independence point to an event that took place 30 years ago as an example of how such a divorce can be amicably managed and beneficial for all concerned: In January 1993, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states/czechoslovakia#:%7E:text=Following%20the%20receipt%20of%20their,admitted%20to%20United%20Nations%20membership.">were welcomed into the United Nations</a> as separate states. </p>
<p>While it is tempting for some to look back to the Czech-Slovak split for <a href="https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/65544/">comforting lessons</a> <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2013/may/headline_278765_en.html">over the</a> <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/scottish-independence-what-lessons-from-the-break-up-of-czechoslovakia">long-run consequences</a> of Scottish independence, as <a href="https://www.drake.edu/polsci/facultystaff/kieranwilliams/">a scholar who has studied the politics of Central Europe</a>, I’m mindful of two things: It wasn’t entirely smooth, and the circumstances were not all that comparable to Scotland’s situation today.</p>
<h2>Better apart?</h2>
<p>Combined at the end of the First World War, the two national identities that made up Czechoslovakia were papered over under Communist rule and burst into the open with the <a href="https://time.com/5730106/velvet-revolution-history/">return of democracy in 1989</a>. </p>
<p>This came to a head with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-067X(93)90004-B">elections in the summer of 1992</a>. The decision to terminate the union was rooted in an aversion among leaders of the largest Czech and Slovak parties to sharing power – and a vision of post-Communist economic reform – in a coalition government. The Czech side, which had been <a href="https://kdwilliams7.medium.com/the-czech-legislatures-secret-session-on-the-breakup-of-czechoslovakia-90a64e612899">secretly</a> thinking through what uncoupling would entail, had no appetite for Slovak proposals of a loose confederation and insisted on a cleaner break.</p>
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<img alt="A black and white photo show three women in a crowd clap hands and cheer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503445/original/file-20230106-25-zrc6fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Demonstrators in Prague on June 18, 1992, the day before negotiations between Czech and Slovak politicians over a proposed split.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CzechScotlandCzechoslovakiaBreakup/d1f4edd4954043f0a2f6e28f64fcddb4/photo?Query=slovakia%201993&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/David Brauchli</a></span>
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<p>In the end, a chaotic vote in the federal parliament on Nov. 25, 1992, saw a slim majority <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/11/25/Federal-Parliament-votes-to-dissolve-Czechoslovakia/1607722667600/">in favor of dissolving the union</a> at the end of that year. But it was messy: The first two attempts failed, and the third attempt succeeded by just two or three votes (the votes cast and tallied did not add up). </p>
<p>Furthermore, the legislature did not have the expressed will of the people behind it – parties that months earlier had campaigned to preserve the union in some form acted without prior authorization or subsequent affirmation by a referendum. Thirty years later, <a href="https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/domaci/3554349-rozdeleni-ceskoslovenska-hodnoti-kladne-necela-polovina-cechu-mezi-slovaky-zastancu">polling</a> finds that very large majorities in both successor states wish a referendum had been held. Czechs still struggle to accept the end of federation, with a plurality of 48% regarding it negatively, while 62% of Slovaks say it was the right thing.</p>
<p>The lack of popular assent notwithstanding, the Czech-Slovak split is cited by <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18983787.independence-breaking-not-always-bitter/">advocates for Scottish independence</a> as a model that minimizes the risk of violence and economic disruption. </p>
<p>No doubt, the two new countries seem to have flourished. Both went on to become members of the European Union and the Schengen Area, which allows free movement across much of the continent. They also joined NATO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Czech Republic is routinely ranked among the <a href="https://www.socialprogress.org/index/global/results">safest countries in the world with high scores</a> for quality of life. Its adjusted <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?locations=EU-CZ&most_recent_value_desc=true">per capita gross domestic product</a> is now ahead of those of older EU member states such as Spain, Portugal and Greece, and closing in on Italy’s.</p>
<p>Slovakia had to overcome greater political turmoil and structural challenges. But since joining the EU in 2004 and the eurozone in 2009, it has matched or outpaced the Czech Republic in annual economic growth. Indeed, Slovakia has attracted so much investment by foreign automakers that it is now the world’s largest producer of cars relative to population – which <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/slovakia-population/">at around 5.5 million</a> is <a href="https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/census-results/at-a-glance/population/">almost identical in size to Scotland’s</a>.</p>
<p>Even more so than the Czech Republic, Slovakia confirms that <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/scottish-independence-how-do-other-small-economies-fare">small states</a> can find their way in the world.</p>
<p>As such, it is no wonder that <a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/15200957.whas-like-us-former-partners-czech-republic-and-slovakia-are-flourishing-after-velvet-divorce/">some Scots conclude</a>, “If Slovakia can make a success of itself after the Velvet Divorce, surely Scotland can do so too.”</p>
<p>And Slovakia did so while remaining on cordial terms with the Czech Republic. Setbacks such as the recent Czech reimposition of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/czech-border-controls-blocking-migrants-route-germany-frustrate-slovakia-2022-11-10/">controls</a> on the border with Slovakia are minor compared with what we see in nearby regions that also fractured in the early 1990s - raging conflicts in the former Soviet Union and simmering tension in the former Yugoslavia.</p>
<h2>The velvet divorce</h2>
<p>Where the utility of Czechoslovakia as a precedent ends, however, is with the actual process of splitting up.</p>
<p>The appeal of the story of Czechoslovakia’s dissolution is that it seemed to be quick and easy as well as peaceful. In reality, it took years to finalize some issues, such as arrangements for citizens of one state to attend a university in the other and to acquire dual citizenship. Final settlement of the central bank’s balance took until November 1999 to sort out. </p>
<p>Most of the work of dividing assets was governed by a simple 2-to-1 principle that reflected the relative sizes of the Czech and Slovak populations. Liabilities, in the way of external debt, were dispatched on the same basis, and Czechoslovakia had little of it anyway.</p>
<p>The new international border was not agreed officially until 1996 but needed only minor adjustments. Being landlocked, the new states had no maritime issues to resolve. </p>
<p>For several reasons, it is hard to imagine such an amicable and swift grant of independence to Scotland from the rest of the U.K.</p>
<p>For starters, Edinburgh and London might never agree that the time had come to start discussing terms of divorce, in the way that Czech and Slovak leaders did in the summer of 1992. </p>
<p>Scotland’s first minister has said that the next U.K. general election, due to be held before the end of 2024, will be <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-63742281">treated as a “de facto referendum</a>.”</p>
<p>The Scottish National Party might interpret a general election result as a mandate to leave, but unionist parties might see it otherwise and refuse to come to the table. Any push towards independence in the face of opposition from the U.K. government could lead to an impasse akin to that between <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/25/is-catalonia-still-dreaming-of-independence-from-spain">Catalonia</a> and the Spanish government.</p>
<p>Even if talks did somehow get underway, there is no simple rule to hand like the 2-to-1 ratio for Czechoslovakia’s partition. That applied to a process of ending a country, whereas the U.K. would seek to carry on with its remaining parts.</p>
<p>Instead, there would be hard bargaining on every major issue – trade, labor, pensions, currency and banking, debt, citizenship, defense, and borders – including claims to the dwindling tax receipts from <a href="https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/insight/scottish-independence-implications-for-the-north-sea-oil-and-gas-sector">North Sea oil and gas fields</a>.</p>
<p>In all likelihood, it would <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41293-022-00210-1">more closely resemble the United Kingdom’s choppy exit</a> from the European Union than Czechoslovakia’s division.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, Brexit itself presents another potential headache. Even if Scotland and the U.K. government were to reach agreement on the terms of any split, they might have to be reopened should an independent Scotland seek to join the E.U. – forcing it to choose between the single market of Europe and that of the rump U.K. </p>
<p>This is not to say that the separation of Scotland from the United Kingdom could not be arrived at. But harking back to events of 30 years ago may not serve anyone’s interests, least of all Scotland’s – especially if the path of the referendum-free “velvet divorce” leaves lingering doubts about the legitimacy of the process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kieran Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite hopes of a second referendum on independence being dashed, many Scottish nationalists look to Slovakia as an example of how a small nation can stand on its own.Kieran Williams, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1324292020-05-10T11:59:10Z2020-05-10T11:59:10ZScotland’s outdoor play initiative has some lessons for the rest of the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319211/original/file-20200308-64601-f6mhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5782%2C2969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scotland is making strides in improving its population's social and physical well-being — by taking children's early learning and care outside.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Scotland considers the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52445877">eventual re-opening of schools</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wkrussell/status/1255760751714799616">and non-emergency child-care facilities</a> as the threat of coronavirus recedes, early childhood advocates are eagerly anticipating a now-delayed rollout of an important social policy experiment. </p>
<p>The Scottish government planned to undertake a <a href="https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2017/10/blueprint-2020-expansion-early-learning-childcare-scotland-quality-action-plan/documents/00526782-pdf/00526782-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/00526782.pdf">child-care initiative to double the number of fully funded (free) child-care hours available to parents</a>. This initiative was intended to unfold by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52100862">end of 2020, but in light of coronavirus closures, this timeframe has now be extended</a>. </p>
<p>As part of this effort to expand fully funded child care, a new focus on outdoor play emerged. The outdoor play movement in Scotland initially started as a grassroots effort but <a href="https://www.careinspectorate.com/images/Seeing_the_wood_for_the_trees_journal_Henry_Mathias.pdf">has been adopted by the national government</a> as a <a href="https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2019/4/16/The-expansion-of-early-learning-and-childcare">way to accommodate more children within child-care programs</a>, address obesity, reduce screen time, increase children and parents’ connection to the environment, and improve mental health issues.</p>
<p>As such, the innovative and large-scale initiative is one whereby <a href="https://lawson.ca/advancing-op-ece.pdf">children in early learning and care programs will be required to spend a significant portion of their time outdoors</a>. </p>
<h2>Significant outdoor play not the norm</h2>
<p>What defines a significant portion of time may vary greatly between individual children and programs. Currently, in Scotland, as in other parts of the western world (for example, Scandinavia, Canada, Australia), outdoor play programs are “boutique” programs that serve and are staffed by a very small subset of families, children and early childhood educators. The majority of parents who send their children to outdoor play programs often do so on a <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1143993">part-time basis (between one to three days per week) rather than on a full-time basis</a>. </p>
<p>It is not clear what the reaction will be in Scotland when more outdoor play is brought in to the mainstream.</p>
<p>This balance between time spent indoors versus outdoors represents an effort to provide children with structured early learning and care services that provide time to play and explore freely in the natural environment. Outdoor play presents an important opportunity for growth and enrichment for children. </p>
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<h2>Benefits to children</h2>
<p>In addition to the <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606423">physical and psychological benefits for children’s development</a>, <a href="http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:29073">educators advocating for outdoor play view the natural environment</a> as an open and relaxing place where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012576913074">children can exercise more control over their activities</a>. </p>
<p>The research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2013.771152">the effects of outdoor play programs on children</a> has largely been conducted with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X15614042">small-scale qualitative studies</a> in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-017-0203-7">context of existing programs</a>.</p>
<p>We do not have large-scale data to suggest how outdoor play will affect children and educators when it is mandated for children in mainstream care settings. Moreover, as we documented in a recent study <a href="https://cjee.lakeheadu.ca/">in press with the <em>Canadian Journal of Environmental Education</em></a>, (“How and why did outdoor play become a central focus of Scottish Early Learning and Care policy?”), there are several barriers to outdoor play in Scotland. </p>
<p>These include parental buy-in, weather and equipment constraints, child preferences, educator training, funding issues and the fact that parents, policy makers and educators <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X15614042">perceive outdoor play to involve greater risk for children</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321428/original/file-20200318-1964-aris86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A young boy drew a line in the ground with his foot as we approached a river bank, and explained no-one was allowed to go past that point without an adult.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Children learn about risk</h2>
<p>This perceived risk in outdoor play settings is an interesting and nuanced issue. There is a constant <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fijerph9093134">tension for parents, educators and policy-makers</a> between the inclination to protect children from harm on the one hand and, on the other hand, the acknowledgement that over-protecting children may do them a disservice in the long run. </p>
<p>Teaching children to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-54700-002">recognize, assess and manage levels of risk for themselves and others is a fundamental life skill</a>. </p>
<p>During our study, when we visited outdoor play programs in Scotland, we witnessed some beautiful examples of adults guiding children on managing risks. For example, there was a young boy who, when we approached a river bank, drew a line in the ground with his foot and pointed to it, explaining to us that no one was allowed to go past that point without an adult. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321438/original/file-20200318-1913-uob3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Educators help children learn to scan for poisonous and prickly plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other examples included educators helping children assess a safe height for climbing a tree and teaching children to scan for poisonous and prickly plants. </p>
<p>When such risk assessment procedures are well thought out and explicit, they can help reduce children’s risk in the moment and help them assess risk for themselves in the long run.</p>
<h2>Training and grit</h2>
<p>We also found in our research that in addition to concerns about risks to children, Scotland faces concerns from parents and educators about putting children outside for long periods given its cold, wet and windy climate. </p>
<p>There is a worry that educators and program leaders will not have the necessary training or grit to oversee these programs. Stakeholders we interviewed in our study all noted that the adults leading these outdoor programs need to have specialized training, knowledge and endurance to tackle the unique challenges faced in outdoor environments. Among these stakeholders were policy makers, educators, child-care advocates and individuals working for the Forestry Commission (since 2019 the commission split into two organizations, <a href="https://www.forestcentenary.scot/1999to2019">Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry</a>). </p>
<p>However, it is worth noting that outdoor schooling <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ceb7/fff6aa13921cf6cb3645ae9b948704470c4f.pdf">and outdoor play programs</a> in western schooling systems <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hisfam.2003.04.001">initially began in Scandinavian countries</a>. These countries have long, dark winters. This dispels the notion that such outdoor play programs are not viable in countries with cold climates such as Scotland and even Canada. </p>
<p>Given the many benefits of outdoor play, we hope people are encouraged to take advantage of outdoor spaces available in both rural and urban settings. You don’t have to go far outside to find them, regardless of where you live.</p>
<p>Time will tell if Scotland’s experiment will work. While it may not solve all the pragmatic issues faced by the Scottish government, such as a severe shortage of ready facilities, it will serve as a crucial source of information on outdoor play for the rest of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michal Perlman received funding from the Lawson Foundation to conduct research on Scotland's outdoor play policy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Bergeron receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:nina.howe@concordia.ca">nina.howe@concordia.ca</a> receives funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Lawson Foundation, and Concordia University. </span></em></p>Scotland is undertaking a child-care initiative to double the number of fully funded child-care hours available to parents, and outdoor play is part of it.Michal Perlman, Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoCatherine Bergeron, Research Co-ordinator and PhD Student, Counselling Psychology, McGill UniversityNina Howe, Professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Research Chair in Early Childhood Development and Education, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1179982019-06-03T08:26:43Z2019-06-03T08:26:43ZSNP surge in European elections has major implications for a second independence referendum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276991/original/file-20190529-192361-1t9wk9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PA/Jane Barlow</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fallout from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/european-elections-6507">European elections</a> in Scotland is of interest not just to voters north of the border but also for its potential wider ramifications.</p>
<p>Unlike most of the rest of the UK, where the upstart Brexit Party topped the poll, in Scotland the SNP finished first yet again. The party took more than <a href="https://www.snp.org/snp-victory-in-european-elections/">38% of the vote</a>, picking up half of Scotland’s six seats in the European Parliament.</p>
<p>This is quite a remarkable success for a party that has been in power in Scotland since 2007 and has finished top in every election since 2011.</p>
<h2>The surge</h2>
<p>The party had a clear and unambiguous message going into this election. It wants to stop Brexit. This allowed it to rally support from pro-Remain voters.</p>
<p>However, the SNP also had an anti-Westminster message: Westminster is ignoring the wishes of Scots and the best way to respond is to vote SNP.</p>
<p>All this matters because overshadowing everything in Scottish politics is the constitutional divide between unionists and nationalists and whether Scotland should become independent as the parties position themselves for a possible second independence referendum.</p>
<p>For the SNP, Scotland voting differently from the rest of the UK feeds into the narrative that Scotland is just politically different and should make its own decisions.</p>
<p>The SNP vote is also mainly pro-EU, but some of its voters who want to leave the EU may also want to leave the UK even more. Such voters will support the SNP anyway, viewing it as the best vehicle to deliver independence.</p>
<p>On the unionist side, the result looks initially quite poor for the Conservatives. Nevertheless, their percentage share of the vote was still higher than the party received in England and Wales.</p>
<p>The Conservative anti-independence message to an extent prevented the party from having an even worse election. They are likely to remain the main unionist party, particular as their leader Ruth Davidson has a very high profile, rivalling only the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, and is also relatively popular too.</p>
<p>Davidson, though, will want to distance herself somewhat from the UK Conservative Party leadership, given its <a href="https://theconversation.com/theresa-may-resigns-how-the-leadership-race-could-play-out-from-here-117762">current turmoil</a>. Before the elections, Boris Johnson, now the main contender to replace Theresa May, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ruth-davidson-bars-boris-johnson-from-party-conference-after-dismal-poll-results-ss9bhz80k">was blocked from attending</a> the Scottish Conservative and Unionist conference.</p>
<h2>Labour losses</h2>
<p>The big losers in Scotland were the other unionist party – Labour. The party lost both of its MEPs and a huge number of voters. It once took one in four votes in European elections but was reduced, this time around, to less than <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48424055">10% of the vote</a>. </p>
<p>Clearly the 2014 and 2016 referendums have taken their toll on the party but this is a particularly poor result for Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader and an ally of Jeremy Corbyn. Leonard has made no real impact despite repositioning the party to the left.</p>
<p>If Leonard has to stand down as leader it is unlikely he will be replaced by a candidate on the left. <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/labour-euro-campaigns-chief-neil-findlay-to-quit-holyrood-amid-internal-battles-1-4936243">Neil Findlay</a>, the other key Corbyn ally in Scotland, has already announced he will be standing down at the next election to pursue other interests.</p>
<p>As the Scottish party leader sits on Labour’s ruling national executive this could be problematic for Corbyn. And while Corbyn is under pressure to support a second EU referendum, his Scottish party is under even greater scrutiny. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in 2016 and the remain parties won more than 60% again in the European elections. The pressure on Scottish Labour is likely to intensify.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Brexit Party did finish a distant second with around 14% in Scotland but this does not place them to do well in the next Holyrood election. UKIP won a seat at the 2014 EU elections in Scotland and gained less than 2% two years later at the Holyrood elections.</p>
<p>The Brexit Party, if it fights other elections in Scotland, is likely to attract mainly unionist voters, fragmenting the vote even further. This would only help the SNP. A Liberal Democrat recovery in Scotland could do likewise.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>The SNP is already seeking to capitalise on the European election result, immediately introducing legislation in the Scottish parliament to allow for a possible referendum on independence to be held.</p>
<p>The Conservative Party candidates for prime minister all agree so far that they will not be another referendum on Scottish independence. However, Scottish Conservatives will be hoping that they temper and moderate their language somewhat.</p>
<p>Conservative home secretary Sajid David’s comment that Scotland will not be <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/home-secretary-sajid-javid-mocked-on-twitter-for-scottish-independence-allow-comment-1-4937765">“allowed”</a> to hold another referendum is likely to grate even with unionists, who would rather the line that “Scots don’t want one” was used instead.</p>
<p>Unionists are aware that the SNP will seek to portray the constitutional issue as Scotland versus Westminster and will hope to avoid this. For the SNP it is a waiting game. The ideal situation may be perhaps a no-deal Brexit imposed by Westminster with Johnston as the new prime minister. This might just strain the 300-year-old union to breaking point.</p>
<p>The EU elections are over but both the SNP and Conservatives know that the real battle for Scotland in the run up to the 2021 Scottish elections and the push for indyref2.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William McDougall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ruling party took three of six seats in the European Parliament.William McDougall, Lecturer in Politics, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/744912017-03-13T17:11:26Z2017-03-13T17:11:26ZScotland heads towards a second independence referendum<p>The seemingly inevitable prospect of a second referendum on independence was finally confirmed in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2017/mar/13/article-50-commons-lords-brexit-sturgeon-speech-corbyn-clarifies-his-position-on-second-scottish-independence-referendum-saying-hes-opposed-politics-live">speech by Nicola Sturgeon</a>, First Minister of Scotland. The Scottish government will begin preparing for a referendum sometime in late 2018 or early 2019, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/eu-referendum-2016">Brexit</a> negotiations unfold.</p>
<p>A second referendum became likely the moment the result of the EU referendum was confirmed. The devolution settlement that has endured since 1999 was always going to be put under considerable strain when Scotland overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, while the UK as a whole voted to leave.</p>
<p>In her speech, Sturgeon was at pains to point to out that, despite attempting to engage and persuade, the UK government had more or less dismissed her appeals for Scotland to be allowed to stay in the European <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/09/brexit-may-single-market-scotland-fears">single market</a> after Brexit. Such a prospect was never likely anyway, but the incorrigible nature of the UK government’s position on the matter has, according to Sturgeon, left the Scottish government with no choice.</p>
<p>From the point of view of the Scottish government, a referendum on independence should now be held towards the end of the Brexit negotiations. That would, it is suggested, give the people of Scotland the chance to weigh up their options with the maximum amount of information available before the UK actually leaves the EU.</p>
<p>Sturgeon said she will ask the UK government to push a section 30 order, which would hand Scotland the right to hold a referendum. There is clear precedent for this: the 2012 Edinburgh Agreement between the UK and Scottish governments, which set out the broad terms of the 2014 referendum, preceded the official approval of the section 30 order in February 2013.</p>
<p>There is nothing to suggest that the technical process of holding a second referendum will be any different this time around. <a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-and-a-second-independence-referendum-what-is-the-legal-situation-74468">Politically, there may well be some stumbling blocks</a> – though it would be counterproductive for the UK government to block a referendum entirely.</p>
<p>The UK government was accused last time of giving the Scottish administration carte blanche to decide when the referendum would be held and set the question on the ballot. That said, wise counsel would suggest too much interference in the second referendum could simply boost support for independence. </p>
<h2>Is everyone ready?</h2>
<p>When it comes to campaigning, the pro-independence movement is in a far healthier position than its opponent. Some elements have never ceased activity. Groups such as Common Weal and Women for Independence are still very active campaign organisations. The new media scene has also grown since 2014, with outlets such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jun/22/commonspace-joins-scotlands-burgeoning-alternative-media-outlets">CommonSpace</a> now playing a key role in Scotland’s media landscape. It won’t take long for the pro-independence movement to return to full capacity again.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"841254780068605952"}"></div></p>
<p>The pro-UK side, however, is in a different situation. Scottish Labour was badly tarnished by its role in Better Together, the campaign that was on the winning side in 2014. Since then, Scottish Labour has been absolutely decimated as a political force in Scotland and its poll ratings ahead of local elections in May are abysmal. Better Together Mk.II has some serious thinking to do about how to organise and who to select as its figurehead.</p>
<p>The polls have shown a slight increase towards Yes since the last referendum. However, the latest <a href="http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-in-the-in-a-scottish-independence-referendum-if-held-now-ask#line">poll of polls</a> still puts No in the lead with about 52%. That’s well within the margin of statistical error, so for all intents and purposes, the current state of play is neck-and-neck. This is very encouraging for the pro-independence movement since it started from a much lower base last time around. However, it remains to be seen if it can persuade enough women and older voters to back independence – two groups that voted No in 2014.</p>
<h2>What’s changed?</h2>
<p>The Brexit vote has transformed the independence debate in a number of ways. Whereas staying part of the UK was framed as the safe, stable choice last time around, the same can no longer be said with any real conviction. The decision to leave the EU has triggered all kinds of uncertainties and unknowns.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there are still serious questions around the fiscal and economic case for independence. The drop in the price of oil and the subsequent collapse in revenues to an estimated £60m as a result has left Scotland with a very high <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/08/2132">estimated fiscal deficit</a>, were it independent today, of over 10%, compared to the UK’s fiscal deficit of 4%. The Scottish economy has also been significantly <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/022aeeb2-dd85-11e6-9d7c-be108f1c1dce">lagging behind</a> the UK economy for quite some time. Any vote for independence would require serious and stark choices to be made on public expenditure in Scotland.</p>
<p>What’s more, the Scottish government will have to make plans for the future of its currency in the event of independence. Assuming it wants to remain a member of the EU, Scotland will have to sign up to the EU’s exchange rate mechanism in anticipation of the adoption of the euro. In the meantime, it would probably have to adopt its own currency and set up its own central bank. That process is perfectly possible but would probably have significant implications for the country’s credit rating when borrowing funds on international markets.</p>
<h2>What to expect now</h2>
<p>Last time, there was an official campaign period in the run up to the referendum. In reality, however, the campaign started a couple of years before that. Whatever your constitutional preferences, Scotland is back in campaign mode and the referendum to come will unquestionably dominate public life once again. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Brexit process will occur simultaneously. The future is therefore extremely uncertain, although once the Brexit negotiations between the UK government and the EU get properly underway there may be greater clarity as to what sort of impact that is having on opinion in Scotland.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig McAngus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has indicated that the country will again seek independence – this time against the backdrop of Brexit.Craig McAngus, Lecturer in Politics, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/595422016-05-31T10:55:32Z2016-05-31T10:55:32ZHow hyperlocal journalists plug the democratic gap in regional elections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124151/original/image-20160526-22038-1vyzdcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Without community journalists, many constituents would be uninformed about local issues.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Community Journalism, Cardiff University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of people voted in the UK’s local and national elections in May, but who can say how well informed they were about local issues? Some <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/06/london-mayoral-election-results-what-time-will-the-votes-be-coun/">45% of London voters</a> turned out for the mayoral elections, 55.6% voted in the Scottish Parliament election and 45% at the Welsh Assembly elections, but it is near impossible to ascertain what they knew about their nominee’s policies.</p>
<p>The UK’s local <a href="https://theconversation.com/depleted-local-media-threatens-ability-to-hold-those-in-power-to-account-58322">news landscape has been decimated</a> due to mergers, cuts and closures. This has amounted to a steady and widespread withdrawal of professional journalism from our cities, towns and villages – and a resulting drop in information. But all is not lost just yet: at the same time a new generation of “hyperlocal” or community news outlets have emerged.</p>
<p>Often run by volunteers or a small team of professional journalists, these local news websites, papers and magazines are dedicated to the communities in which they are based. The hyperlocal sector is financially precarious, however – a survey I conducted which was published in 2014 indicated that only a <a href="https://www.communityjournalism.co.uk/research/the-state-of-uk-hyperlocal-community-news-a-survey/">third of community news publishers</a> make any money and those who do are usually making modest amounts. <a href="https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/success-with-mixed-funding-models-brings-optimism-to-community-websites/s2/a604846/">Funded by a mixture</a> of donations, advertising, membership fees, crowdfunding and grants – to survive, this new media sector relies heavily on the dedication of its readers to survive. In order to continue, the hyperlocal outlets need support from their communities from the get-go, drawing local people – and businesses – in not only as consumers but as funders and champions of the cause.</p>
<h2>Grassroots engagement</h2>
<p>Community journalists have a close connection with the areas they cover, routinely reporting on local events and being more likely to quote ordinary people than <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21670811.2014.965932">established newspaper publishers</a>. Many also cover local politics very closely, often reporting on council meetings and supplying electoral information at a grassroots level.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124147/original/image-20160526-22038-1isd0ql.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Community Journalism, Cardiff University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The strong relationships that local outlets build with communities often make for very engaged audiences. The producers of Welsh town website Wrexham.com, for example, <a href="http://www.wrexham.com/news/leader-circulation-drops-a-further-15-with-leaderlive-website-down-4-108573.html">recently wrote about differences</a> between their output and that of the established online news outlet in the area, the Trinity Mirror-owned Wrexham Leader newspaper and accompanying website <a href="http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/">Leader Live</a>. Wrexham.com, which is run by only two full-time journalists, publishes considerably less news than Leader Live – but, by some measures, it claims that its audience engagement far outstrips the paper.</p>
<p>Traditional local publishers continue to retreat from communities, moving from town centres to regional hubs and <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4c85b58-2c75-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html">closing local offices</a> which used to provide a valuable point of contact with readers. By contrast, hyperlocal journalists typically live and work in the communities they serve and many are committed to engaging with audiences in real life, as well as digital contexts. </p>
<p>In north London, strong engagement with community news service <a href="https://twitter.com/WHampstead">@WHampstead on Twitter</a> translated into a high turnout for its <a href="https://www.communityjournalism.co.uk/blog/2015/04/17/hosting-a-hustings/">general election hustings event</a>, where the constituency’s candidates were grilled in front of a local audience. Indeed, in hyperlocal news it is now quite common to see this kind of mutually reinforcing real-world and online engagement with politics and community life.</p>
<h2>Encouraging democracy</h2>
<p>Electoral information does not always make for the sexiest of news, and is sometimes downplayed or ignored by local newspaper websites which prioritise clicks over the public interest. To combat this, for this year’s National Assembly for Wales elections, constituency-based website <a href="https://mycardiffnorth.com">My Cardiff North</a> provided information about how to register to vote, who was standing for election locally and details of previous election results for the constituencies in order to inform residents about local issues that the national failed to cover.</p>
<p>During the 2015 general election, community journalists around the country responded to audience questions – around the clock when it came to polling day – on issues such as voter eligibility and the opening times of polling stations. They provided information which could have made the difference between people bothering to vote or not. There was also a commitment to covering even very local <a href="http://alittlebitofstone.com/2015/04/28/stafford-borough-council-elections-walton-ward/">community or borough council elections</a>, explaining issues clearly and in ways that were eye-catching and engaging.</p>
<p>As well as attempting to address the democratic deficit, hyperlocal media has also produced some of the UK’s most innovative electoral coverage. Often finding new ways to engage with audiences and present information, such as organising Twitter hustings and broadcasting <a href="https://www.communityjournalism.co.uk/blog/2015/05/06/hyperlocal-teams-up-with-the-bbc-and-local-newspaper-for-general-election-debate/">candidate interviews on Periscope</a>.</p>
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<p>The Bristol Cable, an <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/membership/">audience-owned media cooperative</a> with a focus on local investigations, <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/2016/04/mayoral-race/">produced an interactive video</a>, YouTube interviews, and interviews with voters for the 2016 Bristol mayoral elections. It even memorably got the city’s UKIP candidate to <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/2016/04/watch-shock-statement-by-ukip-mayoral-candidate/">call for the resignation</a> of party donor Aaron Banks over tax avoidance issues. Likewise, <a href="http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk">The Edinburgh Reporter</a> used smartphone app Replay for the May voting period to <a href="https://twitter.com/EdinReporter/status/727913908275712000">film short interviews with electoral candidates</a>, overlaid with text and graphics.</p>
<p>The efforts of hyperlocal reporters are not going unnoticed either: last year <a href="http://thelincolnite.co.uk">The Lincolnite</a> featured alongside big media behemoths Sky News and The Telegraph in industry website journalism.co.uk’s round-up of <a href="https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-have-the-uk-press-innovated-in-their-general-election-coverage-/s2/a565048/">innovative general election coverage</a>. This led to the Lincoln site joining forces with BBC Radio Lincolnshire during the 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner elections, for a <a href="http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2016/05/candidates-reactions-lincolnshire-pcc-debate/">debate followed by live candidate reactions</a>.</p>
<p>With the EU referendum on the horizon, hyperlocal journalists will no doubt be readying themselves to help local audiences understand just what is going on. Though on a national scale the work of hyperlocals do not entirely fill the widening “news gap” left by retreating traditional publishers, these community news providers are amply demonstrating the value of democratic engagement at a grassroots level.</p>
<p><em>This article was written in collaboration with project officer Hannah Scarbrough from <a href="https://www.communityjournalism.co.uk/en/">Cardiff University’s Centre for Community journalism</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Williams sits on the steering board of the Centre for Community Journalism at Cardiff University and has received funding from The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).</span></em></p>Community media is ensuring society stays informed at all political levels.Andy Williams, Lecturer (teaching and research), Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/493162015-10-18T11:56:17Z2015-10-18T11:56:17ZSturgeon’s ‘blame Westminster’ routine hides dismal SNP record as party of government<p>The Scottish National Party annual conference in Aberdeen just ended was the last big gathering of the party before elections for a new Scottish parliament next May. The SNP has been in power in Scotland since 2007 and the <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/poll-snp-course-landslide-victory-6061943">polls put them on course to win</a> a third straight term next spring. This is extraordinary. </p>
<p>The SNP exists for only one reason: to seek the break-up of Britain and independence for Scotland. It won the right to put that issue to the Scottish people in an historic referendum in September 2014, but Scots voted against independence by 55.3% to 44.7%, so Scotland remains – with England, Wales and Northern Ireland – one of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The SNP’s defeat in the referendum ought to have caused it traumatic shock. But the referendum losers have emerged victorious in the year since. The 45% who voted Yes to independence rallied to the SNP’s cause, whereas the 55% who voted No are otherwise divided between those on the left (who support Labour), those on the centre-right (who support the Conservatives) and those few who remain in the middle (who used to support the Liberal Democrats). </p>
<p>A vote of 45% per cent is enough only to come second in a two-horse race – but in the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system it is enough for a landslide. Thus, in the May 2015 general election the SNP won an astonishing 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats in the House of Commons, reducing the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to one Scottish seat each.</p>
<p>That the SNP has managed to consolidate the support of close to half the Scottish population is a remarkable feat. For years support for independence was stubbornly stuck at about 30%. That the referendum result was 55%/45% rather than 65%/35% owed a great deal to the Yes movement taking on the character of a mass protest movement. </p>
<p>Harnessing the same energy and, indeed, using much of the same rhetoric, as has fired Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, the argument for independence became ever more stridently left-wing and anti-austerity as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/scotland-decides-14">referendum campaign</a> wore on. The “45” is really the conjoining of two groups: a “30” who are ideologically committed to independence and would vote for it come what may and a “15” many of whom had never previously voted for the SNP and who embraced “the idea of Yes” as an act of protest.</p>
<p>The SNP has managed to hang on not only to its natural 30% but to the full 45% by pulling off the trick of being, in fact, the party of power in Scotland while at the same time taking on the appearance of a party of opposition. The nationalists are expert in mining the rich seam of Scottish grievance politics, which holds that everything is someone else’s fault, pointing the finger of blame at the Tories, the English, or Westminster. Its tactic in the forthcoming Scottish parliamentary election will doubtless be more of the same, for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/oct/15/snp-conference-politics-live#block-561f7c37e4b02ae764b2e1b1">all the bombast we have heard in Aberdeen this week</a> about the party being happy to stand on its record in government.</p>
<h2>Poor performance</h2>
<p>The SNP’s record in government is precisely the terrain the opposition parties in Scotland want to fight the election on, because that record is dismal. It is dismal, in large measure, because the SNP has spent so long on the blame game and on its constitutional obsession with independence that they have governed too little. The devolved arrangements in Scotland were created and are in the process of being further developed by unionists, not nationalists, seeking a way of giving Scots the home rule they crave without breaking up the state. </p>
<p>Plainly, it does not suit the SNP to use their devolved powers to the full. Rather, it suits them to play those powers down, as if the only way in which Scotland could enjoy real autonomy is if Scotland were to leave the UK to become an independent state. In the core devolved areas of health and education, SNP administrations have done as little as possible.</p>
<p>The result is that investment in health <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7366">has declined relative to investment in England</a>, that hospital waiting times are growing longer, <a href="http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/13302422.Western_A_E_worst_in_Scotland__31__of_patients_wait_longer_than_FOUR_hours/">alarmingly so in accident and emergenc</a>y, that Scottish schools are struggling to maintain even the most basic standards in key skills such as numeracy, and that further education has been cut horrifically (with <a href="http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/scottish-student-numbers-down-140-000-in-five-years-1.177844">140,000 college places slashed</a> in Scotland in recent years). </p>
<p>None of these outcomes is the fault of Westminster: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/first_time_voter/8589835.stm">health and education are fully devolved to Edinburgh</a>, and have been since the inception of devolution in 1999.</p>
<h2>Control freakery</h2>
<p>When the SNP government does exercise its powers, two tendencies are striking. For all its talk of progressive politics, the SNP is a markedly illiberal party in practice. Whether it be bureaucratic interference with family life, the <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/routine-arming-of-scottish-police-officers-backed-1-3585146">covert arming of police officer</a>s, or extensive use of coercive powers <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/24/un-human-rights-body-criticises-police-stop-search-powers-scotland">such as stop and search</a>, Scottish nationalism in power betrays that trend so often seen in national liberators: that the freedom of the nation matters much more than the freedom of the people who inhabit it. </p>
<p>A second tendency is a control-freakish centralisation. Power is hoarded in Edinburgh, not disbursed to the cities and regions of Scotland – there is no equivalent here of George Osborne’s “northern powerhouse” in Manchester and Sheffield. On the contrary, powers are removed from local communities and centralised in the capital. Take policing: when the SNP came to power in 2007 Scotland had eight police forces; <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/apr/01/police-scotland-stephen-house-chief-constable">now we have just the one</a>, accountable to a board appointed directly by Scottish ministers. </p>
<p>A similar move is underway with regard to Scotland’s universities, where SNP ministers are seeking to exert unprecedented controls. Wither academic freedom in Scotland? With <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbc-scotland-protests-scottish-independence-referendum-coverage-institutionally-biased-salmond-9732095.html">angry mobs descending on the BBC</a> when the broadcaster dares to run news stories critical of the SNP administration, political freedom in Scotland can feel precarious. SNP ministers may say they oppose any attempt to alter the UK’s human rights laws but, at the same time, the human rights of Scots are repeatedly jeopardised by SNP policy.</p>
<p>Very little of this is understood outside of Scotland. From elsewhere in the UK, the SNP leader, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, looks the consummate social democrat. Poised, elegant and polished – and passionate in her rhetoric and commitment to social justice – Sturgeon is indeed a great performer. But underneath the act lies an altogether different reality, of an illiberal and centralising government that would rather sit on its hands than use its powers to transform Scotland for the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Tomkins is a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Scottish Conservatives in May’s Scottish parliamentary election.</span></em></p>The Scottish Nationals’ emphasis on independence is an attempt to distract voters from the party’s woeful performance in office.Adam Tomkins, Professor - John Millar Chair of Public Law, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.