Scotland has its own devolved Parliament which currently has a minority SNP Government. The Scottish National Party, more commonly referred to as the SNP, is Scotland’s own party. In 2013, ex-leader Alex Salmond announced that on the 18th September 2014, we would hold a referendum as to whether or not Scotland should become its own independent country and leave the rest of the United Kingdom. With a turnout of 84.59%, the result was in favour of no to independence, at 55.30%; not exactly an overwhelming majority but it was a majority nonetheless. Only four overall councils voted in favour of yes, which included North Lanarkshire, Glasgow, West Dumbartonshire and Dundee City. The SNP’s main party ambition is to achieve independence from the rest of the UK, and of course, this was the result Salmond was hoping for. As the Scottish electorate voted against, he resigned, which meant that Nicola Sturgeon filled his positioned shortly afterwards.

Since Indy Ref 1, there has been various political events; Scottish parliament elections, UK general election, local councillor elections and not to mention, Brexit. The news gave its fair share of media coverage per event, but the potential of a second independence referendum has propped up numerous times. The amount of times I’ve watched the news and Sturgeon appears on my screen talking about Indy Ref 2 is probably unnecessary. It’s used tactically, as it’s mentioned a lot more during other election campaigns; to me, it’s used to try and force people to reconsider their vote as it may have some sort of relation to Indy Ref. Now that Brexit negotiations are underway, Indy Ref 2 may have a chance of taking place. Why? Looking at the overall result, 62% of Scotland voted No in favour to leaving the EU. Once again, a majority; not strikingly high but still, it’s over the 50% line. As majority of Scotland voted to remain, Sturgeon had been trying to negotiate with the EU leaders, and was trying to promise Scotland that if Indy Ref 2 went ahead and we voted in favour of Yes, Scotland would remain as part of the EU. Yet another attempt to persuade voters that independence was best for the country.

For Sturgeon to call for independence straight after Brexit was a bit eager; Brexit officially settles in next year, and I feel we need to give it some sort of try before changing things, again. Maybe Brexit will work, and the UK can collaborate as a whole. Nobody knows until it really happens. At least if Brexit fails, Scotland has Northern Ireland, Wales and England to fall back upon. Whereas if independent Scotland flopped, who would have our back then?

However, things don’t look like they’re working on Sturgeon’s behalf. According to The Scotman, a recent poll reported that 54% voted no to a second independence referendum in the next five years. What does that say? Majority of Scots do not want to see independence from the rest of the uk. Doesn’t that tell you something?

Coming from a personal point of view, I’m a no voter. I think we need to stay united within the uk for support. And I’m Scottish. I may fall into the youngest age bracket for voting, but I’m still politically engaged and fully aware of the impact politics has on me, and I know the significance this referendum would have on me. Unfortunately I was just too young to vote in the first referendum (oh so typical) but I was a no voter. And I still am. In my household, I’m the most politically engaged, but my family were also no voters, and even if they were yes voters, I’d still vote no, purely because I feel that it’s for the best.

The real burning question here is whether Indy Ref 2 is truly worth it. For me, it’s not. And for 54% of Scots, it’s not. We would need to start from scratch organising everything; currency, negotiations and a whole load more. Can we genuinely afford campaigning whilst we’re currently trying to sort out Brexit? Probably not. Scotland and England have been united since 1707, with Ireland joining in 1800. Why change things now?