Shetlands again
Could ‘Westminster’ start stirring it in event of a Yes?
Oil-rich Shetland may want to reconsider whether it stays part of an independent Scotland in the event of a yes vote, the Scotland secretary, Alistair Carmichael, has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Carmichael said if the islands were to vote strongly no but the Scottish national vote was a narrow yes, then a “conversation about Shetland’s position and the options that might be open to it” would begin.
The Liberal Democrat MP, who represents Orkney and Shetland in Westminster and has been secretary of state for Scotland in the coalition government since last October, said those options might include the islands modelling themselves on the Isle of Man, which is a self-governing crown dependency, or on the Faroe Islands, which are an autonomous country within the Danish realm.
Asked if he was suggesting that Alex Salmond should not necessarily take for granted that oilfields off Shetland will belong to Scotland in the event of a yes vote, he said: “That would be one of the things that we would want to discuss. I wouldn’t like to predict at this stage where the discussions would go.”
His comments were echoed by Tavish Scott, Shetland’s MSP, who when asked whether Shetland would have to obey the will of Scotland if it voted yes, said: “Will it now? We’ll have to look at our options. We’re not going to be told what to do by Alex Salmond.”
The option of becoming a crown dependency was “something we will look at”, Scott said, though he said he ruled out considering full independence for the islands.
The island archipelago, situated more than 100 miles north of mainland Scotland, has traditionally voted strongly against Scottish independence, in part because of its distinctive history: it was part of Norway until the 15th century and is closer to that country’s west coast than Edinburgh – in part because the oil industry has made it rich without particular assistance from Edinburgh.
Sullom Voe oil and gas terminal, in the north-west of the island group, is one of the largest in Europe, and handles production from more than two-dozen oilfields in the east Shetland Basin, between Shetland and Norway.
The Wee Blue Book, a widely distributed manifesto for the pro-independence campaign, states that Orkney and Shetland are “legally part of Scotland, and no more entitled to their own ‘local’ referendum result than Falkirk or Peterhead or Sauciehall Street”.
Carmichael said those comments showed no understanding of “Shetland’s historic and current political and cultural distinctiveness, and it just demonstrates the lack of respect and tolerance that there is among nationalists for community self-determination”.
He said: “I don’t want to suggest there’s an element of threat here because that’s not what this is about. But if the community wants to have a conversation about its position within Scotland and within the UK then we are entitled to do that. What I’m saying to people is: recognise that in this circumstance we might want to have that conversation for ourselves.”
