It’s now protected to say that the UK vote to go away the EU in 2016 has had quite a few unexpected penalties. Excessive on the checklist: renewed requires Scottish independence. Whereas the nation’s dream of full political autonomy has thus far did not materialise, an archipelago in Scotland’s northern isles is shifting ever nearer to not simply breaking free from the UK And Scotland, however restoring a political allegiance that had been damaged within the fifteenth century.
Earlier this week, Orkney’s council voted 15 to six in favor of a proposal to start exploring “various types of governance” past their established order place throughout the UK and Scotland. A number of choices are on the desk, however probably the most drastic authorities reorganization might imply Orkney changing into a self-governing territory of Norway.
Orkney’s ties to Scandinavia usually are not solely geographical, but additionally historic: the islands belonged to Norway and Denmark from 875 to 1472, once they got to King James III of Scotland to safe his marriage to Margaret of Denmark. It is a historical past that Orcadians haven’t forgotten. As Professor Donna Heddle of the College of the Highlands and Islands instructed me Globe and Mail, many nonetheless have a good time Norway’s Structure Day on Might 17, and Norwegian given names comparable to Erland and Thorfinn stay common on the island.
Whereas Orkney’s cultural affinity for Norway is actually notable, Orkney’s council chief James Stockan solid the poll in response to trendy political challenges. He instructed BBC Information within the days earlier than the vote that the islands have been “failed terribly” by each the British and Scottish governments, with the archipelago receiving much less cash per capita than the Shetland Islands and the Western Isles. Leslie Manson, as soon as deputy chief of the Orkney council, instructed The impartial that the absence of funds wanted to restore the growing older ferry fleet that carries residents throughout the Orkney Islands (20 of that are inhabited) was “the straw that broke the camel’s again”.
