“Remember, you are citizens of Edinburgh, city of Hume and Boswell. You are Europeans, not dowdy provincials.”
Channeling my best Jean Brodie, whether in my prime or not, I think Muriel Spark put it best. Where Glasgow might have been the Second City of the Empire, Edinburgh has always been a European city of learning and enlightenment.
In the 2016 EU referendum, Edinburgh voted 74.4% to remain within the EU. Like much of Scotland, there was little debate, more a general consensus that EU membership suited us, felt comfortable and didn’t need changed.
It was changed anyway, and the last few years have seen the City, Scotland and the UK get poorer to the tune of billions of lost revenue, increased costs and untold heartache and inconvenience for tens of thousands of New Scots, folks who have paid Scotland the supreme compliment of making us their home but had to go through a humiliating process of securing their legal right to stay.
Many decided not to and took their talent and enthusiasm elsewhere.
We in the European Movement in Scotland are a diverse bunch, from all politics and none, united around the idea that Scotland (and the UK if it comes to it) need to rejoin the EU. Not because of any passing events like the Trump Presidency (though it has certainly concentrated some minds) but because we believe countries should work together, share ideas and work in concert to beat common challenges like the energy transition and climate crisis.
Scotland has many constitutional futures to choose from and that will rightly remain a lively debate, but EU membership transcends this and we will continue to press the argument.
Come and join us! https://euromovescotland.org.uk/join-us/
Alyn Smith is a former SNP MEP and MP.
