The revival of scottish nationalism and the challenge posed to the british national identity 1960s-1980s.

Abstract

The present work examines the revival of the Scottish nationalist movement and the challenge it posed to the British national identity from 1960s to 1980s. It investigates Scots demands for independence and the emergence of the Scottish National Party as the voice of the movement. This study attempts to show the great efforts made by the SNP to end the 1707 union with England. With the decline of the British Empire and the British economy in the post Second World War era, the Scots looked for an alternative and both Labour and Conservative parties started to lose ground among the Scottish voters. The SNP gained great support within Scots and started to make a real threat to the unity of the United Kingdom. The success of the SNP in the 1960s and 1970s, therefore, pushed the main Westminster political parties to react to the rise of the SNP and the Scottish nationalist movement as a whole. The Conservative party changed its attitudes towards devolution after showing great opposition to it. Labour also was present and established the Royal Commission on the Constitution. But the most controversial aspect was the creation of the Scottish Constitutional Convention during Thatcher’s Conservative governments.