THE UK has not been around in its current form for long and there is “nothing to say” it will stay, a social history expert has said.
Dr Kate Bradley, reader in social history and social policy at the University of Kent, also said supporters of the Union “have a lot of work to do” in thinking about why people are turning towards independence.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live on the issue of identity ahead of the Wales versus England World Cup football match, she was asked by host Nicky Campbell what would be the future of the Union in 20 or 30 years’ time - with independence support around 50% in Scotland, 30% in Wales and younger generation in Northern Ireland more comfortable with the idea of unification.
She said: “On the one hand here in 2022 we think a lot about the United Kingdom, but it is important to bear in mind that its current state has barely been around for 100 years, with Irish independence and Northern Ireland remaining within the Union.
“So on the one hand, particularly on the back of things like I suppose, the idea of Britishness following the end of the Second World War and Union Jacks and all that kind of celebration of Britain in that way, the United Kingdom hasn’t been around for all that long in its current phase and there’s nothing to say that it will stay that way.”
She added: “For those who think it is important to keep the United Kingdom, they have got a lot of work to do in thinking about what is it that is attracting people to be independent, and what is it that the current system isn’t doing.”
Bradley said the fortunes of the England and Wales have been more closely entwined compared to Scotland and Northern Ireland, which joined the Union later.
On the issue of why there might be more political impetus to independence in Scotland than Wales, she said this was “possibly” due to more English people living in Wales.
She added: “Certainly Scottish independence would be easier to achieve from an institutional point of view than Welsh would at this precise point in time.
“Scotland has got a Parliament, Wales has got an assembly – they have got different kinds of powers.
“Scotland has more independence with the banking system, it has its own legal system, its education system is different, it has its own NHS and welfare state.
“We often talk about the British welfare state, but that is just not true because Scotland and increasingly Wales have their own control of that.”
She added: “There are English people who live in Wales and Scotland and there are Welsh and Scottish people who live in England, but as to people’s attitudes on independence that depends on where they are and what benefits they see for Wales or Scotland being independent.”
