Scotland heads for independence

“Independence now inevitable,” headlines The Scotsman, in the wake of the 5 May Scottish general election which saw the Scottish National Party (SNP) winning a historic 69 seats in the 129 seat parliament. This is the first time that the SNP, which seeks to cede from the United Kingdom, has secured an overall majority in the devolved assembly established in 1999. Without naming a date for a referendum on a break with the UK, SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said, “My view is that the destination of independence is more or less inevitable, but the timing, of course, is entirely a matter for the Scottish people.” The Edinburgh daily notes that “a spokesman for David Cameron insisted that the [UK] Prime Minister did not want a vote on independence at all and did not even see the need for one to be held.”