Orkney council will soon debate leaving the UK, and becoming a self-governing territory of Norway.
While the SNP in Scotland have been pushing for a second independence referendum to leave the UK, it seems Orkney wouldn’t be happy just with leaving Westminster – it wants to break away from Scotland, too.
The council leader for the Scottish archipelago, James Stockan, has put forward a motion to investigate the island’s “Nordic connections” and “alternative forms of governance” which will be discussed on Tuesday.
He told BBC Radio Scotland: “We were part of the Norse kingdom for much longer than we were part of the United Kingdom.
“On the street in Orkney, people come up and say to me: when are we going to pay back the dowry? When are we going back to Norway? There is a huge affinity and a huge, deep cultural relationship there. This is exactly the moment to explore what is possible.”
The archipelago was held under Norweigan and Danish control until it became part of Scotland in 1472, and used as wedding dowry for Margaret of Denmark (daughter of the then king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden), to wed King James III of Scotland.
The council leader told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that there are “still ends to be tied up” from that centuries-old agreement.
Stockan suggested Orkney could also strengthen its relationship with Denmark or Iceland, too.
He also called on the council to look at the way crown dependencies like Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man and overseas territories such as the Falkland Islands are run, and pointed to the Faroe Islands – a self-governing territory of Denmark – for further inspiration.
The motion does not mean the council will follow through on any of these proposals, and any constitutional change would need to go through a complex process with both Holyrood and Westminster.
As the SNP have experienced, attempts to get a secession referendum over the line can be halted in their tracks if Westminster does not approve.
Stockan claimed he wants this major change because Orkney is being “failed dreadfully” right now by both the UK and Scottish government, and that it is “really struggling at the moment”.
He expressed frustration that the road equivalent tariff for ferry fares have not been implemented in his area, and claimed Orkney gets “significantly less per head than Shetland and the Western Isles to run the same services”.
Back in 2017, Orkney council voted to look at increasing the islands’ autonomy, and have a “stronger voice” – but they stopped short of opting for full independence.
In response to the upcoming motion, the UK government said it was providing £2.2 billion to level up UK communities, including £50 million to grow Scotland’s Islands’ economy.
The prime minister’s spokesperson added on Monday: “Fundamentally we are stronger as one United Kingdom and we have no plans to change that.”
The Scottish government also said Orkney receive £89.7 million for services, with an extra £4.6 million from an increase in council tax. A Holyrood representative said its government was “committed to supporting island communities”.
Liberal Democrat MSP for Orkney, Liam McArthur, told The Guardian that there were dangers in “putting up barriers”, although he supports empowering island communities.
“Locally, I think islanders will also want to be reassured that this exercise won’t result in council resources being taken away from the day-to-day running of services at a time when these are under real pressure.”