The official name of the UK is the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’. Great Britain is the collective name given to the countries of England, Scotland and Wales. Whatever happens September 18, growing demands for more regional autonomy will reshape the UK. WALES Conquered in 1282 “If Scotland votes yes, the genie is out of the bottle,” says Leanne Wood, leader of Wales’s nationalist party Plaid Cymru. Only 1 in 10 Welsh voters supports independence, but Wood thinks that could change. “The tectonic plates of the United Kingdom are shifting.” The nationalists have made the Scottish independence bid their own — if not for full independence, at least for more self-government. Wood, who was once expelled from a legislative debate for referring to Queen Elizabeth II as “Mrs Windsor”, has been to Scotland twice in support of the Yes campaign. The Welsh Hollywood actor Rhys Ifans has joined the #goforitScotland campaign. And Adam Price, an entrepreneur, has been campaigning in Scotland. Wales and Scotland have much in common — not least an unfailing loyalty to any sporting side that plays against England. The most distinctive feature of Wales is its language. Spoken by over 20 per cent of the population, it is completely different from English. Ever since Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative prime minister, shut their heavy industries, Scottish and Welsh voters have cast their ballot to the left of the English. There is, said Peter Florence, director of Wales’s Hay literary festival, a shared sense of not being represented in Westminster. But Wales is smaller and poorer than Scotland. It has no oil to make up for the subsidies from London currently sustaining its public services. Unlike the Scots who kept their own legal system, schools, universities, church and, with it all, a strong civic identity distinct from England’s, Welsh institutions were swallowed whole; the Welsh dragon is nowhere to be seen in the Union Jack. “We were England’s first colony,” says Eirian James, owner of Palas Print, a local bookstore. The Welsh appetite for more self-government has grown recently. Some bank on a Scottish yes vote to accelerate that process. Others say a narrow no vote would be a better result: Once mocked as Scotland’s “smaller, uglier sister”, Wales may have more leverage with a Scottish ally inside the union. NORTHERN IRELAND Ireland became part of the UK in 1801. In 1922, the rest of Ireland split, leaving six north-easternmost counties with the UK Amid a fragile peace, both nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland have been closely following the Scottish debate. Republicans spy an opportunity to rekindle their own dream of Irish unity; British loyalists, with close ties to Scottish Protestants, are terrified of seeing their dear union disintegrate. Ian Paisley Jr, a lawmaker for the Democratic Unionists, warned earlier this year that if Scotland voted for independence, it could embolden dissident Republicans and kindle new violence in Northern Ireland. Reg Empey, another prominent unionist, predicted that Northern Ireland could end up “like West Pakistan”, with “a foreign country on one side and a foreign country on the other side”. The Northern Irish have their own flags, culture and international sports teams. Nationalists have privately floated the idea of a “border poll” on Irish unity; the last such referendum took place in 1973. But publicly, many play down the impact of the Scottish vote. Danny Morrison, associated with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) once, recently said it would not bring a united Ireland any closer. Since 1998, Northern Ireland and the UK have co-existed under the carefully calibrated Good Friday Agreement. But their distrust runs deep. “There is always the potential for violence,” said Daithi O’Ceallaigh, a former Irish ambassador to Britain. “Northern Ireland needs stability, and at the moment there is a lot of uncertainty on the horizon.” Scottish independence could have other destabilising effects: it could reduce the financial subsidies that flow from Westminster. London has long stopped considering Northern Ireland a strategic asset, said James Mitchell of Edinburgh University, seeing it instead as “a costly liability”. But some Irish nationalists say a peaceful secession would simply set an important precedent in Britain and beyond. “Independence without murdering anyone,” said Catherine McCartney, who lost her brother in a bar fight involving former IRA members, “that is something to be proud of.” CORNWALL Under the control of Kingdom of England since 11th century In April 2014, the 536,000 people of this county at Britain’s south-western tip secured a long-sought status as a national minority of Celts entitled to the same rights of protection under European rules as the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish components of Britain. Cornwall is known for beaches, vacations, cream teas, pasties and great scenic beauty. In times past, it flourished on tin mining and fishing. Now there are famed restaurants and art galleries. Like Scotland, Cornwall has Celtic roots, and its own language, traditions, culture and a distinct history. And both have parties campaigning for more political and fiscal power. Along with Wales, it makes up two of the worst-performing economic parts of the UK. Cornwall’s nationalist party Mebyon Kernow does not want Cornwall to be an independent country, but it does want Cornwall to be seen as its own nation, with a legislative assembly similar to the current Scottish Parliament. As Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow says, a ‘yes’ vote in the Scottish referendum would have a “massive knock-on impact” for devolution here. Cornwall must be “next in line” to get powers devolved from Westminster, Cornish MP Andrew George said last week.
