In a perceptive article, Michael Keating points to a series of misconceptions behind David Cameron’s position. Given the options that Cameron is proposing, which lie between moving half-way out of Europe or wholly out of it, Michael suggests that people in Scotland who are pro-European may need to vote for independence if they want to remain in the EU.
At the same time, various European officials and politicans have been lining up to say that Scotland can’t expect a smooth passage into the Union. That seems to me misjudged – and arguably contrary to European law. The Scottish Government has been denied access to political negotiations, but another route may be open to them. I’d be interested to know the view of the European Court of Justice on any proposal to remove European citizenship from the people of a successor state that is currently entitled to it.