EDINBURGH, August 18 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst - With exactly one month to go before Scotland’s historic independence referendum, the nation’s most pre-eminent historian, Professor Sir Tom Devine, told RIA Novosti that the campaign had boosted the sense of self-worth among the Scots.
“The campaign has had a major effect. Scots have been having an intensive political discussion about the current and future condition of the country to an unprecedented extent,” Devine, the University of Edinburgh academic told RIA Novosti.
Devine, who previously opposed Scottish independence, confirmed this weekend he had taken a “long journey” but was now convinced a ‘Yes’ vote at the referendum offered the best prospects for Scotland.
In an interview with the Observer newspaper, Devine said that “the union of England and Scotland was not a marriage based on love. It was a marriage of convenience. It was pragmatic.”
“From the 1750s down to the 1980s there was stability in the relationship. Now, all the primary foundations of that stability have gone or been massively diluted,” Devine added.
Political commentator David Torrance, a former Conservative party adviser, however, was highly critical of the historian’s conversion.
“Obviously Sir Tom is entitled to take a position, although parts of his supporting argument are curiously vague and contradictory for such a rigorous academic,” Torrance wrote in his weekly column published Monday.
Devine said the debate on independence had revitalized the nation.
“As a result, the democratic process of popular participation in political issues and controversies has been strengthened and in my view many more Scots have a greater sense of Scottishness and confidence in their identity,” Devine told RIA Novosti.
Scots go to the polls on 18 September and will be asked one question, “Should Scotland become an independent country?”
