LONDON (AP) – Officials in the Orkney Islands, a corner of Scotland with Viking roots and an independent spirit, seized a moment in the global spotlight Tuesday and voted to explore ways to seek more autonomy, or even and all independence, from the negligent governments of the United Kingdom. .
Journalists from across Britain and around the world tuned in remotely as Orkney Council voted to study “alternative models of governance” for the archipelago, which has a population of 22,000 .
The proposal by council leader James Stockan grabbed international headlines with his mention of possibly restoring Orkney’s “Nordic connections”. Orkney was under Norwegian and Danish control for centuries until in 1472 the islands were taken by the Scottish crown as part of Margaret of Denmark’s wedding dowry to King James III of Scotland.
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Fed up of being ignored by distant politicians, officials on Scotland’s remote Orkney Islands are pondering a drastic solution.
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Stockan said his proposal was “not about joining Norway”, but about countering the “discrimination we’ve had against this community” from the Scottish and UK governments.
“I say, ‘Enough,'” he said. “I say it’s time the government took us seriously, and it’s time we looked at all the options we have.”
A report accompanying Stockan’s motion suggested that Orkney should investigate options such as statehood as Faroe Islands, an autonomous dependency of Denmark that lies between Scotland and Iceland. Another option is to emulate British Crown Dependencies such as the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey.
Long an impoverished area dependent on the unpredictable fishing industry, Orkney prospered after vast oil reserves were discovered off the coast in the 1960s. The islands, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of mainland Scotland, also have a growing wind industry and a growing tourism sector.
But Stockan said Orkney receives less support from the Scottish Government than other island communities in Shetland or the Hebrides, and it desperately needs new ferries to keep its many islands connected.
Another councillor, Duncan Tullock, said Orkney was “living on crumbs”.
“I have never been so disillusioned in my life with the Scottish and British governments,” he said. “We’ve had promise after promise, every one of them empty.”
Any major constitutional change is a long shot, and will likely require a referendum and legislation by the Scottish and UK governments. The governments of Edinburgh and London are themselves to disputes about the ambition of the Scottish administration to make Scotland an independent country outside the United Kingdom.
The UK government said there was “no mechanism” to change Orkney’s status. The Norwegian government said the debate was “a British national and constitutional matter” on which it had no view.
Councilor David Dawson slammed some of the ideas put forward for Orkney as “daydreaming”, particularly the “frankly outlandish fantasy of becoming a self-governing dependency of Norway”.
He said Britain’s difficult exit from the European Union served as a warning about the risks of going it alone.
“Let me warn you with a word,” he said. “Brexit”.
