2023-07-21 16:32:29
The Orkney islands off Scotland’s northeast coast have long complained of neglect by both London and Edinburgh — prompting a proposal to look at possibilities including Orkney’s “Nordic connections” and the crown dependency model of Jersey and Guernsey.
Crown dependencies are territories that come under the sovereignty of the British Crown, but are not part of the United Kingdom.
Council leader James Stockan earlier said islanders frequently asked him “when are we going back to Norway”, stressing the “deep cultural relationship”
with the Scandinavian nation.
Orkney was under Norwegian and Danish control until 1472 when the islands were given to Scotland as part of a royal dowry.
But in a good-natured but forthright debate on Tuesday, one councillor cautioned against a “bizarre fantasy of becoming a self-governing territory of Norway”.
This was more likely to become “a Pandora’s box of unintended curses”, said Councillor David Dawson.
Government funding is an ongoing source of frustration for Orkney islanders. According to Stockan, Orkney receives less funding per head from government than the neighbouring Shetland Islands or other islands off Scotland’s northwestern coast.
READ MORE: Why the Orkney Islands are more Norwegian than you’d think
Councillor Duncan Tullock said he had “never been more disillusioned in my life with both the Scottish and the UK governments”.
“We have had promise upon promise upon promise. Every single one of them empty. Nothing to show for it.
“It can come from London, it can come from Edinburgh, it can come from Timbuktu. I don’t care… I want the best deal for Orkney,” he said.
The spectre of Orkney separatism comes at a time when the Scottish National Party — which controls the devolved Edinburgh government — itself wants to go its own way and leave the United Kingdom.
Council leader Stockan however said that the motion was “not about us joining Norway”.
The UK’s government in London on Monday gave the proposals short shrift.
“First and foremost, there is no mechanism for the conferral of Crown dependency or overseas territory status on any part of the UK,” Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak’s spokesman told reporters.
“But fundamentally, we are stronger as one United Kingdom, we have no plans to change that,” he added.
In Oslo, the Norwegian foreign ministry told AFP: “This is a domestic and constitutional British matter which the Norwegian government doesn’t have any view on, it’s an internal matter.”
Asked if the government had been approached by the authorities in Orkney, a spokesman said: “I’m not aware of any contact, no.”
The councillors voted 15 to six to explore “alternative models of governance” to give the islands greater economic opportunity.
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