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How Are English Scots Going to Vote in the Independence Referendum?

Though Scottish nationalism is often assumed to be anti-English, many supporters of independence were born in England, and the English people living in Scotland are just as divided on the issue as the native Scots.

A stone at the Auld Acquaintances Cairn—a project in which people could write messages of unity onto stones and add them to a pile

Yesterday, the UK Independence Party's Nigel Farage, a man who has probably done more than most to foster hatred of English people, complained that “[Scottish National Party leader Alex] Salmond has fueled such vitriol amongst Yes campaigners that we are now seeing intimidation and a growing anti-English sentiment.” He’s not the first person to suggest that. Earlier this summer, broadcaster Jeremy Paxman said that the drive for Scottish independence is a product of a “hatred” of the English. Former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood has called the SNP “anti-English.” But as people go to the polls today, is their disdain for anyone who lives south of the border going to be a big factor?

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First, let's ask the question, is Scottish nationalism inherently anti-English? If you dig around the roots of the former, evidence of the latter is not hard to find. Poet Hugh MacDiarmid, a founder member of the National Party of Scotland (which later merged into the present-day SNP), was vitriolic—at times comically so—in his hatred of the Sassenach. In the 1990s, groups like Scottish Watch and Settler Watch were established “to resist the English takeover” through direct action and civil disobedience.

But these fringe groups came to naught. The modern Scottish National Party has been at pains to stress they want to take control of decisions about Scotland away from Westminster, not that they want to swing anyone called Rose or George from a lamppost. A significant number of senior SNP figures are English-born, including at least half a dozen of the party’s contingent in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh and their Westminster leader, Angus Robertson. SNP leader Alex Salmond often talks of Scotland “gaining a friend” south of the border if there is a Yes vote today.

Since the 1980s, around 400,000 English-born people have moved to Scotland. That is an awful lot of voters. You might be forgiven for assuming that they’ll all vote to keep their adopted home linked to their country of birth. But it's not that simple. At the beginning of September, a pro-independence group called “English Scots for Yes,” which claims to have 1,000 members, published an open letter to England that said, “Independence will be good for Scotland, and it will be good for England.”

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In Dumfries, in the Scottish borders, I spoke to Mark Falkland, a fiftysomething Lancastrian who moved north with his wife and two children in 1996. “Growing up in Blackburn, I was taught to have a healthy distrust of London and the power it held," he said. "I remember going down as a Liverpool fan in the 80s and having 20-pound notes waved in my face… it’s still like that today, it seems, and this is a chance to break away from that.”

Falkland runs First Base Agency, a charity based in a former bakery beside the River Nith in the center of Dumfries. It offers drug, alcohol, and family-counseling services. “Food donations urgently required,” read a sign in the window when I visited. Last month, they gave out 450 food parcels. Eighteen months ago, that figure was around 100. This huge increase in demand is down to the welfare reforms introduced by the coalition in Westminster, said Falkland. “There is virtually no policy in Edinburgh that affects people’s ability to buy food,” he said.

Places such as Dumfries, in the heart of the Scottish Borders, are home to some of the highest concentrations of English-born people living in Scotland. Falkland believes many of his compatriots will support independence. “The conversation I’ve had with a lot of English people here is: ‘Do you know any English people voting no?’” That said, a recent poll suggests that Falkland's suggestion might say more about his friends than actual demographics, with two thirds of those in the south of Scotland intending to vote no.

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The Coldstrem Bridge between England and Scotland. Photo via Flickr user John Denham

When I visited the picturesque border town of Coldstream, the feeling was rather different. A union flag with “Better Together” written across it hung in a window. Northumberland was just a stone’s throw away—literally, if you were really, really good at throwing stones—across the River Tweed, which separates Scotland and England.

“From my standpoint, I don’t see what the benefit [of independence] would be,” said Trevor Brunning, a father of four from North London who owns an army supply store in Coldstream. “Scottish culture is fantastic. So is British. There is too much division in the world. Unity can be good.”

Although he had not experienced anti-English sentiment first hand, Brunning is “concerned” about Anglophobia if Scotland votes for independence. Racially motivated attacks against English people in Scotland are relatively small but statistically significant. Around 5 percent (146 people in total) of complainers or victims of racist attacks in 2012 and 2013 were English. This figure was almost double that of the previous year, although the rise has largely been attributed to a change in how statistics are collected.

Anglophobia does exist in Scotland but is isolated, episodic, and not comparable to other forms of deep-seated racial prejudice, according to research carried out by Murray Watson of Dundee University. Other studies have suggested that English people in Scotland feel more secure since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

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English Scots for Yes hold a tea party on the Scottish border. Photo courtesy of English Scots for Yes

Langholm is the birthplace of Anglophobic nationalist bard Hugh MacDiarmid; an obelisk in his honor overlooks the town. In the attractive village of solid stone houses framed by green treeless hills a dozen or so miles from the border, English residents seemed as divided as the rest of the country on the referendum question.

Staffordshire-born Philip Gunn, 63, had few anxieties about voting yes. “As an English person living in Scotland I’ve got no ax to grind. I just think that it would be a great thing for Scotland,” he said when we met in the gallery he runs on Langholm’s main street. One of the reasons he is voting yes, Gunn said, is the hope that independence will provide more employment opportunities in Scotland. Both his children moved south to England for work.

In the local arts center, two middle-aged English men and their Scottish wives were sipping mid-morning coffees. The Borders are renowned for their reserve, but both men, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed concerns about independence. “A lot of people here depend on things in England,” said one, citing the health service and fears about border crossings and pension provision. His friend was worried about the English being blamed for a narrow No vote.

Let’s hope that fear is unfounded. Apart from anything else, it seems that English people in Scotland are just as likely to vote yes as Scots are to vote no.

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