It is a recurring theme of Scots, Welsh and Irish nationalism that there is no such thing as a homologous UK. It is asserted that the British Isles consists of three separate nation states, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, that want to be independent countries again and also that the UK is an artificial construct based on English military aggression – the ‘Imperialism’ argument. They also think that the people of the three parts of the British Isles, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (they erroneously don’t count the six counties of Northern Ireland as separate from the South and a part of the UK) are populated by people of a different background and outlook. These factors, they claim, make the idea that the UK is a unitary state impossible.

However, the idea of political union between Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland was often taken forward not by England but other parts of the British Isles, with the Scots at the forefront of this endeavour.

After Elizabeth I died in 1603 her cousin, James V1 of Scotland ascended to the English throne, becoming James 1, King of England, Scotland, Wales (which had been in regal union with England since 1282) and Ireland (in regal union with England since the Twelfth Century). Thus the crowns of England and Scotland (plus those of Wales and Ireland) became fused into union and indeed James liked to be known as the ‘King of Great Britaine’, rather than just England.

Throughout his reign, he displayed a great desire to unify the various parts of the British Isles into a unitary state. He designed an early version of the Union Flag in 1606 to represent the union of the crowns of England and Scotland. He made concerted efforts to promote the concept of a pan-British Isles identity and culture. James, whilst king of the Scots, also created what might be seen as a type of British court culture in the 1580s and 90s by inviting several English poets and musicians to be part of his court retinue. By appealing to a common culture between the English and Scots not only in his court culture but legally as well and his assertion of the concept of a natural Kingdom of Great Britain in both his royal styling and the popular print culture, James’ reign provided a framework for the ideological and spiritual union of the future Kingdom of Great Britain a century before the political union occurred.

During the remainder of the Seventeenth Century, the Stuart monarchy continued to be prime movers in establishing the concept of a unitary Britain, both regnal (the Union of the Crowns which occurred upon James I’s accession to the English throne in 1603) and political, which eluded them. Moves for political incorporation with Scotland in both 1607 and 1670 collapsed. Overtures from Ireland for incorporation (political union with England) also collapsed in 1703,1707 and 1709. A proposal for union initiated in the House of Lords in 1695 simply never got off the ground and another in 1700 failed in the House of Commons. Two further attempts in 1641 and 1643 failed due to a dispute over the nature the union should take. The estates (parliaments) of Scotland and England split over an incorporating engagement in 1648 and had resisted political union in 1689 and 1702, but, along with the Irish parliament, were incorporated by Oliver Cromwell into a union with England from 1652 until the restoration (of the Stuart monarchy) in 1660. The transition from regnal to political union was severely disrupted by revolution and civil war in both the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. Scottish moves towards commercial union instigated in 1664 collapsed in 1668. A similar English initiative never got off the drawing board in 1674 or 1685. Acts of Union between England and Scotland were finally passed in 1706-07 under the last Stuart monarch, Anne.

Thus it can be validly asserted that the political union of Scotland and England was not just the product of English imperialism, but the product of various influences, political, financial and cultural being three examples, which emanated from various parts of the British Isles, not just England. Calls for the creation of a unitary state came from other parts of the British Isles and the prime and often most enthusiastic movers in this process were not always English.

The UK is the result of a collaborative effort that embraced all parts of the UK.

© 2020 Stephen Bailey