The Tory party are pretty strongly unionist. However, this appears to make no sense on the face of it: the Tory heartland is England whereas Labour is more or less propped up by support in Scotland and the north of England. Without their Scottish MPs, Labour become far less potent a threat to the Tory party.
Further, I reasoned it could be a matter of prestige. However, would the rump UK’s image really suffer that much on the world stage? London has a larger population than the whole of Scotland combined, and the City’s banks pay more in income tax than all of Scottish industry. An independent Scotland isn’t going to turn the rump UK into the equivalent of Tuvalu: we’d still have a huge GDP.
So, why the Tory support for the union? Why not back the SNP in their calls for the referendum on independence instead of opposing along with Labour and the Liberal Democrats?
For us Yanks, what does unionism mean in your context? I do know it goes way back; there’s a Wodehouse story from 1910 where a character is running for office as a Unionist candidate.
Well this hasn’t always been the case. The Tories have, in the past, been incredibly strong in Scotland - it was under the rule of the Wicked Witch of Finchley that the Scots Conservative and Unionist Party went into steep decline. The SNP themselves were for many years a right wing party - the Tartan Tories.
Thatcher though despised the old paternalist Conservatives who made up a large part of the Scottish contingent. She also was responsible for such moves as the destruction of Ravenscraig as a going concern, for the purpose of attacking unions (and unionism has always been strong in certain areas of Scotland).
As to why they don’t shift now? It would be a huge backdown, and it would also alienate the Rule Britannia element of the party, which is still massively important. And the Army would be savaged, as the Scots have always punched significantly above their weight in the British Army.
Yes, the world would be a much better place if the majority population of Ireland had been compelled to remain under unpopular British rule. Nice to see you are willing to piss on the rights of self-determination of people you know nothing about.
Historically the Scottish nationalist position has been based on claiming ownership of up to 98% of North Sea oil revenues.
There was a very real fear throughout the 1970s and 1980s that an independent Scotland would insist on these oil rights, putting a huge dent in Whitehall finances.
This hangover has persisted into the 1990s / 2000s.