Rupert Matthews
is a freelance writer who has had over 150 books published, mostly on
historical subjects. He was one of the MEP candidates in the
East Midlands for the Conservative Party last year.
If you listen to the Labour Government, EU and their fellow travellers you will have heard a lot about the “nations and regions” of the UK. But what exactly are they?
Well, so far as the government is concerned the “nations” are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland while the “regions” are the bits and pieces into which they have carved up England. England as such, you will notice, does not exist as a nation.
The EU, of course, would much rather that there were no nations at all. Nations are those nasty recidivist entities that provoke all sorts of awkward questions such as “Wouldn’t we all be a lot better off if we left the EU?” Much better to have a whole collection of regions, none of which is large enough or wealthy enough to stand on its own two feet and so much remain eternally subservient to the EU.
Historically, of course, none of this makes much sense.
The Scottish nation grew out of several distinct ethnic groups. The Picts seem to have inhabited the Highland area since time immemorial. The Scots themselves were immigrants from Ireland in the 6th century or thereabouts. What is now southwestern Scotland survived as a Celtic kingdom until the 13th century, while southeastern Scotland was (whisper it) ethnically English and was absorbed rather earlier than were the Celts.
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