Politics
Orkney Could Quit UK
Like the Isle of Man, Orkney was part of the Kingdom of the Isles
The Scottish island of Orkney is looking at becoming a Crown Dependency, or it may look to cut all ties with the UK and rejoin Norway.
A motion is set to go before the authority’s elected representatives on Tuesday to investigate ‘alternative forms of governance’.
Council leader James Stockan said the islands are being let down by both the UK and Scottish Govs and wants to explore whether a CD model or cutting all ties altogether may be better for them.
His motion does not commit the council to any of these options and any constitutional change would likely require a combination of referenda and legislation at Holyrood and Westminster,
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, he said: ‘We are really struggling at the moment, we have to replace the whole ferry fleet which is older than the CalMac fleet. We are denied the things that other areas get like RET (Road Equivalent Tariff) for ferry fares.
‘And the funding we get from the Scottish Government is significantly less per head than Shetland and the Western Isles to run the same services – we can’t go on as we are.’
History
Like the Isle of Man, Orkney was part of the Kingdom of the Isles. However, while the Isle of Man was handed over in the Treaty of Perth in 1266, Orkney stayed part of the Kingdom until 1472 when they were handed to James III of Scotland after the Norwegian King Christian 1, failed to pay the dowry for his daughter’s marriage.
