MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. The United Kingdom has effectively run its course, and Scotland will become independent as the country has reached a point comparable to the proverbial last straw breaking the camel's back, Workers Party of Britain leader George Galloway told TASS.
"Nobody supports staying in Britain any longer. The Arabs have a metaphor about the last straw that breaks the camel's back. You don't know which will be the last straw until you've already put it on and you see the camel's back breaking. That's the moment that we have reached," the politician said.
Galloway noted that he had previously opposed Scottish independence and that, according to media assessments, his speeches helped save the union between Scotland and England in the 2014 referendum. "It's not because I want it to be the case. It's because I'm certain that the British state, so-called United Kingdom, this United Kingdom, in fact, has run its course," he added.
According to the politician, there is now widespread rejection of British identity, while England, unlike Scotland, has no escape route. "Liverpool cannot become a separate country. Manchester cannot be a separate state. Scotland can. And therefore, that off-ramp that exit from a motorway to hell exists. And people in Scotland have decided decisively to take it," Galloway said.
Around 70-75% of young people in Scotland support independence from the United Kingdom, Galloway said. "We won a referendum in 2014, we won it 55-45%. But the 55% included all of the people of my age. The people of my age become fewer every year. And the young people are overwhelmingly in support of Scottish independence. Maybe 70, 75%. So, the writing is on the wall for the British state, and they deserve it," the politician said. "So, if you hear from me that Scotland will be independent, you should believe it," he stressed.
On Monday, the leaders of Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland signed a memorandum of understanding on self-determination. The document affirms the right of the peoples of these regions to determine their own future. It states that they see their future as part of the European Union.