Brexit is now a reality: since the start of this year, the United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union. In Scotland, which voted against leaving the EU in 2016, there are intense debates about when and how the Scots can re-join the continental bloc. However, Scotland could only do that by becoming an independent country, a prospect that could be closer than we think.

No one expected the disengagement of the United Kingdom from the European Union, known as Brexit, to be simple. But the deal, reached at the very last moment in December 2020, has raised significant issues for the British government. Recent weeks have seen renewed calls for independence in Scotland, while Northern Irish Unionists want to challenge the Brexit deal in court. What happens next?

Philip Rycroft, the former Permanent Secretary for the DExEU ... discusses the 2016 EU referendum, the possibility of Scotland gaining independence