Independence is no threat to Union Jack
June 17th, 2012
A letter to the Sunday Times which was published on 17th June 2012.
There is more than a whiff of establishment defeatism about the suggestion by Clive Cheesman, Richmond Herald at the College of Arms, and Lord Forsyth that Britain would need to abandon the Union Jack as its national flag if Scotland were to sever ties with it (“Bye-bye, blue”, News, last week).
The Union Jack, the quintessential symbol of Britishness, is the most recognisable flag in the world. Should a tiny majority of the voters in Scotland vote for independence, it won’t deprive the rest of us in Britain and elsewhere of our right to keep and treasure our flag as it is.
In any case, there are millions of Scots living in England and as expatriates abroad. It is not obvious that they would exchange their British citizenship, with all the protection that it provides, for a new Scottish citizenship.