Stromness

• Earlier this week, Orkney Islands Council voted on a motion to begin exploring options of “greater subsidiarity and autonomy”, potentially looking beyond the UK and Scottish borders to build “Nordic connections”.
• As these news reports typically highlight, Orkney and Shetland were part of the Norwegian and Danish kingdoms until their annexation by Scotland in 1472.
• Orkney’s motion joins a long history of attempts by activists and local politicians to use this distinct identity to draw attention to grievances with central government.

Back to Scandinavia

• In August 1967, Orkney’s largest settlements of Kirkwall and Stromness awoke to a poster campaign calling for Orkney to return “Back to Denmark”.
• The immediate trigger was the government’s policy of centralising police forces and water boards into regional bodies, abolishing Orkney’s local institutions.
• There were also grievances concerning the expensive cost of transport and the government’s inadequate response to a shipping strike the previous year.

Political failures

• As in 1967 and 1986, Orkney Islands Council’s motion to explore greater autonomy and Nordic connections is centred on current political issues.
• The council is frustrated at failures to reach an agreement with the Scottish government to fund the replacement of its ageing inter-island ferries or secure adequate ferry fare subsidies.
• Invoking the possibility of constitutional change, especially when this draws on the islands’ Norse heritage, is a proven strategy for gaining media and political attention.
• External actors are often willing to make use of eye-grabbing headlines or gain additional ammunition for national constitutional quarrels.
• Like any other community, there are political differences which can sometimes be overlooked from outside perspectives.