Discover Scotland : Current issues

From the bowels of the earth to computers and service

Traditionally, Scotland had two main resources: agriculture based on livestock and deep-sea fishing, and heavy industry with massive extraction of mineral resources. After the industrial revolution, shipbuilding, mining and iron and steel industries were the mainstay of the country... until the 1970s when this industry declined. It disappeared to the benefit of the oil industry, born and developed thanks to the discovery of oil deposits in the North Sea. Many coal and steel mines closed, but wind farms took over. Moreover, the state played an important role in supporting the transition from heavy industry to so-called light industry through a sustained policy of aid until 1976.

Since the 1980s, a "Silicon Glen" (the Scottish equivalent of "Silicon Valley") has developed: many technology companies have set up between Glasgow and Edinburgh. They operate in the information systems and defense sectors, as well as in electronic design. This sector employs some 50,000 people in approximately 460 companies, which represents 12% of industrial production. The "Silicon Glen" is home to many start-ups as well as the world's largest IT companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, HP, or Adobe, which rely on the proximity of universities such as the one in Glasgow to recruit engineers or workers.

Alongside this, banks, insurance companies, telecommunications, construction, media, retail and leisure have been driving the country's economic activity, while the manufacturing sector has grown more slightly. Electronics, finance and service industries continue to replace heavy industries. Exports of manufactured goods (mainly electrical and mechanical) are growing. Excluding intra-UK trade, the United States and the European Union are the main markets for Scotland's exports.

The country's economic growth, linked to a recovery in consumption, falling retail prices and rising household incomes, remains unevenly distributed across the regions. The gap is widening, with the northern regions, the bastion of traditional industries, in crisis, contrasting with the south, where services and research and development are the mainstay of activity.

Scotland has some of the largest oil deposits in Europe!

While oil production has been declining in recent years, Scotland is experiencing a resurgence of oil development in the North Sea, particularly in areas that were previously considered uneconomic. Aberdeen has been a hub of the Scottish oil industry since the 1970s. It is even considered the oil capital of Europe! You will see offshore platforms off its coast and from many viewpoints overlooking the North Sea, as far as Inverness and beyond. Between the wilderness and these steel monsters, there is a strange aesthetic alchemy, immersing you in fantastic, uchronic pictures... According to official estimates, the UK's exploitable reserves in the North Sea represented a potential of about 7.8 billion barrels of oil and 4.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent(boe) of gas. Gas deposits had still been discovered at the end of 2018 off the Shetland Islands and the Total Group started a new gas project in June 2019 at the Culzean site.

Natural resources exploited and revalued through tourism

The Lowlands, a region of small plains and hills, has the most fertile land in Scotland, suitable for cereal and fruit growing and cattle farming. It is also in the Lowlands, from Gervon to Dunbar, that almost all the industrial activity (metallurgy, foundries, shipyards, chemical industry) was carried out, in particular around Glasgow, in the estuary of the Clyde and, in the east, in the region of Dundee, with its jam factories where the famous orange marmalade is produced.

The economy of the Highlands is still mainly rural and pastoral: sheep farming feeding the wool industry of the Cheviot of the Tweed Valley and the Shetland Islands, forestry, hunting and fishing. Scottish fish, game and shellfish account for two thirds of Britain's resources.

Because of their rural character, the Highlands have become the most touristic region: spared from industrial changes and pollution, they have kept intact the beauty of their landscapes and their traditions.

The tourism sector is not to be overlooked as it represents 4.5% of the Scottish economy. It employs 217,000 people for more than 14 million annual visitors. Most of the tourists come from Great Britain: about 11.51 million, against 2.75 million foreigners. The majority of foreign visitors are Americans, Germans, French, Canadians, Poles and Australians.

The Scottish political system in a nutshell

For a long time in conflict with England, Scotland gradually built its autonomy. It was independent until 1707, when it joined the Act of Union. Today, the country has its own education system and government, as well as an autonomous health policy. Scottish culture and nationalism remain deeply rooted in the popular consciousness, as evidenced by the prominence of the SNP nationalists on the political scene.

The seat of Parliament is located near the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. However, the Parliament in London retains control of defence, foreign affairs, the budget, fiscal and economic policy. The main political parties are the same as in the rest of the U.K.: Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and some minority parties. The majority party, however, is the Scottish National Party, whose leader is Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon.

From economics to politics, from Brexit to independence..

The issue of Scottish independence remains a hot topic. A referendum held in 2014 had received an unfavorable response with 53.3 percent of the vote, a relative minority 46.7 percent in favor of independence. This status quo was then attributed to the desire to maintain strong ties, from a social and economic point of view. The question has been raised since 2018 with the debate generated by the Brexit. In August 2018, new polls estimated the independents at 49% of the population. It must be said that at the time of the vote for remaining or not in the European Union on June 23, 2016, the Scots had voted 62% for the maintenance, while the English, them, had expressed only 48% against. A law passed on May 29, 2019, reignited the independence debate, as a new vote is expected in 2021, in light of the political upheaval of leaving the European Union. By the end of June 2019, the lines had shifted again, as a poll revealed, following the appointment of Boris Johnson, particularly controversial in Scotland, a substantial increase in the votes in favor of Scottish independence, rising to 53% for.

Hypotheses suggest a secession of Scotland with the United Kingdom and, after Brexit, a bid to rejoin the European Union; others point out that the precedent would create risks of rebellion in Northern Ireland, which had also refused the exit. The question is being raised in November 2019 of a new referendum in Scotland, with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying she is determined to "put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands" and firmly refuse a withdrawal of her country from the EU against its will. Nicola Sturgeon then resigned in early 2023 for personal reasons. The "Brexit" and "independence" pages are therefore far from closed. In 2021, 50 per cent of Scots would support a referendum.