Governance and Identity in a Devolved Scotland

This article focuses on the products of governance in Scotland and the UK, considering policy documents, public announcements and press releases and examines these outputs to consider the presence of Britishness within the institutions, agencies and other groups that govern in Scotland. It is our contention that Britishness, and the idea of Britain, is increasingly absent within the discussion, operation and outputs of governance in Scotland, despite the best efforts of the current British Government to entrench a sense of Britishness within the socio-political realm. By focusing on aspects of specific policy areas, such as citizenship in education and the railways within transport, this article will illustrate that the banal emphasis of governance within Scotland is not on Britishness but on Scotland and Scottishness. The end-result of such a focus, whether it be intentional or not, is the increasing differentiation of Scottishness from other British identities. Such findings pose serious questions for the political organisation and operation of the UK.