View from Orkney: ‘UK is failing – why would not we need to be a part of Norway’

“Britain seems to me to be failing at the moment. Why wouldn’t we want to be part of Norway?”

That’s one of many views expressed by residents of the Orkney Islands, the archipelago with 5,000 years of human historical past that’s contemplating breaking away from Scottish governance and the UK – and exploring its historic ‘Nordic connections’. Councillors on the Orkneys have voted to again a movement to discover the long run governance of the islands, that lie some 20 miles north of the Scottish mainland.

Council chief Councillor James Stockan – who proposed the movement – insists it’s “not about joining Norway”. Nonetheless, The islands have been below Norwegian and Danish management till 1472 after they got to Scotland as a part of Margaret of Denmark’s marriage ceremony dowry to King James III of Scotland.

And it appears some on the island wish to see this historic hyperlink restored. The plan to discover governance modifications has come about resulting from rising anger about what islanders see as a uncooked deal.

Stockan says they obtain much less funding per head from Government than fellow island authorities in Shetland and the Western Isles. However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman advised journalists there’s “no mechanism for the conferral of crown dependency or overseas territory status on any part of the UK”.

But it appears that evidently hasn’t stopped islanders, who’re referred to as Orcadians, from eyeing-up their Nordic neighbours. Christine Austen, 55, is the supervisor of The Stromness Hotel.

She advised the MailOnline: “We need to be better managed. And who better than Norway, which is impeccably well run, to help us?

“I used to be attempting to get individuals over from South Africa to work within the resort and practice individuals, however it’s important to leap by means of blazing hoops to get them in. At the identical time I’m studying in regards to the billions England is spending housing migrants who merely cross the Channel unchecked.

“Look, Britain seems to me to be failing at the moment. Why wouldn’t we want to be part of Norway?”

Meanwhile, Local businessman Stephen Kemp told the BBC: “Most of what we have here is Viking.”

“I’m confident there’s some mileage in self-determination. Orkney folk are different. We’re outward looking and that comes from being islanders.

However, he thinks that the Norway proposal is a pipe-dream. “It’s pushed by years of frustration at not being listened to, by Holyrood [the home of the Scottish Parliament] and Westminster,” added Kemp.

Keith Brown, 77, a former banker who moved to the islands from Wales in 2006, told the Mail on Sunday: “It is true that we’re somewhat ignored up right here. The lifestyle right here, the character, the sweetness, is actually particular and should be preserved.”

Orkney MSP Liam McArthur said people on the islands “certainly feel angry”, but he added: “They may also be concerned at the time and resource that could be taken up exploring different constitutional models, particularly when council resources are already under real pressure due to Scottish Government cuts.”

Council Leader Stockan told the BBC: “We have been a part of the Norse kingdom for for much longer than we have been a part of the United Kingdom.

“On the street in Orkney, people come up and say to me when are we going to pay back the dowry, when are we going back to Norway? There is a huge affinity and a huge deep cultural relationship there.”