The Great Anglo-Scottish Human Rights Divide

Abstract

There arguably exists something of a great human rights divide stretching across the ninety-six miles of the Anglo-Scottish border from the Solway Firth on the west coast to the town of Lamberton in the east. As Scotland appears to take impressive strides forward in human rights implementation, England seems to lag ever further behind international best practice. But how can two countries so closely linked in central governance display such seemingly divergent attitudes and approaches to human rights? This article seeks to explore this apparent polarisation in more detail and to investigate the factors that might be underlying it. In particular, it questions whether Scotland is more progressive when it comes to human rights because the people are more accepting of human rights as a concept worth upholding, or whether this ostensible national acceptance of human rights is instead clever political posturing on the part of the Scottish Government to paint a picture of a country that differs to such an extent from its southern neighbour that it really ought to be independent.