ELI5: If Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland left Great Britain, would it exist anymore?
Posted Jun 14, 2015, 5:46 PM UTC
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Great Britain is the island including England, Wales, and Scotland. Those countries couldn't leave if they wanted to.
If you're referring to the United Kingdom (which is a state including England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) then yes, if those countries all left it would logically cease to exist.
2
When Scotland voted to stay in the UK someone worked out a few weeks later that if Scotland had pulled out then they would have been bankrupt in a week.
Wales are not big enough to support themselves.
I'm not sure about northern Ireland but I would assume that great Briton would still survive as a share of our debt will go to each country as it leaves. I doubt the EU would accept the 3 countries as they would be high risk.
Ps Don't quote me on this.
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Great Britain is an island. So Northern Ireland is already not part of it, and it would be quite something if Scotland and Wales somehow managed to separate themselves from it.
But if you mean the UK, I'd say it wouldn't exist any more. England would probably become the successor state, but you couldn't really say it was the UK any more. Like how the USSR doesn't exist any more, but Russia is effectively the successor to it.
The above answer is very good. For a comparison think of Canada. It is a sovereign state with its own royalty. It just happens the same person is both Queen of Canada and the UK, but it doesn't have to be like that. The Canadians can technically change the rules so succession isn't the same as the UK. This would be true for Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are kingdoms. Wales is a principality, so technically it would need to declare itself a Kingdom and nominate a monarch, or become a Republic.
Yes, if Scotland voted to become independent the plan was to keep the monarchy and remain in a personal union with the UK.
But Scotland and Northern Ireland are not kingdoms. Neither is England. The United Kingdom is one Kingdom, the parts are not kingdoms in their own right.
Wales' status as a principality is not an official thing. There is no UK law saying its a principality. Both the UK and Welsh government's insist that it isn't. If it became independent, their government would be free to style it as whatever they like.
Didn't know that about Wales. As the UK is a united Kingdom, then it is possible to split it back into separate kingdoms, or so I was led to beleive. The separate crowns still exist.
The separate crowns don't exist any more, but there's no reason they couldn't exist if parts of the UK became independent. Even if Yorkshire became independent there could be a crown of Yorkshire. None of this is set in stone.