Scotland has been back in the news following the round of local elections in the United Kingdom last week. The ruling party in the Holyrood (Edinburgh) Parliament, the Scottish National Party believes that it has a right to ask for another independence referendum on the strength of the results it obtained at the elections for the Scottish parliament.

Whether Scotland has a right to independence or not may be an issue for constitutional lawyers to debate upon on. However, many of us may have asked how Scotland could survive outside the UK. We fall into such a trap because we tend to associate the UK with England and in our mind, when we speak of England, we think of a wealthy south and a poor north.

Cities and towns around north England have fallen into economic decline following the annihilation of the coal, steel and shipping industries that had contributed so much to their economic heydays. We then associate northern England with Scotland and hence the erroneous conclusion that Scotland cannot survive outside the UK.

Scotland is also a relatively small country and so some question whether it can provide economies of scale to producers. It lies on the periphery of what is already a country on the periphery – the UK is an island off mainland Europe. So, we may admire Scotland for its scenery and love its whisky but I doubt how many would consider it a potential economic powerhouse.

Malta can also make it after the pandemic without the excesses that we have had to get accustomed to in the last years

We may even refer to the fact that according to UK statistics, Scotland has higher levels of public spending per head and slightly lower-than-average levels of tax revenues per capita than the UK as a whole. This would imply an economic reliance by Scotland on the rest of the UK.

On the other hand, looking at the richest countries in the world, one would find Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The population of these countries is not very different from that of Scotland. They each have their own reason for having made it, but so does Scotland.

There are three factors that need to be kept in mind and this is where the lessons from Scotland emerge. They have strong institutions. Their educational system, which they have shaped over the years, is as good, if not better, than that of the UK. Scotland is endowed with a number of what are considered as leading universities, that are renowned for their research and innovation. They also have a strong justice system and a strong system of government.

A look at Scottish businesses would also show that the investment in human capital has been balanced with strong investment in physical capital including, if not mainly, technology. Moreover, management of their own economic  affairs is judged to be sound. As such, the fundamentals are all there to make sure that an independent Scotland could make it on its own after independence.

My interest is not to be a proponent for Scotland’s independence. That is the choice the Scots have to make. My interest is to show that Malta can also make it after the pandemic without the excesses that we have had to get accustomed to in the last years.

All we need are strong institutions, investment in human resources and innovation and technology, and sound economic management. It does sound so simple and we can learn a great deal from Scotland’s example.