Orkney Islands Council to discuss defection to Norway

Council leader wants to see if becoming a self-governing territory of a Nordic country would be better for Orkney

Councillors in Orkney will debate whether or not to cut ties with the UK and defect to Norway this morning.

Council leader James Stockan wants Orkney Islands Council to look at different ways of being governed, saying they have been let down by both the UK and Scottish governments in recent years.

One of the options Mr Stockan wants to consider is having Orkney defect from the UK and become a self-governing territory of a Nordic nation such as Norway. Orkney has long had cultural and historical ties to the Nordic countries.

Scapa Beach in Orkney. Image: R Erskine.

In fact the islands were under Norwegian and Danish control until 1472 when they were given to Scotland as part of Margaret of Denmark’s wedding dowry to King James III of Scotland.

Mr Stockan said: “We were part of the Norse kingdom for much longer than we were 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. This is exactly the moment to explore what is possible.”

The debate is still due to go ahead despite Number 10 shutting down any possibility of this happening.

Orkney Islands Council Leader James Stockan. Image: Orkney Photographic.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “First and foremost, there is no mechanism for the conferral of crown dependency or overseas territory status on any part of the UK. But fundamentally, we are stronger as one United Kingdom, we have no plans to change that.”

The spokesman added: “We’ve got no plans to change the devolution settlement.”

Mr Stockan’s motion does not commit Orkney Islands Council to any of the options put on the table, and the officials’ report notes any constitutional changes would likely require a combination of petitions, referenda and legislation at both Holyrood and Westminster.