The romance of Orkney running away with the Vikings has grabbed the public’s imagination in the past few days.
A motion put to a meeting of Orkney council started the idea that Orkney might want independence from Scotland and somehow hook up with Norway.
The motion came from council leader James Stockan.
But it may surprise some that the word “Norway” doesn’t actually appear in Mr Stockan’s notice of motion.
The closest it gets the mention of “Nordic connections”, with the Nordic countries being Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
So how did we get to where we are?
Will Orkney really join Norway?
The motion is, in fact, quite brief at only two sentences long.
The crux of what is suggested is that the council should invest money and staff time into exploring “options for alternative models of governance”.
Mr Stockan’s motion refers to “historical and contemporary challenges” relating to funding and policy support.
While this may not give too much away, more was said during last Tuesday’s council meeting.
The “challenges” boil down to broken promises or agreements on Road Equivalent Tariff and renewing the county’s ailing fleet of internal ferries.
There’s also the issue of unequal funding settlements compared to the Shetland Islands Council and the Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
What actually in the motion?
All the council leader said was that the council should look at options that “provide greater fiscal security and economic opportunity for the islands of Orkney”.
And, as Mr Stockan has said multiple times, his approach all along has been “all options on the table”.
In the leader’s motion, it’s specified that these investigations should include:
- Nordic connections
- Crown dependencies
- Other options for greater subsidiarity and autonomy
Finally, the last part of the leader’s motion states that these should be presented to the community for consideration.
Council officers also prepared a report based on the leader’s motion that went to the councillors on Tuesday.
This expanded on what could be looked into.
In terms of the Nordic connections, the report states that this could include the Faroe Islands as a self-governing territory of Denmark.
Examples of British Crown Dependencies to look at include Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man.
Finally, officers point to “British Overseas Territories such as the Falkland Islands” as another candidate for the investigation.
However, this report from officers also states that the investigations will take up substantial amounts of staff time.
The council isn’t likely to get any outside financial help towards exploring its options either.
However, Mr Stockan said he had already had offers of help, and said the costs wouldn’t be “insurmountable”.
So why all the focus on Orkney joining Norway?
As stated by the council leader, “all options are on the table.”
It was also remarked in the report to councillors that the proposals were “broad in nature.”
While the specific options mentioned in Mr Stockan’s motion were purposefully left wide-ranging, during interviews the council leader was grilled on which specific options he would pursue.
Despite no specific mention of Norway in the motion, the country was perhaps the obvious candidate to ask about.
Orkney holds deep historical and modern-day links to the Scandinavian country.
To this day, the county has an honorary Norwegian consul and holds an annual parade through Kirkwall to celebrate Norwegian constitution day. Orkney also holds twinning agreements with areas in Norway.
Haven’t we been here before?
The truth is that it’s not unheard of for the islands to call for more autonomy or power.
For example, in Orkney, 2017 saw a drive for the county to be given more powers over its own affairs.
This was in the wake of both the EU and Scottish Independence referendums.
