How did Scotland win the right to opt out from flying the Union flag?

Answer 1

Hi spawnee, so St George wasn't even English - Right.
The Scottish flag is the cross of St Andrew - a Jew.
Still laughing at St George and the English Now???

As for flying the union flag, not on your nellie mate, I am English, i fly the English Flag!
Gordy McBrown keeps telling the English they are British, NO NO NO --- We ARE ENGLISH....
Of course he lets his Scottish compatriots fly the saltaire, its all a joke, on the English, we work, pay taxes, and subsidise the Scots, who are fed a lot of boll-ox about "Scottish Oil".

Answer 2

We Scots fly the Union flag as proudly as anybody else. Never forget that the blue background and white diagonals on the Union flag are taken from St. Andrew's cross (The Saltire). The Union flag and St. Andrews cross are flown alongside each other at both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive.

Being a proud and patriotic Scot certainly does not preclude being a proud citizen of the UK. The Scottish Nationalists may be in power in the Scottish executive, but they are still a minority.

Edit: Just heard on the news that certain SNP people have been complaining that only the Union Flag (not the Saltire) flies over Edinburgh Castle. The fact is that Edinburgh Castle is a British army base and its their decision as to which flag they fly. The SNP Executive, or anybody else, have no say in the matter.

Answer 3

Because it's a rag basically & as juicy pointed out elsewhere we have our own flag, as do the Welsh, Northern Irish & even you guys in England.

The Union flag is synonomous with football hooliganism & drunken, loutish behaviour abroad to me.

cap-de-monty...a note for your my bigoted friend. It was a Scot who founded the Bank of England. You couldn't even do that yourselves.

answer me....Westminster CAN'T dissolve the Scottish Parliament at ANY TIME. It would take a vote from the Scottish people to do that, and let's face it, it ain't gonna happen.

Answer 4

It didn't. The Union flag represents England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. (Wales being a principality of England and not a country is not represented). Scotland also has its own flag the cross of Saint Andrew and can fly it when ever it likes. Northern Ireland has its own flag, Wales has its own flag and England its own as well. All the countries, including wales and except England (the saint Georges cross is considered racist as it stands for England), can fly either flag if they choose.

Answer 5

I think the replies to this post demonstrate how little we know about our own nation! Here goes:
The proper name for this country is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". This comprises Great Britain (a geographical entity which is the largest island of the British Isles (Ireland being one of the British Isles, whether they like it or not) named "Great" because of the size, not because it's amazing...), Northern Ireland and a few islands dotted around the coast. Note there no mention of Scotland, England or Wales in the name. This is because Wales is in reality part of England (it's a principality, not a country), sharing England's laws and so on. The govt just lets them think that it's a country so that they carry on voting for Noo Labour. Since partition, only Northern Ireland remains part of the UK, the rest of the island of Ireland being a sovereign independent nation, the Republic of Ireland.
Scotland, which is a constituent country of the UK, has the power to make its own laws in certain respects and now has further tax varying ability and other powers since the introduction of the Scottish Parliament by the Scotland Act in 1998. They are only granted the ability to decide upon certain specific matters, the remaining powers (the important stuff - eg Defence) are retained by Westminster. Scotland is, again whether they like or not, a part of the UK. Their head of state is the Queen and the sovereign governing body of the whole UK remains Westminster. If Westminster so decided, the Scottish Parliament and Executive could easily be swept away.
Wales' National Assembly operates on a different basis. All decisions made by the Assembly can be vetoed by the Secretary of State for Wales. They remain a principality of the United Kingdom.
So that's that cleared up! When it comes to flags, the Scottish Executive is still required to fly the Union Flag on Government buildings on certain days, such as the Queen's Birthday. On other days they fly the Saltire, which is Scotland's national flag. This permission has been given to them by Westminster; it is not the case that they just do it as an act of rebellion.
PS It is indeed the case that Saint Andrew was born in what is now Israel! Who cares where our patron saints come from? Its about what they are perceived to stand for that matters.

Answer 6

I don't know but I just wanted to say that I'm Welsh and I love the Union flag! I love the UK!

My great uncles and grandfather fought under the Union flag in WWI (two of them died and lie buried in the war cemetaries of the Somme) and my father fought for it in WWII. I'm British AND Welsh. To me the Union flag is a symbol of this beautiful nation of ours (the UK) and it fills me with pride!!!

So I'm sorry to pour cold water on those ranting about how only "The English" love the Union Flag - but here's a Welsh woman who flys it with pride!

Answer 7

I didn't think it was a competition. What makes me laugh is 92% of the Union Jack flags bought in the UK are imported from either China or other Far East countries. Very patriotic!
The other bit about the patriotic English man is that St George wasn't even born in England. We English, can't even find a patron saint of our own, we share St George with at least five other countries as patron saint! The St George Flag is based on the white tunic and red cross of the soilders who fought in the Crusaids, lovely part of English history, slaying countless non-Christians! Now associated with pissed up English footie fans and the BNP (which surely they should fly the Union Jack more than the St Georges Cross?)
EDIT: For those who want to know more about St George and his origins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George

Answer 8

It's time we English took the lead from the Scots and started to look after ourselves.

Forget the Union Jack, the other countries especially scotland don't want to be associated with us anymore so it's time for the English man and woman to stand up proud and this time, we do it alone.

Answer 9

Because we are Scottish! Just as the Irish have their own flag and the Welsh.

Answer 10

Simple. We have a Scottish government at Westminster.