National anthem of Scotland

National anthem

There is currently no agreed national anthem of Scotland. In sporting events and significant national situations, songs are used as de facto Scottish national anthems, most notably "Flower of Scotland" and "Scotland the Brave". The Scottish Government has not formally adopted an official national anthem of Scotland, and said in 2015 that it had "no current plans in this regard" to formally adopt a national anthem of Scotland. In 2004, lawyers for the devolved Scottish Parliament advised that it was within the legal competence of the Scottish Parliament to choose a national anthem for Scotland, countering the suggestion that it would be a matter reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This ruling prompted some interest in the idea, and a petition to the Scottish Parliament's petitions committee supported by the Scottish Green Party was referred without recommendation to the Scottish Executive, but they decided to take no action, considering the issue not to be a political priority. There have been subsequent attempts to re open the debate on a national anthem for Scotland. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament Enterprise Committee denied a motion from Scottish National Party MSP Michael Matheson on the subject. There have been attempts to establish an agreed and official national anthem of Scotland. In November 2014, a petition was lodged to the Scottish Parliament – "Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to officially recognise 'Flower of Scotland' as Scotland's national anthem". In a Consideration of Petition letter from the Scottish Government dated 13 February 2015, it acknowledged that "Scottish Ministers believe a national anthem is an important part of a nation’s culture and heritage". The Scottish Government advocated that the "national song should be an anthem for all the people of Scotland with our diverse heritage and traditions. Scotland has many fine tunes, both traditional and contemporary, including ‘Flower of Scotland’, which could be stirring national anthems, but it is important that any choice has wide public support". The Scottish Parliament decided to close the consideration of the petition, on the basis that it believed that "consideration of whether Scotland should officially adopt a national anthem and if so, what that might be, should not be led by the Scottish Government or by any single political party". At the time, in November 2015, the Scottish Government confirmed it had "no current plans in this regard" to formally adopt a national anthem of Scotland.

At most international sporting events, Scotland uses "Flower of Scotland" as its national anthem. These events include matches of the Scottish national football team, Scottish cricket team and the Scottish rugby union team. The song has also been used as the victory anthem of Scotland at the Commonwealth Games since 2010, replacing "Scotland the Brave". "Flower of Scotland" was written in the mid 1960s by Roy Williamson who was a member of the folk group the Corries. The song, first performed in 1967 on BBC television, was deliberately presented in a quasi archaic style. The lyrics and nature of "Flower of Scotland" split opinion amongst the Scottish public, given its reference to Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 under the direction of Robert the Bruce. Billy Steele, who played as a winger in the Scottish national rugby union team began to encourage others players in the team to sing "Flower of Scotland" during the British Lions tour of South Africa in 1974. "Flower of Scotland" began being used as the pre game anthem for the Scottish national rugby union team during the 1990 Five Nations Championship. By 1997, the Scottish Football Association had also made "Flower of Scotland" the official pre game national anthem for the Scotland national football team. "Flower of Scotland" had been used informally by the Scottish Football Association for that purpose since 1993.

"Scotland the Brave" was previously used by Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games until 2010 when it was replaced with "Flower of Scotland". "Scotland the Brave" was used at previous Commonwealth Games between 1958 and 2006. Prior to 1958, "Scots Wha Hae" was used. The decision to use "Flower of Scotland" rather than "Scotland the Brave" was chosen in January 2010 by athletes that had been selected to participate in the 2010 in India. The shortlist of anthems also included "Scotland the Brave", "Loch Lomond" and "Highland Cathedral".

As of February 2024, the Scottish Government have not yet formally adopted an official national anthem of Scotland, despite having the legal competence in order to do so. During a meeting of the Enterprise and Culture Committee on 9 May 2006 in the Scottish Parliament, MSP Michael Matheson raised the question about the status of Scotland's national anthem, citing "during the recent Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, there was some debate about a Scottish national anthem, largely because a number of songs were being used as our national anthem. However, in recent discussions on the matter, no consensus was reached, other than on the point that we should have a national anthem". At that time, there was suggestions that the incumbent First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell had claimed that a debate on an official national anthem for Scotland should take place to address the issue. MSP Murdo Fraser expressed concerns over the three most popular candidates for an official national anthem of Scotland – "Flower of Scotland", "Scotland the Brave" and "Highland Cathedral". In his speech to the committee, he claimed "Flower of Scotland is inappropriate because some of the sentiments that are expressed in it are jingoistic and anti English; Scotland the Brave is inappropriate because, although it is a good tune, it does not have words that match the upbeat nature of the music; and Highland Cathedral is a good tune, but it has no words at all".

On 13 January 2015, the Scottish Parliament heard evidence from a member of the public, Chris Cromar, who had brought forward a petition to the parliament for consideration on an agreed national anthem for Scotland. Cromar had, through the petition, called for the Scottish Government to formally recognise and adopt "Flower of Scotland" as the Scottish national anthem. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) responded to a written request from the Scottish Parliament regarding the petition, whereby they stated that they believed the matter of agreeing a national anthem for Scotland would be "more appropriate for the 35,000 members of the Scotland Supporter's Club members". The SFA conducted a poll amongst its members and audiences on its social media platforms, with "Flower of Scotland" achieving a narrow victory. Despite this, the SFA alluded to the matter that the narrowing victory suggested "some food for thought" over what the national anthem should be, with "Scotland the Brave" retaining an affinity amongst Scotland's football supporters. On 17 March 2015, the Scottish Parliament officially closed the consideration of the petition under Rule 15.7, claiming that "this is not something that should be led by the Scottish Government but is likely to be determined informally over time". MSP Angus MacDonald said in a speech to the Scottish Parliament about the petition that "given the position of the Scottish Government, and given that there is still a considerable amount of debate outside as to what the national anthem should be, we should close the petition reluctantly and allow that debate to continue".