"Scottish independence would fundamentally alter the constitutional nature of the UK and mark the break-up of the British State as a military power."

“Independence is important because breaking up the British Union is a socialist act.”
- Tommy Sheridan, MSP for the socialist Solidarity Party

See this znet article here:

Blair’s Greatest Legacy: the End of the Union

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As the Scottish revolutionary John MacLean said a hundred years ago: “Scotland's separation is part of England's imperial disintegration.” One of the unexpected consequences of Tony Blair’s disastrous support for the invasion of Iraq may be the break up of Britain. To paraphrase an old Irish dictum, England’s adversity may be Scotland’s opportunity.

Recent opinion polls has shown there is a real chance that for the first time in 300 years, Scotland may be an independent country once again. A November poll by the Edinburgh-based Scotsman newspaper found 51 per cent favouring full independence - the biggest level of support for eight years, and growing.

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The parties supporting independence are:

- The Scottish National Party (left of centre social democratic)
- The Scottish Socialist Party
- Solidarity Scotland (full name: Solidarity- Scotland's Socialit Movement, it is a breakway form the SSP)
- The Scottish Green Party

All of these parties are members of an umbrella group uniting pro-independence parties and civil society organisations called:Independence First which demands a referendum on independence.

The unionist parties are the Conservatives and New Labour.

And (not unlike the PQ in Quebec) this "broadly left" party gets a not insignificant part of its support from more conservative, rural voters, whose support is based more on the national question than on other policies.

They are, however, unike the PQ / BQ in that the nationalist movement in Scotland has fairly rigorously rejected ethnic nationalism in favour of civic nationalism.

In terms of constitutional arrangements in an independent Scotland, the SNP policy would leave the present de facto Queen as head of state unless and until there were a popular consensus for another arrangement.

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Originally posted by Malcolm French, APR:
I once met a fellow who attended the founding convention of the SNP, who told me that there had been rival monarchist caucusses. One supported the present de facto monarchs. The other supported inviting the senior Stuart claimant to come from Germany to take the throne.

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So they wanted to replace one German monarch with ANOTHER German monarch?

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:

So they wanted to replace one German monarch with ANOTHER German monarch?

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Actually, the dominant constitutional position of the party would be republican.

As I said, the current policy is to retain the present de facto monarchy pending some further process. But since that is an issue of form, not substance, there isn't a great deal of pressure.

Jacobitism, while certainly a marginal movement now, does enjoy some support (although most of it sentimental) among Scots nationalists, since the Stuart claimants following the revolution of 1688 consistently resisted the idea of union between the three Kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland). During the Jacobite rising of 1745, many of the Scots supporters of Charles Edward fought under the banner of "Charlie and No Union."

The other German monarch, if you're interested, would be Franz von Wittelsbach, the senior heir general of Charles I. He is also the heir general to his great-grandfather, the last King of Bavaria. During WWII, many members of his family were interned in concentration camps due to their opposition to Hitler.