Drag Race UK winner Lawrence Chaney comes out swinging for Scottish independence
Drag Race UK season two winner Lawrence Chaney discusses why Scottish independence is important during an interview with newspaper The National. (TikTok/The National)
Drag Race UK winner Lawrence Chaney has shown her support for Scottish independence, saying Scotland needs “to have power over our own country” in the wake of COVID.
Lawrence was crowned Drag Race UK‘s second-ever winner – following The Vivienne from season one – on Thursday (18 March) and is the first Scottish queen to take home the title. The Glaswegian queen fought off competition from fan-favourite Bimini Bon Boulash, Tayce and Elle Diamond following a tense final lip sync battle to Elton John‘s “I’m Still Standing”.
While she was still a finalist, Lawrence opened up to the newspaper The National about her support for Scottish independence, saying the differing reactions to COVID between the devolved governments proved why “we need to have power over our own country”.
@scotnational Drag Race UK star Lawrence Chaney speaks to us about supporting Scottish independence! #indyref2 #scottish #dragrace #dragraceuk #lawrencechaney
Scottish independence is the political movement for Scotland to become a sovereign state, independent from the UK. Scotland and England united as “One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain” in 1707, according to the Smithsonian Magazine.
Scotland held two referendums on devolution in 1979 and 1997, with a devolved Scottish Parliament being established in 1999.
However, the country has long been fighting to become independent from the UK. This led to an agreement between the Scottish and UK governments to hold the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. During the 2014 referendum, 55 per cent of Scottish voters rejected independence with a resounding no while 44 per cent voted in favour of Scottish independence.
Drag Race UK‘s Lawrence Chaney revealed to The National on Tuesday (16 March) that she voted “yes” on the 2014 referendum and wants to see another vote held in the future.
“I totally support Scottish independence,” she said. “My thing is a lot of people are slagging it because ‘oh well it’s been done before, we’ve had the vote you know, it’s done you had your say’.”
But Lawrence argued that “Scotland has dealt with COVID really well” in comparison to the rest of the UK. She told The National: “Nicola had a better grip at some points than Boris [Johnson] did with opening and relaxing rules and getting us back to a sense of normality.
“But because there wasn’t just one chef in the kitchen – there was Nicola, Boris, [Mark Drakeford] – there were so many people going I think this, I think that. The truth is Scotland is its own thing.”
She said Scotland has “really pulled our finger out and made it happen” by cracking down on the spread of COVID. Lawrence said this showed that Scotland knows what “goes on in our country”, proving it should be independent from the UK government.
“Because other people aren’t living here so they don’t actually get the day-to-day things of what is actually going on in our country,” Lawrence said.
