ABSTRACT
A thousand years of British history is a phrase much used by commentators and politicians, but the United Kingdom of Great Britain did not emerge until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union between Scotland and England came into force. There was a powerful sense that Scotland was falling behind an England that was already experiencing rapid economic growth. From the point of view of English politicians, union would remove an irritating and potentially dangerous threat in the north. Most recent work accepts that most of the Scottish politicians genuinely believed that Scotland's economic future was dependent upon merger with England, and that it was necessary to safeguard Protestantism. Although Scotland lost its independent Parliament, it retained a separate church and distinct legal system, and, although the economic benefits took some time to work through, they did eventually come.
