Eight years ago, before the English decided to catapult them out of the EU.
(A major argument from the English side against Indyref was that an independent Scotland couldn't be part of the EU, but a united Kingdom could - that aged poorly.)
(A major argument from the English side against Indyref was that an independent Scotland couldn't be part of the EU, but a united Kingdom could - that aged poorly.)
Also the precedent it sets for Catalonia's independence movement and the issues that causes for Spain is another pain point that has been brought up (edit: Though as I understand it, Spain's position is that as long as Scotland does it "legally", and not by secession, they're fine?).
They would have had to apply for membership and even though it would have certainly been speedrun (unless the UK would have been petty and tried to block their admittance) there would still have been some turmoil until they were admitted.
And now they got the turmoil without any option of being part of the EU.
Edit: proper tenses so it's clear this is with regards to how the situation was for the referendum of 2014.
Not that they’d necessarily veto, but the politics aren’t clear-cut.
That's something Madrid won't do. At least not within the foreseeable future.